I just want to die!!!

[drowningindebt1]

So, I have tons of questions. Last year at this time we were only $12,000 in debt, yes, I said only. This year we are about 100,000 in debt. I have a private student loan for $20,000, $80,000 in credit card debt. Our house was $240,000, we bought two years ago, now it has declined in value. About for 8 months my husband was out of work. His company went bankrupt and I used about $60,000 to pay mortgage, food, etc. He now has found a new job, where he doesn't pay taxes, until the end of the year, he works for himself. We make about $6,800 a month. Our bills, gas, food, everything comes to $7,300 a month. My biggest concern was that I lied on the credit card application, I had an unsecured loan for $40,000 from Bank of america, I said that I was making a lot more money than I actually was, could this be considered fraud? Does anybody know what I would need to actually file for the bankruptcy, should we file chapter 7 or chapter 11? any help is greatly appreciated, thanks

[AngelinaCat]

Hi Honey:

Welcome to the forum. You will find a lot of support here. First piece of advice is to go to nolopress.com and buy their C7 book. They have a print as well as an online downloadable version. It is well worth the money and cost about half of what it would in your local retail bookstore. That way you will have a 'textbook' as it were, and you can use it to help you plan for your BK. Yes, you read right, you must plan. Most likely you will be talking to 3-5 BK attorneys in their free consults before you decide on one. Learning as much as you can will help YOU be in charge of your affairs.

You have a student loan I see--that will not be dischargeable--you need to know that now.

On your credit card application--you exaggerated a bit. From another thread that is here and I have read that isn't that big of a problem--just let any attorney you are considering know that you exaggerated some. From what I remember of the other thread, it did not seem to be a problem. After all incomes can fluctuate and generally the best you give on a CC application is a round figure anyway.

I’ve done a quick search of the forum and came up with this thread, which is the most current. I think it well help ease your mind a bit.:

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=28695&highlight=lied+application

Good luck to you!

[JRScott]

With the application for the credit being within the last year there is a chance that they still have the application on hand and yes they might use it against you. However your lawyer can equally argue that they should have verified your income which they did not do obviously. As Cat says this is something you need to reveal to the lawyer up front so that he is aware and can formulate a defense.

As you move on this process you need to really evaluage whether or not keeping the home is a wise investment. If you are already upside down then I suggest you consider letting the home go. This is particularly true if the payment is more than 25% of your Gross Household Income now. This is where planning comes into the equation, as you might need to look for another place.

[fltoo]

Please, please when you stop paying your credit cards, put some money away for income taxes. They are not dischargeable in the near future and owing Uncle Sam is far worse.