Balance transfer credit card before chapter 7

[TXskyblue]

About 2 weeks ago, I balance transferred about $7,000 to a credit card. I was struggling and was trying to get a more favorable rate.

About a week ago, I met with a bankruptcy lawyer. He answered a lot of my questions but I did not specifically ask about this. It was a lot of information to take in. The plan, as of right now, is to file a chapter 7 in about 3 months.


My question is - do you think this BT will trigger an AP? I am current on the credit card I transferred the balance to, but as of the next payment (middle of November), I will not be able to make the minimum. This means I will have transferred ~ $7,000 to a credit card and then not made a payment until I file.

The minimum payment on the card is about $500 (it has a high limit) and I just can't afford to rob peter to pay paul any more. There is no money to do it.

[LadyInTheRed]

If you wait for 3 months to file, it is unlikely the creditor will file an AP. A cash advance is only presumed to be non-dischargeable if taken within 70 days of filing. So, the creditor would have to prove that you had no intention of paying it. It would be better if you could make a payment or two. But, if you can't you can't. They could file an AP, but they aren't likely to bother. Their attorney fees could easily reach $7,000, so it just wouldn't be worth the risk of losing.

Do be sure to tell your attorney about the cash advance.

[frogger]

Where did the 7k go?

[facinglife]

I had a similiar situation. Car broke down and it needed a new transmission. I had no money and I had to put the repair ($4500) on the only credit card that had that much available credit on it, the others were close to being maxed out. It was this situation that propelled me to consider bankruptcy because I knew I would never be able to pay off that bill (it was 25% interest) and now I had no credit left if an emergency came up. It scared me into reality. I met with a lawyer a couple of weeks later and she advised me to either file right away and expect that we might have to pay that bill or wait and file. If we waited she wanted me to continue to pay the minumum monthly payment. I waited 5 months from that incident to file and had my 341 last week. So far there has not been an issue but I have to wait the 60 days to be sure. I'd suggest waiting to file.

[TXskyblue]

Where did the 7k go?

It went from one credit card to another credit card. Perhaps I'm not understanding what you're asking but I thought that was how all balance transfers are.

[frogger]

Perhaps I'm not understanding what you're asking but I thought that was how all balance transfers are.

Just making sure that you didn't somehow manage to transfer that 7k to your personal funds........

[joshuagraham]

Where did the 7k go?

If it was like my situation, it simply became the latest debt ball to be juggled in the air - and I was an *expert* at playing the balance transfer juggling game (which of course crashed once the banks stopped giving me the balance transfer opportunities.)

[bcohen]

A balance transfer is not the same as a purchase or cash advance. As long as you can show that the debt was already incurred, and you were merely shuffling the balances around, you should be ok. Although it is considered abuse to incur new debt after you know (or should know) that you're insolvent, transferring an existing balance in an effort to lower the interest rate should not be a problem. But do tell your attorney about it, as he may just have you wait until 90 days have elapsed to file.

[keepsmiling]

If it was like my situation, it simply became the latest debt ball to be juggled in the air - and I was an *expert* at playing the balance transfer juggling game (which of course crashed once the banks stopped giving me the balance transfer opportunities.)

Me too, I got really good at it!
I think we've practically all BTDT.

[angel7821]

Me too, I got really good at it!
I think we've practically all BTDT.

Master juggler here too!!!

[pamkev]

Add me to the list of BTDT group

[kawh]

well, since we're all chiming in...

I BT'd with the best of 'em, juggled and carried the debt for 3-4 years, still getting nice offers just before I decided to hang it up. It truly was a part time job, managing all that debt well so as not to miss any minimums.

[AngelinaCat]

We didn't really do the balance transfer, but once card #1 was maxed out, we didn't learn and proceeded to max out card #2. We only had those two cards...