need advice on debt and what to do

[indebt00]

oops

[aa06a47]

I guess with your own analysis of your financial situation, even under a chapter 7 you would only have 200/month for food / gas...I don't think you should worry about a 401K.

You need to take a good look at income / expenses. BK will eliminate the unsecured debt, but sounds like your going to be jumping from one bk to another if you don't figure out where the income drain is coming from. I hope you don't find this too critical.

I feel you need to take a look at your cars, your house, can you really afford them?

To answer your question, it seems to depend on the trustee. 401K loans, if you have any, are allowed to be paid back. Contributions to a 401k are not guaranteed. Some judges and trustees feel there is time after the bk to save, some think it is good to save while your in bk.

Good luck.

[anonymuse]

An attorney won't let you do a Ch 13 if you do not have enough disposable income for a repayment plan.

[indebt00]

We saw an attorney today for a consult...they didn't want to tell us much of anything without $990 up front.
so have another appt next week.

aa06a47....yes we looked at everything else that is causing a drain...yes mortgages (past mistakes) and cars are high. student loans too.
but we can't afford to move either. We couldn't even afford our own neighborhood with how high housing is right now. so that is not a viable option right now.

we are looking at other expenses to see where we can cut corners.

[Anj]

401k - I was only putting in 5% and they made me back it down - but not completely stop contributing.

[nervousSC]

You can put your student loans in forebearance and if you file a CH 13 they will get a portion of that (albeit small) if they file a claim. My loans are in forebearance for the duration of the CH 13 (5 years), but I can pay them if I have any "extra" money.....at least this is what my atty said...

[anonymuse]

indebt00,
Don't be sold on your first lawyer--shop around, this is an important decision to make and you could be dealing with this person for the next 3-5 years of your life. Go to a few free consults.

[indebt00]

nervousSC....we are out of all our forbearance time on the student loans. is there more if you are in ch13?

anonymuse....yes we will definately. thanks

[nervousSC]

From what I understand, in a Chapter 13 your student loans automatically go into forebearance. While the debts aren't discharged and interest keeps accruing, they are treated like unsecured creditors in the plan and get a few dollars a month (depending on your plan of course).

In my case I do not HAVE to pay my student loans while in my 13.

When you find a good lawyer to consult with ask him/her about this, they should know more details.

HTH

[JeepMom]

Not trying to be mean but seriously look at what you have. You just filed yourself and now your dh has too. I would tend to think you are living above your means.

I just got a mortgage. WAY less than what we qualify for. We are being sensible and living BELOW our means so we don't end up having to file again.

Let your dh file and seriously look at your life style and scale it back a little.

[bkbiker]

Nicely said jeepMom,

One sure way to get ahead is to live beneath your means and save, once I started cut back on my expenses and life style it just became normal.

Good luck, bkbiker

[SinkingFast]

We saw an attorney today for a consult...they didn't want to tell us much of anything without $990 up front.
so have another appt next week.

aa06a47....yes we looked at everything else that is causing a drain...yes mortgages (past mistakes) and cars are high. student loans too.
but we can't afford to move either. We couldn't even afford our own neighborhood with how high housing is right now. so that is not a viable option right now.

we are looking at other expenses to see where we can cut corners.

You'd be very surprised at what you can and cannot do when push comes to shove.

We were like you. House was eating us alive. But we couldn't move. Kids and the school and all. You know how it is.

Hubby got laid off. Found a new job. And we HAD to move. 600 miles to a different State.

Right now, you are limiting your possibilities with your own mind.

Chat with some Realtors. Find out what your house would sell for AS IS, no fix up, no money out of pocket, just some elbow grease and cleaning. You might be able to move to a very nice rental situation for less than what you currently pay in house payments. When something happens, you call the Landlord to fix it. No taxes. No insurance payments. All monies you won't have to spend out of pocket like you do now.

Can you sell/trade your cars for something less expensive with higher gas mileage??!! Lower monthly payments, more economical to operate, and probably cheaper to insure. Savings right there as well.

Those are major changes. I'm not gonna say they aren't. But I have to say, from personal experience as we've "Been There, Done That", they really do help. We're paying $400+/mo less for rent now than we used to pay in house payments. Figure in another $200/mo or so for upkeep and repairs. We sold our truck. $255/mo saved in payment alone. Add another $500/6 months savings on insurance. That right there is $900-$1K/month we're saving over what we used to spend.

It can be done. You've just got to be open to your options and different possibilities.

[indebt00]

Not trying to be mean but seriously look at what you have. You just filed yourself and now your dh has too. I would tend to think you are living above your means.

I just got a mortgage. WAY less than what we qualify for. We are being sensible and living BELOW our means so we don't end up having to file again.

Let your dh file and seriously look at your life style and scale it back a little.

I know you are trying to be helpful, but you are stating the obvious. We know these things. We are working on solutions and ch 13 is one of them, that is why I posted such personal info on this board, for help on BK, not to be chastised.

also..I may have made is sound as if our house/cars are fancy. NO. We drive sensible cars with ok pymt amts. We do live in an affordable house but have made past mistakes with a 2nd mortgage..making the mort higher.
Moving is not an option. We have been on our jobs for 4 and 10 yrs and life is stable here.
My past BK was due to job loss and 1 yr between jobs. I don't feel like I should have to post all this...but really don't want my spending habits judged.
We are all on this board in similar situations.

I also have to say the #1 thing that has caused our upside down acct is the new min pymt law and our cc's raising our % rates. We have had min pymt amts triple.
Well...we know our problems...like I said...am here for answers about ch 13.
thanks

[indebt00]

You'd be very surprised at what you can and cannot do when push comes to shove.

We were like you. House was eating us alive. But we couldn't move. Kids and the school and all. You know how it is.

Hubby got laid off. Found a new job. And we HAD to move. 600 miles to a different State.

Right now, you are limiting your possibilities with your own mind.

Chat with some Realtors. Find out what your house would sell for AS IS, no fix up, no money out of pocket, just some elbow grease and cleaning. You might be able to move to a very nice rental situation for less than what you currently pay in house payments. When something happens, you call the Landlord to fix it. No taxes. No insurance payments. All monies you won't have to spend out of pocket like you do now.

Can you sell/trade your cars for something less expensive with higher gas mileage??!! Lower monthly payments, more economical to operate, and probably cheaper to insure. Savings right there as well.

Those are major changes. I'm not gonna say they aren't. But I have to say, from personal experience as we've "Been There, Done That", they really do help. We're paying $400+/mo less for rent now than we used to pay in house payments. Figure in another $200/mo or so for upkeep and repairs. We sold our truck. $255/mo saved in payment alone. Add another $500/6 months savings on insurance. That right there is $900-$1K/month we're saving over what we used to spend.

It can be done. You've just got to be open to your options and different possibilities.

thanks for all the help. We have already found ways to save over $300 a month (as you said..push comes to shove and cable tv, etc doesn't seem so important). our cars are pretty economical/good gas mileage. and insurance isn't too bad compared to most.
We do not want to sell our house, it's modest, but has lots of TCL we have put in over the years to make it the house that we love today. small but fine with us.
We also have had to start paying on stud loans and that has really hurt too.
we have made mistakes and are not perfect, but we are learning.
we are investigating ch 13 to help us out too.

[$$only4ever]

When you file BK, your student loans are put on an administrative forebearance automatically and will be on an administrative forebearance as long as you are in BK. It doesn't matter if you have used all of your forebearance time. It is actually the lender that puts it on the forebearance. Administrative forebearance is unlimited and is granted by the lender's discretion.