new to forum, PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!!

[kaliangel08]

Hello everyone i am new to this forum and so glad that i have found it. so here is my story....

i am 24 years of age and i am in $80000 of debt. I am seriously thinking about filing for bankruptcy, actually i am pretty sure i am going to try and file a chapter 7. $25000 of my debt is a personal unsecured loan from bank of america that i took out in july of 2006. my first problem is that i was in college and i lied on the application to get the loan because i really needed the money to consolidate other credit cards while in college. I think i put that i made about $100000 a year when i really made like $15000, is that going to be a fraud issue? the rest of the $55000 is unsecured credit card debt that definatley got out of hand.

Around 12/2007 i enrolled myself in a debt settlement company and stopped paying my credit card bills and my personal loan so that i could settle the debt as i had the money. the company i enrolled in said that i was on a 48 month plan and that in 48 months i would be debt free through their settlement process. I settled my first card in 2/2008. it was a citicard that i owed $4900 and they settled for $2736 for 12 monthly payments with my last payment in 2/2009. At the time that i stopped paying my credit cards i had 2 credit cards that i had not used that had a zero balance. So fast forwad to present day, i have not paid a dime to any of my cards that i enrolled in the program but i did charge about $1000 on each of my 2 cards that were not enrolled and have been paying the minimums.

I also forgot to mention that i did about a $6000 cash advance on one of my credit cards in 11/2007 before i enrolled in the program and stopped paying back in 12/2007. so anyways now that i have rambled on and hopefully made sense and gave you a background of my situation i have a couple questions.

1) since i lied on my personal loan application am i going to get in trouble for fraud?

2) it has been almost a year since i quit paying my cc bills (except for the 2 smaller cards) and i am wondering if i likely to face a credit objection? I have been reading the forum and i saw that 90 days is usually the reccomendation but i am still worried?

3) I have also still been paying on my settlement each month and paying on the two smaller credit cards. Should i stop paying my settlement and my credit cards and wait another 90 days before i actually file?

I have so many questions that i could go forever and ever! I have 4 consoltations next week with four different attorneys so i am going to seek legal advice but i also wanted some feed back from people on the forum.

Just to add in i have no property at all except a chk and svg acct with nothing in it, i make about $32000 a year and i am a renter and as far as my family goes it is just me and my daughter in the home. I am starting to get really mean phone calls from collection agencies threatening to sue me and garnish my wages since i have no property which i definatley can not afford. I am at my wits end and feel as though i have exhausted all my options (which were limted to start with) and feel that bankrupcy is the best option so i can truly start over and never get myself into this situation again!

[StartingOver08]

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you have come to the right place.

First, I am not an attorney and your issue with the bank loan application is definately an issue you want to discuss with your attorney. Make sure to list your questions before you interview the attorney's. I would bring along a copy of the credit app you made to BOA if you can find it. This can be a real issue - so bring it up in the interview to find out how this can best be handled.

BTW, I think it is good that you have decided to take control of your situation now. You are going to need to get some funds together to retain an attorney. At least once the attorney is retained some of the calls will stop (because you provide your attorney contact info). You will need some time to fill out the paperwork required for the filing. So don't pay any of the cards, use that money for the attorney.

[Flamingo]

Bring up your issue as to fraudulently listing the amount of your income on your credit card application at your consultations. Do not hold it back. It may or may not be an issue but at your age listing $100,000 as income might be an issue if the creditor decides to check. Creditors love to hit the college students - my daughter was so bombarded by them when she arrived as a freshman - they offered her the moon, trash trinkets and even a card with a photo of the college on the front - LOL! Thankfully she did not fall for them but many did. Remember, people get rich off of your debt.

Take with you to your appointments a compolete listing of all your bills, monthly payments, sources of income, recent paystubs, asset listing and your most recent tax returns, state and federal. You will be advised what you can and cannot do as to your situation.

Also, commit now to breaking your credit habit/cycle now so you will not find yourself back at this point in several years.