Hello all, and thank you so much for all of your knowledge and informative posts! I have been reviewing the forum quite a bit before posting.
Due to bad economy, basically liquidating my IRA (with penalty) to survive and prop up my husband's company for the past few years, we have realized that the time has come, so as to speak... We are current on all of our bills (mortgage, utilities, etc.), save a personal credit card (Citi). That credit card is not yet 30 days late, but beginning at 2 days late, we have been receiving incessant telephone calls, from 8:15 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., both on home and cell phone.
My first thought is that we should delay filing to save up a little bit of money to move on (we do not intend to keep our home (mortgage current), as it is underwater due to an SBA disaster loan (also current) my hubby's Sub S took and which put a lien on our home). (the sub S is another story -- very confused about that too but posted in the business forum about those issues...).
We are extremely broke right now -- we can pay for utilities, food & student loan, but really nothing else, esp. to set aside a "move on" fund. We met with an attorney who looked at things and said we can definitely go 7, we are under median, etc., and suggested it would be best for us to just stop making payments on the mortgage & credit cards, and go ahead and file. I am wondering if he was encouraging us to file to get paid, or if we are better off filing before we get really late on things.
One problem is that we don't have the $$ to pay the attorney yet, unless we get behind on utilities, etc., or sell something (which I've already been told is a no no...), nor do we have anything saved to be able to afford to move, rent a house, etc. I'm worried if we save the money that would otherwise go towards our mortgage to "move on", that we won't be able to keep it for those things, due to the fairly stingy exemptions in GA, under which we will have to include our old, high mileage, but otherwise paid off vehicles...
I guess my question is -- where/what is the line between being able to save up some money to get past this vs. having it taken away to pay creditors, leaving us unable to afford to move and essentially homeless? Obviously, we could go through it now (while not behind on mortgage), not reaffirm our home and stay here as long as we could pay (which would probably not be too long) but once that happens, let them foreclose. Or, if we stop paying now and are in default on the mortgage going into the bankruptcy (esp. due to us being in a non-judicial foreclosure state), won't that really accelerate the process of them foreclosing? Thus, we have no idea if we file now (while current) or later (after we are a month or so behind) would we be able to stay in the house longer to be able to save some money?
I'd love to get your opinions -- would we be better off to do as the attorney said, and file before we are truly "late" on anything, or wait and file once we are late? We have a first & second mortage, and also the SBA loan, which is paid by the Sub S...
Can anyone put this in perspective for me, and give me an idea of dos and don'ts? Thanks in advance!
Due to bad economy, basically liquidating my IRA (with penalty) to survive and prop up my husband's company for the past few years, we have realized that the time has come, so as to speak... We are current on all of our bills (mortgage, utilities, etc.), save a personal credit card (Citi). That credit card is not yet 30 days late, but beginning at 2 days late, we have been receiving incessant telephone calls, from 8:15 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., both on home and cell phone.
My first thought is that we should delay filing to save up a little bit of money to move on (we do not intend to keep our home (mortgage current), as it is underwater due to an SBA disaster loan (also current) my hubby's Sub S took and which put a lien on our home). (the sub S is another story -- very confused about that too but posted in the business forum about those issues...).
We are extremely broke right now -- we can pay for utilities, food & student loan, but really nothing else, esp. to set aside a "move on" fund. We met with an attorney who looked at things and said we can definitely go 7, we are under median, etc., and suggested it would be best for us to just stop making payments on the mortgage & credit cards, and go ahead and file. I am wondering if he was encouraging us to file to get paid, or if we are better off filing before we get really late on things.
One problem is that we don't have the $$ to pay the attorney yet, unless we get behind on utilities, etc., or sell something (which I've already been told is a no no...), nor do we have anything saved to be able to afford to move, rent a house, etc. I'm worried if we save the money that would otherwise go towards our mortgage to "move on", that we won't be able to keep it for those things, due to the fairly stingy exemptions in GA, under which we will have to include our old, high mileage, but otherwise paid off vehicles...
I guess my question is -- where/what is the line between being able to save up some money to get past this vs. having it taken away to pay creditors, leaving us unable to afford to move and essentially homeless? Obviously, we could go through it now (while not behind on mortgage), not reaffirm our home and stay here as long as we could pay (which would probably not be too long) but once that happens, let them foreclose. Or, if we stop paying now and are in default on the mortgage going into the bankruptcy (esp. due to us being in a non-judicial foreclosure state), won't that really accelerate the process of them foreclosing? Thus, we have no idea if we file now (while current) or later (after we are a month or so behind) would we be able to stay in the house longer to be able to save some money?
I'd love to get your opinions -- would we be better off to do as the attorney said, and file before we are truly "late" on anything, or wait and file once we are late? We have a first & second mortage, and also the SBA loan, which is paid by the Sub S...
Can anyone put this in perspective for me, and give me an idea of dos and don'ts? Thanks in advance!
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