How many in 100% payback plan?

[sharina]

I am curious to know how many posters are in a 100% payback plan - even to unsecured.

Would love to hear about the experience. Our laywer told us it would be less scrutinized than plans paying lesser percentages. do those of you in similar situations find that to be true? We did not receive a list of "rules" to follow...Just a bunch of envelope labels for our payments.

[justbroke]

I was in a 100% Plan until I decided to keep my residence. It is true that 100% plans are not scrutinized, because you are paying EVERYONE back. There is nothing to scrutinize or complain about in that scenario! (It is said that even plans that pay over 70% are not scrutinized that much, by the Trustee.)

Whenever someone is in a 100% Plan, I wonder why they filed. But that's just me. In my case, I was trying to protect rental property. I have surrendered that property, and no longer need to be in a 100% Plan.

If you are this far into your Plan... I don't understand the question. All questions, or scrutiny, need to have occurred prior to or at confirmation.

[DUMBAGAIN]

JustBroke, what about the 100% payback makes you wonder? Do you wonder since they have to pay it all back what good it does for the person in deep crap?

[justbroke]

JustBroke, what about the 100% payback makes you wonder? Do you wonder since they have to pay it all back what good it does for the person in deep crap?

If the person is not trying to save property (foreclosure), or avoid a potential costly judgment (from a lawsuit), then they could just go through debt counseling and do the same thing.

The problem with a 100% Chapter 13, is that you now pay the Trustee up to 10% just to manage your problem. So that 100% is really 110%!!!!! On top of that, you really haven't negotiated your balances down any in a Chapter 13. In a debt management plan, the balances are negotiated down (to 60-70%) and you pay in 3 or 4 years.

Again, this is a question of just what is Bankruptcy doing for the person who is going to pay everyone back anyhow?

[sharina]

Just Broke - I actually agree with you We panicked and filed due to some wage decreases and high interest rates on the credit cards knowing we would never dig out. In hindsight, I am not convinced it was our best option and I just want to "fly under the radar" - We will be done in just over 2 more years, but we have had job changes and such and our disposable income was at question when we filed, but then they said " oh, it doesn't matter if it's 100% payback" - We have made peace with the payment and just don't want any changes, especially because our income has gone up some.

[woeisme]

We were originally supposed to be a 100% payback plan until attorney and help from this site was able to find us some expenses to claim that we didn't think about with the paperwork originally, that got us down to 65%.

But I think we would have still filed even if it had to be at 100%. The penalty and interest rates that the credit cards were charging us were eating us alive, having those stopped dead in their tracks is what would have allowed us to pay it back, trying to save up enough to make settlement offers would be so nerve wracking plus they'd be constantly increasing our balances in the meantime, I really don't think we would have come out ahead. Just in the 3 months from when we decided to stop paying on the cards and when we finally finished all the paperwork for the filing, I think our debt had increased by 10-15%, so over a couple years of saving up for debt settlement, at 30+% interest rates on everything plus penalties, I think our debt would have doubled easily. I hear they (credit card companies) are getting even more aggressive with their policies these days, am SO glad I'm out of that racket! I never want another credit card ever again, am quite happy with my debit card, only spending what I have.

We're also lucky in that our trustee only charges 2.7%. So I guess a lot of things go into deciding on a 100% plan.

[justbroke]

When I wrote debt settlement, I didn't mean the nouveau-traditional method of saving and paying them off one at a time. My post dealt with using a debt-management company that would "negotiate" the terms with your creditors, reduce and/or eliminate penalties and interest, and manage the payments.

I still don't recommend the ones that would do nothing more than accumulate your payments and pay off the lower ones, then the larger ones over time.

I'm talking about a good debt consolidation / debt management company -- not for profit -- that gets you lower interest rates, reduces or eliminates all late fees and penalties, and is actually WORKING with the creditors.

You are better off filing Bankruptcy, if you can't find a debt management company that would work for you.

[BigJohn]

I am curious to know how many posters are in a 100% payback plan - even to unsecured.

Would love to hear about the experience. Our laywer told us it would be less scrutinized than plans paying lesser percentages. do those of you in similar situations find that to be true? We did not receive a list of "rules" to follow...Just a bunch of envelope labels for our payments.

We are not in a 100% payback plan. We are not confirmed yet but there doesn't seem to be any problems.

[woeisme]

Actually we tried CCCS prior to filing. They wanted over half of our take-home pay, the credit card balances weren't reduced in any way, just the interest to ~9.9% (varied from card to card, but that was the average) and then they charged a monthly fee per credit card (I can't remember exactly what the fee was now, but it added another $30-40 per month to the payment that wasn't going to reducing the card balances.) Anyhow, we did work the program for 3 years, but then had major medical expenses, CCCS wouldn't alter the fee re-payment structure despite the changed circumstances, and we ended up right back where we started almost when we had to drop out. I'm finding CH 13 protection to be MUCH better, although I suppose if we don't finish our plan for some reason, it would be a similar situation, but trustees are much more willing to work with changes of circumstances.

[DUMBAGAIN]

I would have to agree about CCCS/Debt Management. I've looked into debt settlement and debt management, neither looks so good to me. The debt settlement takes years and you are are risk of being being sued with no real protection. The debt management/CCCS, does lower APR for the most part, but we now have a lot of accounts with collections and aren't getting fee's tacked on, but we do still have some that aren't and are still getting fees. We have to property to save, but we want to save ourselves from being sued. That's why we think the 100% is ok for us.

[justbroke]

Yes I agree that in some (100% Plan) cases, a Chapter 13 Plan of Reorganization works best. There are cases where you need the full equitable power of the Court to keep the creditors at bay, especially if you can't make payments. Sometimes, even Chapter 7 is the better choice, if you won't be able to pay down the debt.

I will add that some Consumer Credit Counseling Services are different than others and their methods and abilities differ as well.