thinking on filing........

[tatineto]

I need some help with this.
we don't know what to do. My wife and I are working but is not enougth to pay all the bill we had some money in savings, but every month we take some out to pay bills.
this is our list of debts:

ame exp 525.56
chevron 306.47
citi 10,554.87
chase 30,495.84
riverside bank 11,609.76
time share 7,373.17
neto school 27,168.71
tati school 43,000.00 (more or less) consolidated

we have a 2 year old boy
and we were thinking of having another baby, but with this debts we can not even afford to eat out how can we afford to have another baby.

any help will be appreciated.
thanks.

[NASCAR20FAN]

Here are the important questions:

1-Are you able to meet these responsibilities each month?
2-Are you making progress in getting these debts paid down?
3-Are you thinking of Chapter 7 (cleans slate), or chaptrer 13 repayment plan?

[edwards2]

Have a few questions..what are the school charges and and are you just paying minimums on you credit cards? You have some pretty high balances; what about selling your time share? Filing BK is a very serious decision and a very stressful one so consult an attorney and see what your options are. Having another baby is a blessing; I hope you can do just that soon. Keep us posted; we will do what we can to help you.

[SinkingFast]

Selling the Timeshare would free up some $$/mo. That would be a help to start with.

Can you consolidate all the student loans together into one note?? I don't have any experience with Student Loans, so I don't know if a couple can consolidate their seperate loans together.

Are any of the other debts secured?? Is one or more of them a car loan?? If so, maybe you can sell the car, pay off the loan, and buy an old beater with cash to get around. That's no monthly payment for the old beater that might help with the other bills.

BK is a serious decision. It's public record that will remain on your Credit for 7-10 years. Depending on the Chapter you file. This should be step of last resort. And BK is not gonna help you with your Student Loans. In most cases, those cannot be discharged in BK.

[tatineto]

thanks for the quick respond.


we bought a mini van in octobe for 3500, had to fix the transmition like 3 month later expend 1800, oil leak for about 200, another problem came up we dicided to buy a new car to much problem with used cars. can't even sell the van for 900 no one wants to buy the van.
I'm stuck with it.
the new car just got it like 4 to 5 month ago.
time share is just 10,000 we had pay 2,600 in order to sell it have to pay some company $600 to star the procces, and some people says that it will take more that 6 month to sell.
school loan is allready consolidated with my wife.
I don't know how much is both loan, but is around 43,000.00
and the monthly is $315
in the big payments is just minimum

ame exp 525.56 $50/month
chevron 306.47 $25/month
citi 10,554.87 $220/month
chase 30,495.84 $700/month
riverside bank 11,609.76 new car $260/month
time share 7,373.17 $180/month
neto school 27,168.71 $290/month
tati school 43,000.00 (more or less) consolidated $315/month

plus
cell phone $100
electric bill $55
food
gas $90
pampers $ 25
rent $875

combine salary 2100/month

about what is it that we want to file it depends on what is better for us
no one in our family nows anything about bankruptcy
that's why I started looking in forum about bankruptcy.
we recently moved from california to florida this past september


thanks for the help.

[SinkingFast]

A couple of quick questions here,.........

Is that $2100/mo gross or net?? Makes a difference in checking your income against the Median.

What type of car?? Year, make, model, mileage?? Lots of times, under New Law, attnys will not go for a Reaffirmation if you're way upside down or the payment is huge.

Are you current on all your payments?? Car included??

First off,......... Exemptions. New Law, you use the exemptions of the State you lived in for 2 years prior to filing. If you lived in CA for at least 2 years before moving to FL, then you'll use CA Exemptions. If you didn't live in CA for at least 2 years, then you'd qualify for Federal Exemptions.

If you don't care about the Time Share and don't wanna worry with trying to sell it, you can give it up in BK.

When was your last CC use?? Any Cash Advances or Convenience Checks use?? There's a 90/70 day rule in the New Law regarding CC use. 70 days for Cash Advances and Convenience Checks use. 90 days for CC use. Within the 70/90 days, the burden of proof falls on you that you did not make fraudulent charges. Beyond that time period, the burden of proof shifts to the Creditors.

Since you don't have a home and probably very little equity, if any, in the new car that you need to protect, you might be a straightforward, no asset Ch 7. Except for the exemptions thing, that is.

[tatineto]

$2100 after taxes

the car is nissan sentra 2006, 4400 miles. we have pay the car for 2 more month in advance, thinking that m wife is ging to get a better job but no luck jet.
we are current in all (Car included) but I thik we only have enough money to pay for 1 or 2 more month and then we wont have enough.
cause we are using some money we have in the saving.

we have lived in california for for more than 2 years.

the last check was for the car 5,000 dwn payment 4 or 5 month ago.

1 other thing my wife has a retirement plan one of those share holders
she told me that she could get the money out to payout some debts but I toll her no, I dont want her to used that money for that, that is for her retirement or in other case if something happens that she needed the money for hospital.

[SinkingFast]

She could take the retirement money and pay down the student loans to where they'd be manageable.

BUT,..........

If you're thinking of filing BK, I'd hold off on doing that until after.

Here's a link for you:

http://www.usdoj.gov/ust/

All the info for filing BK is there. Not the actual Law Codes, but the Means Test, Median Income, Schedules for allowable expenses and such.

The Median Income for a family of 3 in FL is $51,294. Just roughing out your gross based on your net, I figure you make $30-$35K/yr gross. That's well below the Median income and should put you easily into a Ch 7.

For the other values, costs to live, food, and such, you use Florida numbers as well because that's where you live.

Exemptions would be for California. Just like if you lived there.

Here's a link for the CA Exemptions. You can choose which way you want to go according to this website:

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

The car could be worth between $13K and $18K depending on options, engine, and such. You'd really need to check that out at Kelly Blue Book, NADA, or Edmunds.com.