The Waiting

[alorth]

I wouldn't say its the hardest part! But it does seem strange.

Life is going on, of course.

Haven't made a CC payment since October '10. Wife stopped paying hers in Feb. '11.

You could go back and read my other posts, but why make you do that? I owe around $40k, wife's around $80k. That's all unsecured debt. I've been unemployed since August '10. Wife makes a decent income, but even when I WAS working, we were losing ground on all the minimum payments and the house, and the 2 used cars we drive....No BMW's or Mercedes here....nope....a 2 year old Hyundai and a 6 year old Chrysler. House is under water, like so many others in Michigan.

We will be filing a 13 at some point. We've been making payments to our attorney in expectation of filing whenever one of us gets sued. Hasn't happened yet.

I get offers of 50% of my balances regularly. Its been 7 months for me now...5 cc creditors....and a few medical bills thrown in. Surprised I haven't been sued yet. I haven't talked to a collector in months. No home phones. I get an occasional letter and some emails. Thats it.

Actually, someone did personally tape an envelope to my front door from PNC with a 40% of the balance offer. I thought it was weird that somebody came here personally and did that, instead of through the mail. I wasn't home when it happened.

So we have money to live now that we aren't paying the CCs. But nothing extravagant. Haven't used a CC myself since Sept. '10. Wife stopped using them right before she stopped making payments. Everything is cash or debit card.

Just wonder how long it will be before a suit finally happens. We are trying to build a little cushion that we can use as a wild card exemption in this state, but its actually not building up very fast.

I hope life doesn't get much tighter/stricter than it is now after we file the 13. I know its all about what the trustee finds to be our DMI, so I guess I'll just keep waiting until we get pressed into action.

[debee]

You seem resigned to a 13. I guess you've run your numbers and would know.

But if you haven't and if you've relied on what the lawyer said, I would be working that means test inside and out looking for any crevice that you could stuff an expense into. When you were throwing money at credit cards you might have stopped considering other important budget items.

Lots of people replace older cars with newer cars (which come with higher payments and higher insurance) as part of their bankruptcy preparation. There's also term life insurance, low deductible & high coverage home/car insurance. And so on.

Not that 13's are the end of the world. Definitely not and certainly a good fit and the right fit for some people. I would just go over the means test a few times to be sure you're one of them.

[brighteyes]

We, wait, I mean Me, myself and I, talked to numerous attorneys. All but one looked at their stupid questionnaires and said, "okay, lets get started on a chapter 13." That one that said, "well, lets plug this all in and see where we stand" was the one we hired. Yes, DH makes over 100k, but we are supporting two homes (one is a rental that was our home...long story), two kids, medical issues for me and DD, reduced income, ect. I could go on and on. But the point is, DO NOT accept a Chapter 13 unless it is your last resort. I personally believe that almost all people can qualify for a 7, you need to get creative, you need to plan your bk, and you need to get an awesome attorney! Oh and read, read, read, read, read, this forum. It's the best information out there. I've even shocked my attorney more than once with the knowledge I have learned from here.

Keep your chin up, it will all work out in the end

[MarieT]

I do not have a lot of experience with this (finally filed last month after over a year of trying to figure out what to do) but if I had it to do over I would have done it sooner.

Getting sued was what forced us to act. Until that happened I had thought that by some miracle we could come up with some money and settle. We just had the 341 meeting today and I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel. If we had done this a year ago, I would have not made myself crazy with worry and sleepless nights and we would only have 4 years left in the payment plan!

[systemslt]

if you learn how to play the collections game to can ride it out for a long time. renumber the most impotent part of the game is knowing when to quit and start the bankruptcy game that you have studied the rules on how to play while playing the collections game. if you are prepared you will win.


i in no way think of this as a game. debt stress is serious sh!t. jest a figure of speech.