Turned in all our paperwork today.......

[drowninginflori]

It took me about 6 days to get everything together for our meeting today with the paralegal that works for our lawyer. We went in thinking that we would be there for hours going over our packet, schedules I&J, paystubs, tax returns, bank statements, and so on. I admit that I had everything super organized and she went over everything with us in less that 30 minutes. She also thanked me for having everything so organized. I asked a couple of questions (my spouse sat there like a bump on a log) about how quickly our 341 would be scheduled, how much she thinks our payment will be, and when will it be). Of course, she stated she couldn't answer any of the above items until she had reviewed the packet. We have already paid 1/2 of the $1850 up front fee and we plan to pay the final payment next Monday so we can get the show on the road. So far things have gone smoothly-I keep waiting for the floor to fall out from under us. I need optimistic thoughts!

[AngelinaCat]

It sounds like everything went well for you, and that your attorney, and the paralegal were good at helping you understand what and why you needed what they asked for. Of course reseding this Forum helped a lot, too, I bet.

I hope everything works out smoothly for you.

[rrockinggramma]

sometimes when you hear the amount due each month, the initial reaction is relief. Wow, you think, I can handle that. And that is because your head is spinning with all of the minimum payments you tried to juggle etc. Filing is a relief. THe phone stops ringing, the mailbox trip isn't so dreadful. In fact, for a while life can be pretty boring. LOL Of course there are always bumps in the road but the sheer since of relief is overwhelming in the beginning.

[drowninginflori]

Thanks for the hopeful responses. I will be so relieved the day that I look down at my cell phone and see nothing but numbers I know of people that I actually want to talk to instead of so many "it is imperative that we speak to you by close of business today." By the way, how long do you guys think it will take for them to stop calling? The paralegal today told me that if I had not already talked to my creditors not to because she would be calling them over the next week. Is that the right thing to do? I almost wanted to get on the phone and call everyone today (but I figured that would waste about 5 hours of my day with tons of negative comments). What are your thoughts on this?

[holding on]

Congratulations for having everything in order. My lawyer commended me also on my super organization. It makes his job so much easier!

As far as the creditor contact goes, I still get the "it is imperative you contact us today about an important business matter" and those are usually the junk debt buyers. So often their bk dept (if they have one) doesn't talk to the collection dept. I had one who actually filed a claim may 26 (I filed around may 3) call me yesterday to discuss payment options. Funniest part was when I said I required proof of debt they said I need to understand that may take awhile and in the mean time they could report to the CRAs that I hadn't made a payment and this could negatively affect my credit score!! I gave them my lawyer's number and said I'm bankruptcy, so maybe they will go away.

[liz417]

Sounds like you are well on your way! We are in the same boat, I turn my paperwork in July 7th. It's taken me a month to get all the paperwork together because I wanted to make sure I included everything/expenses in my paperwork since we were living off credit cards and will be on cash-only bases soon.

I wanted to thank everyone on this site, you guys have been so informative and great! I've been 'lurking' around for a couple of months and just gathering info on what to expect! Before seeking an attorney for a free consolutation (as recommended on this blog) I was so nervous and had a lot of sleepless nights, Thanks again!

[busby]

I think organization and cooperation between you and your attorney's office are very important aspects. Doing as much as you can for yourself helps the attorney and his staff spend their time doing more things we can't do for ourselves.

Regarding the monthly payment for a Chapter 13 - when I first heard mine I thought it would be NO PROBLEM because it wasn't that much ($216/month for 60-months) because I was paying many times that each month in minimum payments alone.

What I didn't consider however though was that I too was "living" off my credit cards so all my groceries, clothing, insurance, cable, phone - EVERYTHING was being charged to a credit card.

The monthly payment ended up being "just right" for me. I don't have any real amount of excess cash each month but I'm also not scraping by either. I'm six-months into this process and it's been nice not worrying so much about not being able to pay the bills.

I hope this bit of information helps someone. I really hadn't looked at how much of my daily/monthly expenses were being paid by credit card until I didn't have credit cards anymore.

[drowninginflori]

We started the "living on cash thing" several months ago so we have learned that if it is not there we do not spend it. Someone suggested to me to take envelopes each month or payday and label them with the things that you need to do. Then we seperate the month into the different envelopes based on prior knowledge of what we spend on things such as groceries, gas, fun money-we have a special needs daughter so we do go to the movies sometimes or do things that will make her life happy. When the envelope is empty we are done with that part of our spending for the time frame. Of course the gas and groceries envelope is getting a great deal of the cash these days but it has helped us alot. Another thing we did was add an additional checking account (one that we have no debit card for or online access). We place a certain amount of money in that account each payday because we know we will have to go into the bank to get it. The bank is not super close so that has kept us from spending as much.

[parsoc48]

I had such a great response then hit the wrong button and it all disappeared
I hate that!
anyway, good luck to all