341 this Thursday (6/16) & unexpected news!

[InDebtInMD]

Well, my wife and I are having the 341 this Thursday. Of course I'm nervous that the Trustee is going to hammer me on my expenses, or make me get my house appraised. Tjose are really the only two things I'm worried about. No big recent purchases, no cash advances for a long time. I do have a few signature loans from last Nov/Dec. We'll see.

However, my wife and I got some news this evening that was a bit unexpected. She hasn't been feeling well the past few days and tonight we found out that child #3 is on the way.

We already have two children (aged 5 and 1) and were planning on another, but not exactly right now. But, I am happy - maybe this will be the girl!

Oh well, I told my wife that at least this time we should be able to save and not have to go into more debt during the maternity leave (assuming things go OK Thursday, and then on through the discharge)

I guess the only 'problem' is that our house is already full with the 4 of us (3 bedrooms) and we will not be in a position to move for a while, certainly not before the baby gets here.

I guess I could always get one of those 'kennel' cribs from Ikea

[davidb81]

I would mention that at the meeting that you are expecting a child Because that will definately affect your expenses!

[InDebtInMD]

I was thinking about that - I'll keep it as a fallback position in case things start to head south...

Thing is, we don't have anything other than our word at this point since this is based on a home test - my wife doesn't see the doctor until a few weeks. Not sure if a trustee would need something in writing from a doctor.

I honestly think that we should be OK. We have such an enormous amount of unsecured debt ($140k) that the trustee would have to be able to get way more than I think he could for our house, we he to make us sell it. Last appraisal was 200k, we owe 198.5k.

As far as expenses are concerned, I have $900 a month for childcare (2 kids, 2 days per week) that I'm worried about. Not the amount, because I got that off of the brochure from the place we will be using in the fall, based on our needs once my oldest goes to Kindergarten in the fall. But if the trustee asks for receipts we don't have any since my Mom has been helping us out with that (but she is 69 and won't be doing this for much longer)

But you are correct, my expenses will be going up!

[Minnymouth]

You mentioned "childcare" for $900.00 starting this fall. Did you list this on your expenses?? And state that it starts in Sept.? If not you should have...
And yes I would mention that I have 2 children and another on the way when they ask about the $900.00 a month for childcare.
Anything you have paid a parent or they had done "free gratis" will not count if you have no receipts.
Be honest and upfront in reporting, it's too your advantage. Trustee finds things not reported or not correct it will only extend your case longer.
Good luck to ya, and congrads on the new addition if that's the case! (never seen a kid show up as "good-timing), lol
Minny :p

[InDebtInMD]

Well, our 341 is over.

The trustee had questions about the value of our house, but between the lawyer and myself I think we provided him with enough documentation.

The US Trustee showed up and had a few questions for us as well. She asked us a few question about our expenses:

1. We had a $75/mo expense for offsite storage. She wanted to know what we stored there. We truthfully answered that is is baby things we are not currently using.

2. She did ask about the 900/mo for the childcare. I told her we would be paying this starting in Aug once my son starts Kindergarten. I supplied her with the rate sheet from the daycare place we will be using.

3. She also wanted some recent paystubs to verify our income.

4. She was nice enough, and said that our case was flagged because of the high amount of debt.

5. The other trustee had previously ask how we got into this mess, and after detailing our poor financial decisions I told him we went to CCCS for counseling, and that they recommended that we see a lawyer. The US trustee later commented that she was glad we did that.

6. I had mentioned to our lawyer while waiting that we were expecting another child. Our lawyer mentioned that we were expecting another child when they asked if my wife was going back to work full time anytime soon.

I think it went OK, even considering the US trustee showed up. We gave her everything she asked for (my lawyer had the tax returns). Hopefully they will have mercy on us and not try to force us into a 13.

[tdooders]

They flagged you because of how much debt you had? How much debt were you discharging? we had a huge amount and we are now two weeks out before our last date for objections.

[InDebtInMD]

$140,000 and change. Pretty much all unsecured credit cards. How it got so ridiculously high is we would use the 'convenience' checks from one credit card and pay others with it.

I think one year (98?) we charged $3500 in taxes owed to the Feds. We also charged 3 or 4k of college tuition (again, back in 98 and 99) for my wife.

Oh yeah, I was upside-down on a car I needed to get rid of back in 2001 because we could not afford the payment, so I charged the $2k needed to pay off the note.

Not to mention all the various car repairs over the year that we never had the money for since we did no budgeting.

Lets also not forget two maternity leaves - we went into some debt to pay the bills during each of those.

But no big screen TVs, no Carribbean vacations, etc.

Anyone have any idea what the threshold would be to make a Ch13 payback for that amount of debt worthwhile (for the creditors)?

[tdooders]

And I thought we had a huge amount. Ours was $116,000. All unsecured credit cards and a huge MBNA loan for $40,000. Which we paid back the $40,000 over 5 years but they still wanted $40,000 in interest. Ours was 15 years in the making. Everytime we tried to get out of debt we got further and further into it until it was impossible to handle.

[AnnieG]

InDebtinMD:
We are in the same boat. We have $130K in unsecured debt. And we have similar experiences that go back 20-years; the ole' robbing Peter to pay Paul and not having any savings to covered unexpected expenses.
To add to our misery, we were defrauded by a debt termination company that increased our debt by about $20,000 due to non-payment.
Our lawyer is telling us it's a risk to try Ch.7, but we're not sure what we're going to do yet.
Will be watching for any updates from you...
take care!

$140,000 and change. Pretty much all unsecured credit cards. How it got so ridiculously high is we would use the 'convenience' checks from one credit card and pay others with it.

I think one year (98?) we charged $3500 in taxes owed to the Feds. We also charged 3 or 4k of college tuition (again, back in 98 and 99) for my wife.

Oh yeah, I was upside-down on a car I needed to get rid of back in 2001 because we could not afford the payment, so I charged the $2k needed to pay off the note.

Not to mention all the various car repairs over the year that we never had the money for since we did no budgeting.

Lets also not forget two maternity leaves - we went into some debt to pay the bills during each of those.

But no big screen TVs, no Carribbean vacations, etc.

Anyone have any idea what the threshold would be to make a Ch13 payback for that amount of debt worthwhile (for the creditors)?

[InDebtInMD]

Why is Ch7 a risk for you? Do you have a lot of property that exceeds your exemptions.

As far as exemption are concerned, I think we are in good shape.

We have a Minivan we are paying on and curent, it is worth perhaps $1000 LESS than what we owe.

I drive an 11-yr-old car that is paid off, but only worth ~$1000 according to KBB, but it needs about $500 worth of work very soon.

My house appraised for $200k last summer when we refinanced and combined the original mortgage and Home Equity loan. We received about $7000 of cash from that which subsidized our budget (i.e., paid the credit cards) for a few months. As of right now, we owe maybe $198.5k

I do have a 401k worth $12 or $13k, but I'm not sure if that counts against our allowable exemptions ($24000 in MD). My lawyer included it as part of the exemptions.

I guess it went OK, my lawyer seemed to think so. We didn't get caught in any lies or inconsistencies. I just have an uneasy feeling.

I guess the worst thing that will happen is they could try and make us do a 13. Not what I would prefer, but it is better than our situation before we filed bankruptcy.

[marko56]

Congratulations and best wishes!

[InDebtInMD]

Congratulations and best wishes!

Thank you!