New here & my chapter 13 journey

[Clambert1273]

Well, I am going to end this thread. After speaking with my attorney today, he agreed ch 7 was now the best route so I am going to mosey on over there... thanks to everyone and I will watch how you guys turn out ❤️❤️

[Clambert1273]

While I don't have much cc debt, we do have personal loans so we do have unsecured debt that didn't help the situation.

[flashoflight]

Why benefit does the 7 give you if you got the partial claim? You said you didn't have much credit card debt and you can't BK the student loans.

[Clambert1273]

Thank you for all this info. I stewed a bit on it & called my mortgage co. They did exactly as u described & offered partial claim, so we took it and resume normal payments Jan 1. Now going to check with attorney about possibly doing a 7.

[Clambert1273]

That's great on the internet/cable. I can't wait until March when I can get out of the contract I was conned into during the pandemic. I have a company that never does contracts, but during the pandemic they did. My daughter was still living here and working from home and we had to upgrade the internet to accommodate her job. But that meant to get into a two year contract. I will be glad to have less expenses in that area relatively soon! My electric has dropped at lot since she is out of the house so I expect my budget amount to drop in that area when they re-assess. Right now I have paid more into it than we owe, but I know it will even out.

our account builds a credit balance for the summer months to use up since we live on the sun lol

I am in contract with Cox and figured any fee they charged me to get out was worth not paying the monthly amt lol

[Carmella]

Only thing happening now is just waiting & trimming living expenses as much as possible which has been good. Dumped cable and got different internet which was a huge slash in money. Our cable/internet with Cox was crazy around 425/mo. Now my internet is 60/mo and upgraded our streaming which puts around 200/mo vs 425+streaming. Found out my budget billing for electric drops from 380/mo to 310/mo starting in December so that was nice. I also put us on time of use to see if we can cut it even more. Of course, with thanksgiving coming up our grocery costs are skewed a bit but still coming in under budget this month. My plan until we file Jan 3 is to just keep digging on cutting what we can.

That's great on the internet/cable. I can't wait until March when I can get out of the contract I was conned into during the pandemic. I have a company that never does contracts, but during the pandemic they did. My daughter was still living here and working from home and we had to upgrade the internet to accommodate her job. But that meant to get into a two year contract. I will be glad to have less expenses in that area relatively soon! My electric has dropped at lot since she is out of the house so I expect my budget amount to drop in that area when they re-assess. Right now I have paid more into it than we owe, but I know it will even out.

[Clambert1273]

Only thing happening now is just waiting & trimming living expenses as much as possible which has been good. Dumped cable and got different internet which was a huge slash in money. Our cable/internet with Cox was crazy around 425/mo. Now my internet is 60/mo and upgraded our streaming which puts around 200/mo vs 425+streaming. Found out my budget billing for electric drops from 380/mo to 310/mo starting in December so that was nice. I also put us on time of use to see if we can cut it even more. Of course, with thanksgiving coming up our grocery costs are skewed a bit but still coming in under budget this month. My plan until we file Jan 3 is to just keep digging on cutting what we can.

[Clambert1273]

womanonfire Then we will be really close to each other's dates since ours will be Jan 3

[womanonfire]

I actually did not file yet. Loan servicer cancelled foreclosure and then rescheduled it so we're filing 1st week in December.

[karna68]

Good luck, I'm at the end of my plan. You can do it!

[Clambert1273]

I didn't want or need a payment reduction, but with our other bills the BK is probably the best option right now as everything including mortgage is included in the payment along with the new car.

[flashoflight]

I did try & ask and our loan is a VA loan. Before we even went to forbearance, I was contacting them and forbearance was the only option they gave so we took it. Sadly this was pretty much my last option & I really am alright with it.

The way it works is you ask for forbearance at the beginning and they give it to you. You got past that part. So far so good.

When you get close to the end like right now, you have to call the lender and tell the your hardship is over, you can afford the original payment, but you can't pay one penny extra beyond that. Then they will offer you a partial claim and you accept because you told them you cannot pay anything towards the arrears. Partial claim means your arrears are postponed until the end of the mortgage and life goes on with the original payment amount. It's just about guaranteed they will offer you partial claim as long as you say the magic words "hardship over, can afford original payment, can't pay a penny more than that".

If you can't afford the original mortgage payment or a few hundred below that via the covid forbearance loan mod, then nothing is going to allow you to keep the house. Bankruptcy doesn't have any way to give you a big payment reduction and let you stay in the house at the same time.

[Clambert1273]

If this is a covid forbearance, why don't you try to work it out with your mortgage lender. Most people are able to get a deferral or partial claim on their arrears easily as long as it's a government mortgage (FHA, Fannie, etc.) and you can afford the original mortgage payment. The federal government is making triple sure that the foreclosure crisis of 2009-2012 doesn't repeat itself so they are making it easy for borrowers to kick the arrears to the end of the loan. They're even making it easier to get a loan modification with low or no docs if you can't afford the original mortgage payment by a few hundred bucks. Very, very few houses are going to foreclosure. Foreclosures are mostly houses that had arrears prior to the start of the pandemic (March 2020). Beginning of November is the right time to call your lender and cut a deal with your lender to get a deferral or partial claim and move on before end of December.

If you do the bankruptcy, there is no option that allows you to reduce your payment and still keep your house. In fact your payment will go up by a lot due to the arrears. Bankruptcy has a lot of expenses too that will get added to the arrears. The covid forbearances are no cost and could even reduce your payment by a little bit.

I did try & ask and our loan is a VA loan. Before we even went to forbearance, I was contacting them and forbearance was the only option they gave so we took it. Sadly this was pretty much my last option & I really am alright with it.

[flashoflight]

mostly the house but there is some unsecured unless you count my massive student loans which don't matter in this much. I have never had much in credit cards (at least not enough to cause problems).

If this is a covid forbearance, why don't you try to work it out with your mortgage lender. Most people are able to get a deferral or partial claim on their arrears easily as long as it's a government mortgage (FHA, Fannie, etc.) and you can afford the original mortgage payment. The federal government is making triple sure that the foreclosure crisis of 2009-2012 doesn't repeat itself so they are making it easy for borrowers to kick the arrears to the end of the loan. They're even making it easier to get a loan modification with low or no docs if you can't afford the original mortgage payment by a few hundred bucks. Very, very few houses are going to foreclosure. Foreclosures are mostly houses that had arrears prior to the start of the pandemic (March 2020). Beginning of November is the right time to call your lender and cut a deal with your lender to get a deferral or partial claim and move on before end of December.

If you do the bankruptcy, there is no option that allows you to reduce your payment and still keep your house. In fact your payment will go up by a lot due to the arrears. Bankruptcy has a lot of expenses too that will get added to the arrears. The covid forbearances are no cost and could even reduce your payment by a little bit.

[Clambert1273]

Clambert1273

Are you filing just because of the forbearance arrears? Or is there credit card debt or other unsecured debt out there?

mostly the house but there is some unsecured unless you count my massive student loans which don't matter in this much. I have never had much in credit cards (at least not enough to cause problems).