Anyone filed maily because of a failed business and related debt?

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

If so, would you share your experiences?

[petej]

Why? Are you in the same situation?

Well for me, I have owned a fairly successful contracting business for over 20 years. Sometimes tight and sometimes flush, just going with the normal ups and downs of being a business owner. But it provided an over all good life for me and my family.

Over the past few years business has been a little tighter. Me, with my rose colored glasses and many years doing business just felt that things would improve, as it always has in the past. Accumulated more debt...then more, just to keep things going. No problem, I'll pay it off as a have always done in the past. Just the cost of doing business.

Then over the past 9 months the phones stopped ringing! People are holding on tight to their money more so than I have ever seen. Took some big projects at almost cost...just to keep things moving. Took some others at a loss. Had to start letting a few guys go that have been with me over 10 years.

23 years in business..now in BK. My succinct story...

Pete

[halomom]

I purchased a franchise fall of 2006 and financed part of it with those trusty "3.9 percent guaranteed for the life of the loan" convenience checks. When things didn't grow as fast as expected I took out a second mortgage on my house. The cc companies didn't like my new debt ratio and even though I was current and had never been late they jacked up my interest rates to an impossible to pay 29.9 percent. Even my car insurance went up! Backed into a corner I ended up in bk and back in corporate life.

[justplaintired]

Basically we have one full time job with a manufacturing co (DH), one small part time job (me) and 2 part time contractor jobs. My field I have been in for over 20+ years has gotten slower in recent years. My basic training has always been in this field. This helped push us here, along with DH full time job cutting O/T and increasing health insurance payments. I guess you would say our income hasn't kept pace with the economy so here we are waiting to file. I only pray that we are making the right decision, I honestly don't see any other way. With this economy I really don't know what else we can do. So even though neither of our small contractor jobs have gone under, we are holding on to the hope they will pick up someday.

So it is a combination of alot of stuff for us, but our business income from self employment definitely played a role in this mess we are.