Should I keep making my cc payments?

[Emmy]

We were planning and could keep making our cc minumum payments up until when we plan to file in 6 months. It would be very hard and we would be scraping by just to pay for gas and food but it's possible.

We are below median income but will still have to file the Schedule I and J to figure our disposable income. If schedule J is real cost determined by receipts of your bills and not counting credit card payments, how do you get around what you are currently paying on cc's so that it's not counted as disposable income?

Is schedule J determined by a monthly average of the 6 previous months worth of bills you've paid?
Should we quit paying on the cc's so that we have proof that our entire income is going to essentials?
What months do you have to show receipts for?
Is it possible to put food and gas estimates on J without reciepts?
We are also planning on keeping our vehicles, so do we count the one car payemnt on J?

What do I do?? Sorry for so many questions. I feel like I just can't relax until I know what to do. I hate this. I swear if we come through this ok I will never own another cc.


I'm also terrified of getting pushed into a chapter 13 and being in the same boat we are in now! We our $1500 negative by the means test but since we are below median it's all going to come down to J and I and the disposable income.

If we are allowed to count the car payment on the J form then after rent and all normal bills we are left with 700-800 for everything else. So we are looking at $175-200 a week for food/gas/clothes/household goods/car keep up for a family of 4.

We don't spend that now because we can't afford it but we would if we had no cc payments. Good Lord I ramble when I'm nervous, sorry about that.

[HHM]

We were planning and could keep making our cc minumum payments up until when we plan to file in 6 months. It would be very hard and we would be scraping by just to pay for gas and food but it's possible.

We are below median income but will still have to file the Schedule I and J to figure our disposable income. If schedule J is real cost determined by receipts of your bills and not counting credit card payments, how do you get around what you are currently paying on cc's so that it's not counted as disposable income?

Is schedule J determined by a monthly average of the 6 previous months worth of bills you've paid?
Should we quit paying on the cc's so that we have proof that our entire income is going to essentials?
What months do you have to show receipts for?
Is it possible to put food and gas estimates on J without reciepts?
We are also planning on keeping our vehicles, so do we count the one car payemnt on J?

What do I do?? Sorry for so many questions. I feel like I just can't relax until I know what to do. I hate this. I swear if we come through this ok I will never own another cc.


I'm also terrified of getting pushed into a chapter 13 and being in the same boat we are in now! We our $1500 negative by the means test but since we are below median it's all going to come down to J and I and the disposable income.

If we are allowed to count the car payment on the J form then after rent and all normal bills we are left with 700-800 for everything else. So we are looking at $175-200 a week for food/gas/clothes/household goods/car keep up for a family of 4.

We don't spend that now because we can't afford it but we would if we had no cc payments. Good Lord I ramble when I'm nervous, sorry about that.

You have a hodgepodge of questions here...

1. Technically, you don't really need reciepts to show for Schedule I and J, but its a good idea to have them, incase any issues arise.

2. You count your car payment and rent in Schedule J. You don't count Credit Card Payments under any circumstances on Schedule J.

3. I posted this in another thread, but it applies here

As for garnishment, the creditors would have to sue you first, get a judgement against you, etc, etc. You can be delinquent on your credit cards for 12 to 18 MONTHS before anyone will even start to "think" about suing you. So I wouldn't worry about garnishment. (granted, if you stop paying, it won't do any wonders for your credit, but you need to get your priorities).

Typically, if a person does not have enough money to pay expenses, I recommend two things (1) evaluate your lifestyle and expenses, i.e. do you need both a land line phone and a cell phone (no), do you need super fast internet access (try down grading to the next level), do you need all the cool expanded cable channels (no, try down grading to the minimum), do you need the extra lean sirloin ground beef, or can you get buy with regular, DON'T eat out, DON'T pay bills on credit, down grade your auto insurance to minimum liability, minimize your per-paycheck tax withholding by claiming the maximum exemptions, cancel all magazine and newspaper subscriptions (or atleast don't renew them), go to the grocery store ONLY ONCE per week; this saves on gas and forces you to plan you meals, the trick is you must force yourself not to go back during the week for little things (the little things add up), brew your own coffe (or stop drinking coffee), no alcohol, cancel gym memberships (depending on the cancelation penalty) and take-up walking or running, make sure your bank does not charge you fees on your checking or savings account, if they do, try to get that changed, or switch banks, (2) if tightening the reins and adjusting your lifestyle won't work, and honestly, for most people considering BK, it won't be enough...then I recommend that you stop making payment on unsecured credit cards. Honestly, you may have no choice, and its the least damaging option and can buy you some time. Unless you can make more money, there really isn't anything else you can do.

However, once you stop paying your credit cards, you are essentially committing yourself to filing BK at some point...so just understand that fact.

Incidently, are you current on your car payment?

[Emmy]

Thank you so much for the response!!
Everything this month is caught up including the car. I would like to keep making the cc payments until we file, I just don't want them to come back and bite me in the butt and count them as disposable income.

Right now after paying all of our bills we are left with less than a $100 dollars for food and gas for the week. We almost always end up needing more food or gas by Wed. I know that we won't have any disposable income after filling out J based on what we would normally spend without having to make cc payments. I'm just worried about having to prove if it we our making cc payments instead of buying more of the essentials that we really need. Does that make sense?

I think I should stop paying the cc a month or two before we file so I will have the reciepts to show for normal expenses without cc payments figured in. What do you think?

[SinkingFast]

We are below median income but will still have to file the Schedule I and J to figure our disposable income. If schedule J is real cost determined by receipts of your bills and not counting credit card payments, how do you get around what you are currently paying on cc's so that it's not counted as disposable income?

If we are allowed to count the car payment on the J form then after rent and all normal bills we are left with 700-800 for everything else. So we are looking at $175-200 a week for food/gas/clothes/household goods/car keep up for a family of 4.

We don't spend that now because we can't afford it but we would if we had no cc payments. Good Lord I ramble when I'm nervous, sorry about that.

We were paying our CC's minimums and charging food, gasoline, and other living expenses.

We had to stop paying the CC's to know how much it costs to live every month.

You've gotta learn what your actual costs to live are. Maybe the only way to do that is stop paying the CC's and pay cash for everything.

Don't worry about being nervous. We've all been there. We're either going thru the nerves now or we did in the past.

[keepmine]

The day you decide to file, is the day you quit paying those cards.
That's money down a rathole. Use the money for ordinary living expenses .
As others pointed out in your other thread, there are any number of things you can use that money as opposed to wasting it on debt that will be discharged.