What to do 13 now or 7 later

[BKman]

Just went over my options last night. I have to file but my wife isn't going to. I'm self employed and my income is all over the place. I was set for a chapter 7 but after they went over the numbers I'm over the income limit for my state by $169.00 a month because my wife cashed out her company stock so we could pay the bills. They want me to go with a 13 for 5 years ($105,000 CC debt only). I have a few jobs set to close in Dec & Jan but nothing beyond that. I'm new to this and I don't know if I should file the 13 now and then in July see what my last 6 months looked like and change to a 7 or wait until July and just try for the 7. I'm only 2 months behind on my CC payments. Mortgage and everything else is paid on time.

[woeisme]

I'd wait and file the 7. CH 13 is rough, and if you just started to get behind on CC's, you have some time yet. Keep current on the house, utilities, and any secureds you plan to keep, let the credit cards go and start living cash only, it'll be good budgeting practice. And it's not a simple thing to switch to a CH 7, plus you're CH 13 payments are based on you getting income that you don't have since it's using wife's 1-time cash-out to determine monthly income.