Need some serious advice!

[iluvcp]

I'm in a situation that I cannot seem to find the right solution to so I hope someone can help. My husband and I have been struggling to pay our mounting cc debt for some time now. We had to give up our house and move to an apartment which freed up some money so we could actually make payments and have money left over for groceries and gas for our cars. Well one month after we moved my husbands job informed him that they would be cutting his wages to the tune of $2.80 an hour. This equates to us losing about 380.00 in income a month. This leaves us with about $100.00 a week after all of our bills to get groceries, gas, or anything else we might need.

I thought I would never be in this situation again. I filed Chapter 7 and got dicharged in Feb. of 06. We bought a house that we shoudn't have and the bills started mounting to compensate the mortgage payments. Since most of the credit is in his name because of my bankruptcy, we started running up his card bills. I have a few cards in my name also but the balances are not even close to the ones that he has.

My question is should we wait 6 months to file Chapter 13 (he makes too much money to file Chapter 7) so his new income will be considered and not his old payrate? Also should we file together or should he file alone? We could keep up on my end of the bills without paying his. I know I have to wait 4 years before I can file again and that will be 6 months from now. Just don't know what direction I should take and if the trustee will be as forgiving if he/she knew I had filed before. I really would not like to file but I am worried that the trustee will give us a payment that would put us in the same situation that we are in now.

We are in Nevada and this is a community property state so I also wonder if his bankruptcy would affect me.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I am so overwhelmed with what direction I should go in.

[optimistic1]

http://www.legalconsumer.com/bankruptcy/means-test/index.php

That is why it is very important that you hire an experienced board certified attorney who specializes in bankruptcy law, dont mess around with anyone else, they might advertise that they do bankruptcy's, but they will be unfamiliar with the specifics.

Usually, you can call your local state bar for a recommendation.

My advice for you, is stop struggling to pay the credit cards, especially if you are trying to get by on $100 for food. If you truly intend to file a bankruptcy, then stop paying them and take care of your family.

While the trustee may raise an eyebrow at your previous filing, just be honest, and there is nothing he can do, you are exercising your rights as a consumer. Just like all these banks and business's that are going under, they file BK's too, dont feel bad.

[iluvcp]

Thank you for your excellent advice! You made me a little less nervous! I feel so gulity about it all that I can't think straight.

I do have a car finanaced under my name as well as about 7500.00 in cc debt. I want so much not to file to keep at least one of our credit ratings intact but I wonder where that would put us financially. The stigma from my previous bankruptcy just makes me fell like a failure and that is hard to deal with.

I will definetely check on the 6 month waiting period to see if the income change will affect the outcome. If we don't have to wait, I will not. I guess I will stop making the cc payments and wait for the onslaught of calls. Guess its a good thing that I know what to expect when one stops paying.

Just have really think hard and get educated about joint filing.

[optimistic1]

Read this,

http://www.moranlaw.net/alone.htm

Now that you have a better understanding of it, you may be able to just have your husband file, and it would keep your credit report free of another Ch.13.

If you financed your car more than 910 days ago, and its worth less than what you owe, they can cram down the value to market value, and lower your interest rate, which would dramatically lower your payment. But its not really for the benefit to you, more to your creditors, but in some cases, it may help you out.

I know where you are coming from, I have to file again too, and feel like a total failure, but I cant do anything else except file again.

If you hire a good attorney, they will let you tell your creditors to just call them instead of bugging. Most creditors will stop calling once you say the word bk and lawyer, so don't worry about the phone calls.