Ok, new thread with new questions

[CC_n_CA_Hater]

[FoolAndHisMoney]

They probably will count your overtime as extra income, but you look like you may still qualify for a chapter 7. You can keep both cars in a 13, but not in a 7. You have to pay in a 13 the value of your non exempt assets.

As far as you being below the median income you probably would qualify for a 3 year chapter 13 as debtors filing a 13 below the median income maybe allowed this, unless your non exempt assets exceed the 3 year disposable income test.

As we all hear a lot that if you have at least $100 they can throw you into a chapter 13 and that isn't entirely true depending upon your total amount of unsecured debts. If you have between $100-$166 you still will qualify for a chapter 7 because unsecured creditors won't get a reasonable distribution. If the $100-$166 multiplied by 60 will cover at least 25% of your unsecured debts then you would have to go into a chapter 13. For the 13 trustee to collect $100 a month from you and give $6000 over 5 years (less administrative costs) that's too small an amount to pay down $52000 in debts. That's why there are 3 parts to the test and the median income is only the 1st part. Seems like an incentive for people to owe A LOT.

[CC_n_CA_Hater]

Well, if I can pay $300 per month, over a 5 year period, thats $18000, about 35% of my debt. I really don't want to take a chance with filing ch. 7. I've been living in this same place for 9 years and it would hurt pretty bad to lose it.

[FoolAndHisMoney]

Well, if I can pay $300 per month, over a 5 year period, thats $18000, about 35% of my debt. I really don't want to take a chance with filing ch. 7. I've been living in this same place for 9 years and it would hurt pretty bad to lose it.

The whole percentage "%" thing doesn't work like that. The way it works if you are above your states median income and if your disposable income is $100 then you will qualify for a 7. If it's from $101 to $166 and this covers less then 25% of you unsecured debts then you qualify for a 7. If it's at least 25% or more of you debts then you will be in a 5 year chapter 13. If it's $167 or more then it's a 5 year plan. Sound confusing?

Since you want to go into a chapter 13 your plan needs to be feasable to get it approved. If you don't have the disposable income they may deny it. Your lawyer can best answer this. He may also figure out a "legal" way to exempt your equity. Good luck.

Look at the chart below:

http://www.bankruptcyaction.com/questions.htm

[GoingDown]

Well, I'm torn between filing now or waiting about 6 months to a year to see how much OT I will get at my new job. Whats the worst that can happen if I put off filing for 6 more months?

I'm thinking a CC or CA may try to get a judgement against me in a lawsuit and put a lien on my place. My wages are 100% protected from garnishment so this would be their only option. Is there anything I can do to hold them off for a while? The OT at work will slow down by summer since they should have enough employees by then. I'd hate to file ch. 13 when I first start that job working 8-16 hrs of OT each week and the trustee sets my payment kinda high, and then the OT stops.

If they did put a lien on my place, can't it be rmoved when I file for BK protection?

The worst that could happen would be getting judgments against you, followed by garnishment of wages and also draining your checking account down to zero. Start using only cash and money orders to pay things, stop using checks and debit cards, and clear all of the money out of your checking/savings/etc. accounts.

I'm not sure whether the lien would be released or not, maybe one of the other forum members can answer that, but if you don't have much equity in your house right now, then you might qualify for a homestead exemption which would prevent creditors from being able to take your house from you. In Arizona, there is an automatic homestead exemption up to $100,000 of equity. It varies from state to state.

How are your wages protected 100% from garnishment? I thought the rule on that was only the amount at or below 30 times the minimum wage per week was exempt, unless you are the head of a household and have dependent children to support, etc.? But even if they can garnish your wages, they can only take a certain percentage of them. Of course, your employer might get a bit upset when he or she gets served with garnishment orders because it is a lot of extra paperwork for them.

Edit: Here's a link to some of the exemptions for Arizona... http://www.doney.net/ex-az.htm

[GoingDown]

I closed my checking account. I'm going to open another one just so I can get my checks cashed each week and get a debit card. I'll probably keep a balance of about $75 max. Since I've been w/o a debit card for over a month, I've realized how convenient those little suckers are. But ya, I'm just going to use money orders to pay bills. I hope the trustee doesn't see doing this as suspicious when I go before them. No paper trail of my funds coming in and going out might look fishy.

Oh, heres the different state wage garnishment info

http://www.bcsalliance.com/y_debt_statelaws_garnishments.html

and I have a $5000 homestead exemption with around $8000-$10,000 equity.

There's nothing wrong with using cash and money orders. Just keep receipts so the trustee can see what you spent your money on. I've heard that as long as you only have one checking account, and it doesn't have more than $150 in it, then creditors can't seize it, but I'm not sure if that is true or not, so I just use money orders and cash.

This is a question to the other members of the forum-- what is the rule on that? Can creditors with a judgment seize a checking account with less than $150 in it?