I'm new here and don't know where to start.

[lhodnet]

I have been thinking of a bankruptcy for awhile, and my husband is not keen on this. He works in IT and is afraid this will be used against him (even though I know it legally cannot, it might be) and he is the HH $$ wise and it would crush us if it was.

So I don't even know where to start. We need to do something. But he is dead against a BK for that reason alone.

[AngelinaCat]

Hi Ihodnet. Welcome to the Forum.

First, you need to read some of the stickies in the Ch7 and Ch13 boards, as well as the General BK Talk board that you started this thread in, and get familiar with the basic concepts. Declaring bankruptcy is not the shameful thing that many of us used to think it is. It is a Business Tool that you use when you absolutely have no other way of coping with debt.

You will need to share a little bit of information before anyone will be able to offer suggestions. How far in debt are you? What is it primarily, credit cards? medical debt? Do you own a home, is there a mortgage? or more than one mortgage? How about cars?

That will give you something to think on for a start.

[lhodnet]

thank you.

it is primarily credit cards. our mortgage is fine, we are not upside down, no 2nd, but do not have a lot of equity. same with the cars (both foreign, so have held their value). we are also current on every debt we own. we have paired down all services to the house (Cable, etc) but have to keep cable internet for my husband's job.

quite honestly, we can pay for our entire life if we didn't have the cc debt. most of the cc debt is from when i was out on medical leave and prior (in 04) so we have been carrying this around with us for a decade and we are done. we have tried many other ways of getting rid of debt, but it just isn't working. the more we try, the more we pay out.

we're just ..... stuck. and no end in sight. it's an insurmountable amount of debt.

[Drazil65]

Hi and welcome, agree with what has already been posted, read, read, read. You will find most of us in same boat as you with cc debt, medical debt etc. The best thing you can do for yourself is read and educate yourself on the process. Also, you may want to start your list of questions for attorneys once you start making your "free consult" appointments. You will probably want to start with at least 3 appointments to interview attorneys for the job.

Once you start to understand the process and figure out if this is the best course of action for your family you will feel better and back in control. Good Luck!

[AngelinaCatHub]

Welcome 'net. The first thing to consider is what kind of BK will suit you? If your husband is so against it, a 13 may be your answer. It is the hardest to do and you usually pay back everything, but in a structured, frozen interest way. Some old debt may be forgiven dependent on your Trustee and Judge. A Chapter 7 is a liquidation and any assets you have will be used to pay creditors but all unsecured debt such as credit cards will be forgiven. The stigma of a C7 will ruin your credit for at least ten years. The 13 is a structured payment plan but does not carry the force that a 7 does because you are paying the debt. Both WILL affect your credit of course. The only other way I can suggest is to take all your cards and pay only the minimum payment on them but double up on the lowest balance first until it is paid off completely then the next lowest, and so on. It is the hardest to do but you will have no credit score problems. Of course you will terminate ALL usage of these pit holes of hell called credit cards. Cut them up right now, as in either case of BK or not, you need to learn the cash only system. It works for us quite well. 'Hub

[frogger]

Your husband is not keen on filing bk? None of us were!

However, with that being said, understand that this is nothing more/less than a business decision. If you can't pay off all of your debt (except mortgage) in 5 years or less, then imo, bk is a good option for you.