Should I File?

[shell_741]

Hi, I am new to this forum and trying to decide if bankruptcy is my best option. I am single and have 2 children. I make abt $27,000 per year. My unsecured debt is abt $20,000, student loan with abt $2,500 balance yet. My home is a house trailer, paid $8,500 for it 6 years ago, paid off. My vehicle is a '92 Explorer, paid $3,000 for it 2 yrs ago, paid off.

Is there anyone here in a similar situation that can tell me how they handled their debt? Is ch 7 a realistic option? Losing my house/vehicle is not an option. Just looking into my best options to take care of this, not doing so well on my own trying to figure out what to do.

Thanks,
Michelle

[aa06a47]

Yes, you should file, your unsecured debt is 90% of your income. You should check and see how much exemption you get on your trailor, but I think you should be able to value it much lower than you paid.

[keepmine]

File Baby File!

[SinkingFast]

Welcome to the Forum, Shell!!

What State do you live in? That will help us help you decide.

We can help you check on your BK exemptions, Median Income, wage and other asset garnishment laws, Statute of Limitations on your CC's, and such.

Is all your unsecured debt, except the Student Loans, CC debt? When did you last charge? How long since you used a convenience check or took a cash advance? Are you still making, or trying to make payments to stay current? How much are your monthly minimums, total? Do you get any assistance or child support for the 2 children?

I know it sounds like a lot of personal info, but this really is pretty anonymous here. And with more info, we can help you better.

[shell_741]

I live in Ohio.

Not all unsecured debt is CC, only abt 4,200. The rest is consolidation type loans from MBNA and Beneficial, but I think they are considered the same as CC. Last convenience check was probably 6 mos ago, last cash advance was a month ago. The check was to pay bills, the cash advance was to buy shoes for the kids. There have been recent charges to the CC. All accounts are current, but making min payments.

No assistance other than free school lunches, and abt 2 child support payments of $100 each received in the last year.

Thanks for all the responses so far.

Michelle

[anonymuse]

First step, stop using your credit cards or taking cash advances from any of your credit lines. You need to be at least 90 days away from that before you file.

Go have several free consultations with lawyers to discuss your options.

[JeepMom]

Student loans are not allowed in a bankruptcy. You have to pay those back. If you have forebarence time left you can use it.

ALSO, if your "student loans" are not education based, rather houseing, food, books, anything non-credit hour related it *may* be dischargeable.

I had some $4K of student fees turned into a collection agency, and I had a student loan (consolidated this with dh's loans). The debt at the collection agency was discharged. They claimed I couldn't discharge it, told me every time on the phone I couldn't get rid of the $4k of debt. Guess what, they lied and I did. The $4K was because I had housing, food allowance, and wrote some bad checks for cash through the student union.

[debtisbad]

Yes, you need to file. Make sure you visit several lawyers for free consultations. Do not let them make you feel bad. The first one I saw made me feel like trash. He may have been a good lawyer but had no customer service experience. Obviously, he did NOT get my business. Remember, you are the customer, they have to EARN your business!

[anonymuse]

ALSO, if your "student loans" are not education based, rather houseing, food, books, anything non-credit hour related it *may* be dischargeable.

Extremely hard to prove and with the new law you basically need to be permanently disabled and at poverty level to get a hardship discharge. I've read dozens of cases where this was argued and a lady with MS and 2 or 3 kids, husband left, couldn't work fulltime and she couldn't even get it since she had not shown "good faith" and had only paid the minimum on the loans prior to her BK.

[JeepMom]

Huh? I had no issues. It was listed as XXXXX Collection Agency $4,025.00 and it was discharged because it was at a collection agency. The loans that were in forebarence stayed and we are now paying on them. Had the school kept it in with my loan and not sent it to a collection agency I think then I would have had to pay it back.

There is nothing wrong with me.

Getting an income forebarence on loans is easy.

It's not extremely hard to prove with a detailed bill of what caused what expense. On the bursar bill it states:
Eng 101 --- $xxxx
Math 101 -- $xxxx
Housing --- $xxxx
Food -- $xxx

[SinkingFast]

I live in Ohio.

Not all unsecured debt is CC, only abt 4,200. The rest is consolidation type loans from MBNA and Beneficial, but I think they are considered the same as CC. Last convenience check was probably 6 mos ago, last cash advance was a month ago. The check was to pay bills, the cash advance was to buy shoes for the kids. There have been recent charges to the CC. All accounts are current, but making min payments.

No assistance other than free school lunches, and abt 2 child support payments of $100 each received in the last year.

Thanks for all the responses so far.

Michelle

You really need to check on those loans from MBNA and Beneficial. See how they are structured. We took what we thought was a signature loan once, years ago. In pulling our Credit Reports preparing to file BK, I found out the Bank made that loan a secured loan. Secured against furniture and other household goods.

You can sort thru your loan documents and you can pull your Credit Reports free at

www.annualcreditreport.com

If you decide to file BK, your attny is gonna want your Credit Reports anyway. The reason they have us pull them is because Credit Reports we pull show things that 3rd parties do not see when they get our Credit Report.

Your Credit Reports should tell you what type of loans you have from MBNA and Beneficial.

Here's a link to what you can exempt in BK in Ohio:

http://www.bankruptcyinformation.com/OH_exemp.htm

Basically, you get $5K Homestead. That's your house. And $1K for your vehicle. Sounds like you should be able to keep both. Just play up any problem areas with either one and ding the values. If the car has a repair that needs to be done, get a repair estimate. We did that on one vehicle. Took care of 75% of the FMV with one repair estimate. Call a Realtor or 2 and get them to give you a market value on your home. Or find out what the office would sell a unit like yours for if you live in a Park.

I know it sounds like you'd be doing the attny's job for them, but this is your case and your life. You've got to stay on top of it as if you filed Pro Se on your own. Attnys handle lots of cases so it's easy for them to slip and make a mistake on your case. If you don't keep an eye on everything that's going on, you could wind up getting screwed.

[djk]

it appears that your debt problem is roughly 20 grand with 2 creditors. if the total debt is somewhat equally balanced between them, then an issue of how badly they might attempt to collect is worth looking at and possibly working the "do nothing" angle at first. one way to begin would be to write to each one and state that as a single mother of 2 young children you can not make the payments now and include that you do not know when you might be able to resume. each time you subsequently get a bill or call state the same thing being polite and firm. filing a petition should not be taken lightly and you should look and try other options while considering it.

[AMISLANDER]

I'm not good with the figures end of it...but go through the above posts as the questions & answers are good....

DO NOT FEEL BAD...this happens to the best of us; it's the nature of our world. When you watch tv and see everyone driving the "best" car, eating at the "best" restaurants and wearing the "best" clothes while taking the "best" vacation....how is the American public paying for it? By using what they know "best"...their credit...not their cash...therein lies the problem...

See if you can wait another three to six months before doing anything...get a cell phone & don't give out the # to bills...disconnect the regular phone...or if you keep a house phone, make sure you have caller ID...and don't answer!