During a long period of underemployment and costly divorce, I accumulated about ,000 in credit card debt. My current income is 5,000 per year, I own a home with some equity that I can’t/don’t want to sell, and two vehicles outright. All in all, my assets are probably worth ,000 net mortgages, etc.

I was able to make the payments on my credit cards until all of the banks raised my rates to 30%, despite my paying on time and having a good credit score (735). At loan-shark rates, I have started falling behind each month and have burned through all of the cash I’d saved.

I could pay the balances back if they were at reasonable interest rates, but not at 30%. I don’t want to risk my home or vehicles, but I could care less about my credit score at this point because there’s no credit available to anyone anyway.

Would debt settlement be a better option than a Chapter 13 bankruptcy? If I did file a 13, would I be able to keep my vehicles?

I have 3 Payday loans out with a total balance of ,000. The fees and interest are very high and can’t keep up. The loans keep hitting my bank account and I am charged 100-150 dollar in fees every two weeks. I also sent letters the the online payday loan companies to revoke ACH transactions, but they keep trying to take money that’s not in my account. I also wrote a letter to my bank and called them requesting that they stop all ACH transactions on my account, but they won’t do it, they tell me it cost to stop each transaction, which I don’t even have in my account, so that means I would be paying in fees every two weeks to stop each ACH transaction. The bank was willing to waive some fees, but it will just go up again once they debit my account again. My bank said that my account will close in 15 days and that it will be reported to chex systems. Should I just wait for my account to close and be sent to a collection agency, so the overdraft fees will come to an end and work out a payment plan. How do I get out of Payday Hell? I also have 2000 in credit card debt. I talk to an attorney to view my bankruptcy options and they said I need to be at least 00 in debt. What do you suggest I do.
I already tried to close out my bank account they won’t let me close it or freeze it.

I’ve been considering bankruptcy for a couple years now, but I was nervous about it. I had a car repossessed in May 2009, and have a lot of school loan debt. I know I can’t claim bankruptcy on school loan debt, and I’m in the process of consolidating all of that so I can get back to school soon. I have some credit card debt, but not enough to go through one of those loan helping programs, and the rest is medical or from the repossession. I know that the first thing I probably need to do is find a lawyer. I’ve searched online for a few, but how do I know who is the best? If I contact them, what kind of information do I need to have ready to give them? I work nights so I would call a lawyer first thing in the morning before I go to bed, and I only really have one, maybe two days a week I can realistically meet with them.

I am recently divorced and the reason for my divorce was due to my wife obtaining numerous credit cards on line im my name, she then maxed them out and didn’t make payments on them. When I found out the cards existed the interest rates had went out of sight and late fees had became enormous. Due to the divorce and the credit card debt I turned the credit cards and one personal loan over to Consumer Credit Counseling Service. This is still a strain on my budget. I bring home 3,700 dollars a month and my total debt that I turned over to the credit counselors is now 18,700 dollars. After I pay my rent, child support (which is the mortgage on the house my x wife lives in), car payment, a home equity line payment, and other monthly bills I only have approximately 360 dollars left for groceries and gas, and other emergency expenses. Would I be a good candidate for bankruptcy, or does anyone know a better option?

I found a means test online and I took it, I did it two ways, with our income at the moment and our income in the last 6 months. Depending on how I did it, we either had a negative amount of money as disposable income (last six months) or we had a very low amount of disposable income (8) future 6 months. It said I passed the means test both times, of course I’m not positive if I did it right but I just went with what they had as deductions. If you are below the Median for your state and you pass the means test, will you automatically qualify for chapter 7? We have no assets except for a car we are still paying on. I do have an appointment with an attorney, I would just like to know what to expect.
And I know bankruptcy is looked down on, but we are desperate for some relief, we have had some bad luck and paying for everything we owe is just no longer an option. Only about a 1/5 of it is credit card debt.

I have mounds of credit card debt, a car that I owe more then I could sell it for, and a house that is in the same condition – and our income has taken a hit and I can no longer afford to make payments.

I am considering Bankruptcy. What would happen to all this debt? What are the major differences between Ch.11 and 13?

I live in Texas, if that helps.

10 points to best answer with a reference link.

Right now, I have no means of paying it off. If I were to get funding to go to college, and then be able to make more money, will I still have that debt for the rest of my life? If I wait to pay it until after I get a degree, the fines and interest will be even worse than they are now. I have read that I can’t discharge credit card debt through bankruptcy. What do people do when they lose income from a spouse through divorce or death? How can they ever get past their debt when credit cards are in their name?

I have ,000 credit card debt and i get lot of calls from collection agencies but i never pick up the phone and ignore the answering machine. I also ignore letters from creditors.

I will be filing chapter 7 bankruptcy within one week. Someone told me that if you ignore collection calls and letters, then they automatically pull the money out of your bank account.

So i withdrew all the money i had in my bank and keep cash at home. Am I over-reacting or do they really pull money out of your account electronically if you ignore their calls?

I’m beginning to fall behind on some bills, and despite having a full time and part time job, I can’t seem to make end’s meet.

I was looking at my budget and noticed that if I didn’t have my car payment and insurance to worry about every month, I could get myself out of this hole. Besides, I ride my motorcycle more than I ride my car.

I was thinking of giving the car back for a voluntary repossession, but a friend said that a repossession is a repossession and it may be worse than a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

Are they correct? What would you do?

p.s. I know that some of you will recommend that I just cut back on expenses, but I’ve already done this for months. I’m eating bread and those instant noodles, and I never go out. I’ve become an anti-social hermit. All of my money goes to bills.

Also, will my employers be alerted if I get a repo or bankruptcy? This would be extremely humiliating.
I owe more on my car than it’s worth. A few thousand more.
I’ve consolidated my credit card debt but am still in this predicament.

I work for a non-profit who is really struggling because of the economy. I am certain that the CEO will have to layoff some of the staff off in the coming months. I am not too worried about my job, however I am thinking it wouldn’t be the worst thing if I were to lose my job.

My husband and I lost our house to foreclosure a few months ago. We had a bad loan and ran up a lot of debt because we could not afford our mortgage without using credit cards to pay for everyday expenses like food and utilities. Now the 2nd mortgage has sent us a collections letter for the deficiency of k.

We were planning on seeing a bankruptcy attorney this week, because at this point our credit is already ruined. But, because of our combined income, we do not qualify for Chapter 7 and would have to pay a chunk of our debt back anyway.

I was thinking maybe I could voluntarily resign from my job. If I am not working I will have more time to go back to school next semester, full-time. Money will be really tight, but we are living with my mother-in-law right now so we don’t have any rent to pay, just some of the utilities.

In six months we can revisit the bankruptcy option and then we will qualify for Chapter 7 with my husband’s income alone. Here are some numbers: We owe about k in credit card debt alone. I will net about k in the next 6 months. Is it even worth it?

Please don’t judge me, I don’t need any rude comments from anyone. Yes, I realize that I am posting my dirty laundry online, but this is not my whole detailed story, just enough info to maybe get some much needed advice.

Thank you in advance.

I am finding it impossible to pay the 8.00 amount due each month on my bankruptcy- chapter 13. The debt is credit card debt. can they put a lien on my house.

I have never done this before. I have been self sufficient my entire life up until this past year. I just can’t do it anymore. Nobody will hire me for anything. I am over-qualified & underskilled.
Starting fresh seems to be the best route. I will still be responsible for my student loan debt, but at least my credit card debt will be gone. My question is, how do I know who is trustworthy to deal with this. Everyone and their mother does debt consolidation and bankruptcies. Also, I know declaring bankruptcy isn’t free. What do they do if you can’t pay the fees associated with that? I don’t know what other option I have other than not doing anything and going to collections and being harassed over the phone, and that isn’t an option for me. I also have crappy luck, and would love to hear peoples experiences on how they got through difficult financial times after a bankruptcy when a credit card would normally handle that.
Thanks for the response: Just to clarify. My creditors won’t work with me unless I have sustainable income coming in. I could be working for .00 an hour and they would help me. Having nothing means they won’t help. Makes no sense because you can’t get blood from a stone. All I ever wanted from them was a lower payment.

Non-secured loans, lawsuits, judgments, credit card debt?

Are any of the above exempt from a chapter 13 bankruptcy?

I know student and government loans are, but I need to know about the above. Thanks in advance for your answers.

I cannot find work and I have over 20K in credit card debt. What will happen to the cars I own if I file for chapter 7 bankruptcy? They are my only assets. I will be filing in the state of California. I am single and a non home owner.
I have had my 73 bronco for sell for almost a year now. No one is buying. What would that mean?

After trying to find ways to be able to take care of our responsibilities we have come to the last resort and that is to file bankruptcy. We don’t own any homes or any real property. what I am curious about is which is better chapter 7 or chapter 13. We want to be able to start saving a soon as it done and when feesible start rebuilding credit. Our credit card debt is only 00 which is a lot, but it could be worse. We just had two bad years with this one being the worse. I am looking for advice on the best way to go between the two. Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 and why.

We are not happy about doing this as we have tried everything. We don’t have anything of value and we have tried to pawn stuff but couldn’t get .00 for most. We live very modestly. So please do not answer this question if you are going to be negative.

Thank you so much. We want to do the right thing so we can start over and never have to do this again.
Thank you so much for all that has given advice so far. I guess I need to add just a few details to make the situation clearer.

As I stated it has been a bad 2 years, actually almost 3 years. I got real sick and had to leave my job and am now on disability. My husband took on a second job a year ago. He pays child support. Between the two of us we have 5 kids between the ages of 9-16. We have two vehicles, which one is in the shop. We also are surrendering this vehicle.
We have an attorney and he is recommending chapter 13. I (we) have a lot of medical bills. After I had to leave my job I couldn’t afford the cobra payments for continued health insurance. To maintain health insurance with my husbands employment (state worker) would have cost more than the cobra payments.
My ex- husband filed bankruptcy and I did not know that anything he had when we were together, came back to me.
I never thought I would get sick and have to quit work. I was not prepared.

I have a friend that has over 000 in credit card debt.He makes approx/ 000/year.He has conferred with an attorney who has told him he needs to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy.Would it be better to file bankruptcy or charge off the credit cards?Which one would take the shortest timeline to be removed from his credit ?He just can’t continue at the rate he is going now ,trying to pay the minimum payments on his cards and pay other debts as well(mortgage,auto,utilities,etc)He is desperate and needs some insight.

How is disposable income determined in a Chapter 13? In the scenario, there would currently be ,000.00 in credit card debt with current minimum monthly payments of 00.00 (4%). In a Chapter 13 after housing payments are factored in along with normal living expenses; there would be about 0.00 per month left over as disposable income. Is this the only amount (0.00) you would be required to pay per month to the Trustee during the 5 year period? Any insight would be appreciated.

I’m very behind in all my bills and have lots of debt (excluding credit card debt) and am considering filing chapter 13. I have already been to the .gov website and read up on a lot of information about filing and everything.

What I was wanting help with is I’d like to hear from people who have already filed chapter 13 bankruptcy and are currently in their 3-5 year repayment plan or people who have come out of it already.
I can read information all day long but theres nothing like hearing from people who have already been through it. Was it worth it? Pros? Cons? Any advice? Thoughts?

Anything would help and be greatly appreciated.

I’m very behind in all my bills and have lots of debt (excluding credit card debt) and am considering filing chapter 13. I have already been to the .gov website and read up on a lot of information about filing and everything.

What I was wanting help with is I’d like to hear from people who have already filed chapter 13 bankruptcy and are currently in their 3-5 year repayment plan or people who have come out of it already.
I can read information all day long but theres nothing like hearing from people who have already been through it. Was it worth it? Pros? Cons? Any advice? Thoughts?

Anything would help and be greatly appreciated.

Wife and I married 2005, both RN’s, nice budget. Wife ill for year, cured. Bliss? No, depression now. Told new hubby "If you work *more* overtime we’ll get by, don’t you care?" If I asked "part-time job," "I’m hurting and all you care about is you! Don’t you think I already feel bad about not having a job? You’re heartless!" *tears* Debt grew with struggle to give wife best…always having faith hope was right around corner. Had to be; love believes such things. 2nd year’s end I was stressed; grumpy; foolishly abusing Adderall (ironically her excuse for affair–I lost in trying to keep!) for energy to do overtime, housework, errands, everything. Wanted acceptance desperately! Paid well for my sacrifice: Jobless male playing online games all day told her how bad she had it, how worthless I was. Good listener, sensitive, sexual, paid well: care = phone sex (with me at work). Began finding. Worst fear realized. I moved out. Lost mind, job (6/07-1/08), suicidal. They met, did a lot. A lot.
Had full 8 month affair, ate me alive, lived to tell. Now alone at 28. ,000 credit card debt, 4 cards. ,000 secured loans. Student loans. Held good job 3 mo. now, making 22.50/hour, 50+ hrs/week. Bring about 0 net in weekly, should be a lot, but isn’t. She wont work. Advice? Want to avoid bankruptcy… Afraid and lonely. If they begin garnishing my wages, I’m as good as gone.
Hmm… Hope is a difficult thing to come by. Rarer still are those who are able to offer it. Thank you, Mags, I appreciate it. Craig…while you were typing, didn’t something in your mind whisper "I, uh, think he’s figured that out." By the way, before marriage I had perfect credit, large savings (bought her a ,000 engagement ring, paid off), and excellent spending habits. While of course I can’t blame others for my financial mire, looking deeper into the complexity of the situation might help you answer questions more efficiently. Oh, finally, for the first guy — no worries, I’ve got a job. Average time between being crushed by an affair and working is a year. I did it in 8 months. Wohoo! As it says above, RN work for .50/hr and putting in 50+ hour weeks. Thanks all!