CH 13 sounds like a miserable experience.

[SamanthaJones]

And I hear that 2 of 3 filers fail to complete the payments, so what was the point in forcing that upon them? Anybody care to share an overview of if and how 13 affects your quality of life? Seems to be it's certainly best to plan like the dickens to avoid 13 as though it were the next plague????????

[helpless]

I don't enjoy being in a 13, but it is a lot better than where I would be without it. I am paying back 23% which is alot better than taking out a second mortgage on my house at an outrageous interest rate and then have to default because I couldn't afford 2nd. This way, in 19 more payments, I have already made 20, I can walk away debt free and my initial mortgage interest still being at 5%. Yes, it is a pain, but it could be much worse.
I could have creditors calling my house nonstop and to me that would put me over the edge.

[lrprn]

I'm with Helpless. When your income is above the median and you have no hope of ever digging yourself out of a mountain of debt that is growing daily as APRs and late fees are piled on by creditors, and creditors and collection agencies harass you with calls and letters hour after hour day after day, paying a % back to creditors over 60 months and keeping assets you would otherwise lose looks pretty darned good!

Check out http://www.mroselaw.com/CM/Custom/Ch...Comparison.asp and http://www.moranlaw.net/bankruptcy_d...e_compared.htm for good cross-comparisons of Ch 7 vs Ch 13.

[ruspider]

Also to the OP

I too was amazed when our attorney mentioned that only, "30% finish a Chapter 13".
After reading and learning a little more, I suspect the numbers that don't finish a 13 are due to
#1.so little left over each month ,unexpected bills, car , medical.the stranglehold the trustee puts on your finaces
#2 . Some people buy out of their 13 , refinance their home and I imagine the buyouts are not calculated.
I'm sure those who convert to a 7 are not counted.

Ru

[aa06a47]

Chapter 13 for me has been a little rough getting use to. There has been hard times and times when I've done without things I wanted, but rarely anything I need. For example, I was moving my bedroom furnature and my TV fell from the tv stand and now I don't have a tv in my bedroom...sucks big time. If I wasn't in bk, I would have already had one...now I have to save save save to get one.

I would say that unless you have an absolute incompetent lawyer drawing out the plan, the chapter 13 should provide a fairely decent life however save every penny for those emergency situations.

[SamanthaJones]

I'll clarify that statement of mine:

I meant that IF you can avoid a 13 for a 7 at all costs, then you want to do that. I am finding that the more I am in here reading other experiences, that the 3 lawyers I talked to already do NOT know what they are talking about, and were simply treating me as another number, without paying attention. I bet folks have a much better chance at avoiding 13 by researching a LOT!