24 year old New Yorker

[mountanddo]

I think, regardless of income, state of domicile or most any other criteria, a $20K debt should be handled via other means than bankruptcy. Bankruptcy should be reserved for when one is REALLY in trouble. You only get to use it once every 8 years.

Some people can survive and live with a 25% garnishment, others cannot. I'm not sure what you mean by "handleing" it by other means. If I thought I could pay off my debt with my income within five years I would of. The fact of the matter is that even if it was 5k I would of had to file because I can barely afford the $100/month but it's better than $550.

My 20k debt it HUGE to me and is just as stressful and financially crippling than someone with 200k debt. In fact I would venture a guess that someone with a low amount of debt that makes it necessary to file BK is worse off than someone with a much higher amount.

[OhioFiler]

I think that if you think that people that have to have 20k in cc debt discharged aren't in trouble then you obviously have never been in this position before. I was facing a garnishment of $550/month. I wouldn't have been able to pay my rent and would of been homeless if I hadn't filed Chapter 13. I'm a bit offended by your statements. It makes it seem like people that only have 20k in debt don't deserve to file bankruptcy and get the same relief as someone who is more in debt. Your comments don't even make sense. Of course you have to look at the income, state garnishment laws and expenses of the debtor. To make a sweeping statement like this is incorrect.

Why are you offended by my opinion? Unless you value it and seek it it should not offend you.

My 'sweeping statement' is not incorrect. It is my opinion. If you disagree, refer to the paragraph just above.

[OhioFiler]

Some people can survive and live with a 25% garnishment, others cannot. I'm not sure what you mean by "handleing" it by other means. If I thought I could pay off my debt with my income within five years I would of. The fact of the matter is that even if it was 5k I would of had to file because I can barely afford the $100/month but it's better than $550.

My 20k debt it HUGE to me and is just as stressful and financially crippling than someone with 200k debt. In fact I would venture a guess that someone with a low amount of debt that makes it necessary to file BK is worse off than someone with a much higher amount.

Your decision to file C13 on a $20K debt works fine for you. I would have fought tooth and nail PRIOR to the judgement that allowed for the garnishment to resolve such a debt. Your choice to ignore it until it was made a judgement by a court eliminated most of your options other than bankruptcy. Had you looked at options pre-judgement, your choices would have been much greater.

BTW, this is not a judgement of you and your choices.

[keepsmiling]

Your decision to file C13 on a $20K debt works fine for you. I would have fought tooth and nail PRIOR to the judgement that allowed for the garnishment to resolve such a debt. Your choice to ignore it until it was made a judgement by a court eliminated most of your options other than bankruptcy. Had you looked at options pre-judgement, your choices would have been much greater.

BTW, this is not a judgement of you and your choices.

With apologies to all you catlovers out there, I think it's safe to say there is more than one way to skin a cat.

OhioFiler,
I am hoping they won't decide to close this thread before I get to ask you:
Can you elaborate on some methods you might have used? Settlement has been discussed in this thread, as well as just sucking it up and paying it off (which, as I have already said, is IMHO the route in this case).

Is it safe to assume arbitration may have been one? Have you done that?
I wish there was more discussion here on that topic. I don't want to get addicted to other boards

There may be valuable info here, pertinent to this thread; a summary if you will

[AngelinaCat]

I was going to close this thread as it seems to have gone somewhat awry. However, I will leave it for the time being and see if Keepsmiling's questions are answered....

[OhioFiler]

With apologies to all you catlovers out there, I think it's safe to say there is more than one way to skin a cat.

OhioFiler,
I am hoping they won't decide to close this thread before I get to ask you:
Can you elaborate on some methods you might have used? Settlement has been discussed in this thread, as well as just sucking it up and paying it off (which, as I have already said, is IMHO the route in this case).

Is it safe to assume arbitration may have been one? Have you done that?
I wish there was more discussion here on that topic. I don't want to get addicted to other boards

There may be valuable info here, pertinent to this thread; a summary if you will

I would have tried to settle then fought the court action. Ignoring a debt problem too long gives all the power to the creditor.

Even minor payments to the collector would most likely kept this case out of court and judgement. Reacting led to limited choices. Proactivity would have left many more options. Now the one who is challenging me is bankrupt and paying the debt back through installments.

[lillymarlene]

My 20k debt it HUGE to me and is just as stressful and financially crippling than someone with 200k debt. In fact I would venture a guess that someone with a low amount of debt that makes it necessary to file BK is worse off than someone with a much higher amount.

I wish I had filed years ago, when my debt was around $50K, instead of letting it "blossom" with interest and penalties to
$200K.

[OhioFiler]

I wish I had filed years ago, when my debt was around $50K, instead of letting it "blossom" with interest and penalties to
$200K.

If it's all the same debt the value of it is meaningless if you plan to file bankruptcy. Sometimes, delaying filing is a good thing. We accrued several medical bills after we first decided we were going to file that were all included in the bankruptcy. Pleasantly, those bills are all distant memories like the credit card debt.