Hi guys ... I know there's a ton of stickies and a lot of information out there, but it's so hard to find a launching point with my situation in particular, so I wanted to get down to it and give you the details on my situation.
A few years ago, my mom and dad were working at a Napa Auto Parts. They were good friends with the owner. He wanted to sell the place or, more accurately, he was just getting out of it. I'm not sure all of the details, but I agreed to put the store in my name and let my parents run it. I went to the California Board of Equalization, got my business license, and all was well.
The store ran for about a year - a bit longer than a year, actually. Then we abruptly closed when the building owner locked us out. Either way, I asked my dad if I had debt because of it, he said "maybe 1500 or so." I don't know ANYTHING about how the store was run. I don't know anything about the documents or the customers.
All I know is I started getting my bank account at Wells Fargo garnished. I had a legal order processing fee from Wells Fargo that took $100 bucks (which is just their fee to do paper work) and then the rest went to the state. I left the account alone at zero for awhile, called my dad, he said he'd call around, figure things out. See about getting the debt put in his name. Every time I call him he's "waiting for a call back."
The other day, I got another one of those fees, so my account is negative $100. I called Wells Fargo, tried to get them to waive the fee, and then they told me that California says I owe $17,000 and some change. At any rate, I got my Wells Fargo account to zero (today) and sent an email to have it closed, and am using a prepaid Walmart Moneycard to store my funds.
But that $17,000 is there. I talked to my dad again and he insists he's really looking into it now. He mentioned bankruptcy - and actually, he mentioned a business bankruptcy. He says this is different from normal, and I'm not too sure what he means by that.
I make around $1000 a month as a sports writer. I'm about to get promoted and I'm in a position where I can start heavily saving money. I'm really not in a position to be trying to pay off $17,000 worth of debt (plus around $2000 owed to a single hospital bill, that a creditor is harassing me about) over the next however many years. I just can't. I'm trying to start my life.
But bankruptcy seems scary - I don't know what it entails, I don't even know if I have enough information to do it. I don't even know who to call to find out my dollar amount. I won't have any money at all until April 15, at which point I'll have a few hundred I can spend to maybe begin a payment plan with a lawyer to help me through this.
I'm sorry this has been very long - but can someone tell me what they think? What would you do? Like I said, I'm only 21 and extremely dumb when it comes to this kind of thing. I want to have good credit, I really want to work on it - is it possible once this is done?
Thanks.
EDIT: Forgot to add, as far as my monthly expenses, there's not a lot. I'm making anywhere from $1000 to $1400 a month with the hopes of going to a very cheap community college very soon. I just moved in with the girlfriend and our rent is actually covered for a year, so my expenses are things like groceries, gas and phone.
A few years ago, my mom and dad were working at a Napa Auto Parts. They were good friends with the owner. He wanted to sell the place or, more accurately, he was just getting out of it. I'm not sure all of the details, but I agreed to put the store in my name and let my parents run it. I went to the California Board of Equalization, got my business license, and all was well.
The store ran for about a year - a bit longer than a year, actually. Then we abruptly closed when the building owner locked us out. Either way, I asked my dad if I had debt because of it, he said "maybe 1500 or so." I don't know ANYTHING about how the store was run. I don't know anything about the documents or the customers.
All I know is I started getting my bank account at Wells Fargo garnished. I had a legal order processing fee from Wells Fargo that took $100 bucks (which is just their fee to do paper work) and then the rest went to the state. I left the account alone at zero for awhile, called my dad, he said he'd call around, figure things out. See about getting the debt put in his name. Every time I call him he's "waiting for a call back."
The other day, I got another one of those fees, so my account is negative $100. I called Wells Fargo, tried to get them to waive the fee, and then they told me that California says I owe $17,000 and some change. At any rate, I got my Wells Fargo account to zero (today) and sent an email to have it closed, and am using a prepaid Walmart Moneycard to store my funds.
But that $17,000 is there. I talked to my dad again and he insists he's really looking into it now. He mentioned bankruptcy - and actually, he mentioned a business bankruptcy. He says this is different from normal, and I'm not too sure what he means by that.
I make around $1000 a month as a sports writer. I'm about to get promoted and I'm in a position where I can start heavily saving money. I'm really not in a position to be trying to pay off $17,000 worth of debt (plus around $2000 owed to a single hospital bill, that a creditor is harassing me about) over the next however many years. I just can't. I'm trying to start my life.
But bankruptcy seems scary - I don't know what it entails, I don't even know if I have enough information to do it. I don't even know who to call to find out my dollar amount. I won't have any money at all until April 15, at which point I'll have a few hundred I can spend to maybe begin a payment plan with a lawyer to help me through this.
I'm sorry this has been very long - but can someone tell me what they think? What would you do? Like I said, I'm only 21 and extremely dumb when it comes to this kind of thing. I want to have good credit, I really want to work on it - is it possible once this is done?
Thanks.
EDIT: Forgot to add, as far as my monthly expenses, there's not a lot. I'm making anywhere from $1000 to $1400 a month with the hopes of going to a very cheap community college very soon. I just moved in with the girlfriend and our rent is actually covered for a year, so my expenses are things like groceries, gas and phone.
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