Any regrets, BK remorse?

[chinup]

Curious what others that are in the middle of this process are thinking. Worth it? Should have waited? What are you thoughts?

[espo1357]

Curious what others that are in the middle of this process are thinking. Worth it? Should have waited? What are you thoughts?

Be sure you can make the proposed payments or else don't do it. Right now, it is becoming a pain in the neck, but I have about 2k/month going into my 401k for a loan payback and for a small contribution. Once the 401k stuff is over, it should be smooth sailing.

However, in this economy, you never know when you might lose a job. Having a profession that is stable (nurse, teacher, cop) makes a big difference.

Good luck.

[momofthree]

Life is easier since filing. Yes we have to stick to a budget, but after the initial shock, it feels good!

[jmac]

Be sure you can make the proposed payments or else don't do it. Right now, it is becoming a pain in the neck, but I have about 2k/month going into my 401k for a loan payback and for a small contribution. Once the 401k stuff is over, it should be smooth sailing.

However, in this economy, you never know when you might lose a job. Having a profession that is stable (nurse, teacher, cop) makes a big difference.

Good luck.

You dont think they will change the payment when your 401k is done? Just curious i have a 401k loan also.

[zeezee]

You dont think they will change the payment when your 401k is done? Just curious i have a 401k loan also.

I was thinking the same thing. Once my 401k is paid back my payments will go up by that amount in another year.

[espo1357]

I was thinking the same thing. Once my 401k is paid back my payments will go up by that amount in another year.

Really don't see how they can raise your payments once your plan is confirmed.

and, I am not going to ask when mine is paid.

[zeezee]

Really don't see how they can raise your payments once your plan is confirmed.

and, I am not going to ask when mine is paid.

This was all figured out when the plan was submitted. I was already in payback for my 401k and the payoff date was calculated in my plan. So the wage withholding order will automatically increase by the amount I was paying back.

If it was not included in your plan, you may not have anything to worry about. But if the amount is substantial I would be looking out to have to increase your payment if the trustee catches it.

[catleg]

Really don't see how they can raise your payments once your plan is confirmed.

and, I am not going to ask when mine is paid.

If you got confirmed and they didn't notice this, you were very lucky (or else they figure they got you good enough already).

[jange]

My 401K loan will be paid off 8/2011. The payment was included in my payroll deductions but neither the trustee nor my lawyer ever asked when it was to be paid off. I am hoping that I will be able to take my $400 a month loan payment and increase my 401K contributions by the same amount.
100% going to unsecured, 70% payback.
Filed 1/11/10
3rd try - Confirmation 7/20/10?

[tigergem]

The only regret I have is not filing about 5 years sooner.

[andy158]

The only regret I have is not filing about 5 years sooner.

+1^

Life is easier being forced to budget/manage our money. We can legitamately say now that we can not afford something and just have to say no instead of thinking we can charge it and pay later. That scenario just snowballed for us. Four more years to go and the trustee payments we are making now ($1,050.00/mo) will go into a separate savings so we can pay cash for big ticket items like our next car.

The only thing I regret is having to give up golf for four more years (it is expensive) and not letting our 16 year old get his license until he is older (the insurance is as bad as some of our cc payments were).

[HOMEBODY]

I guess I dont mind so much because I can now see actual money coming in. Before I never saw any of it as it all went to credit cards. I was paying an average of about $400 a week on credit cards and equity lines of credit. Now I put it in a safe and make cashier's checks for major payments that dont involve the IRS, such as house payments, vacations, major purchases. I am planning funding a pension fund, but waiting for the discharge and some stability in my income/expense budget. The intent in doing the BK was to start retirement planning instead of paying interest over interest to credit card companies and never seeing a dent. It was very stressful to be living paycheck to paycheck and not be able to save any money towards retirement and vacations. Life is short and I want to enjoy the last 10 years of my working life.

[HOMEBODY]

but the one thing that does bother me is if someone was to dig further into my life and find the BK. I havent told any of my family members and have only shared this with 2 close friends who I know will not share this very private information. I was feeling uncomfortable around my family for a bit in not sharing this, but now its getting better. It was business decision I had to make and it was done to improve the quality of my life. Also, should something happen to me I dont want my children to have to worry about paying credit cards and lines of credit out of my estate. They will have enough trying to figure out how to pay the mortgage and handling the rental.

[pepperoncini]

I guess I dont mind so much because I can now see actual money coming in. Before I never saw any of it as it all went to credit cards. I was paying an average of about $400 a week on credit cards and equity lines of credit.

^+1

This is why we're filing this time around. Honestly, I have NO CLUE how we were even making those payments!

This weekend we wanted to make a trip. Just a weekend trip to a location a few hours away. I told DH that we couldn't afford it and he remarked that we can never afford it, but let's go anyway.

Um, NO. We used to lie to ourselves and tell ourselves that we could afford it. Now, without Chase or Citibank footing the money to us at atrocious interest, we CANNOT afford it!

So we stayed home. Took the kiddos to a movie and the pool. It was a great weekend and we have no credit card bill to worry about.

[jange]

I guess I didn't really answer the initial question. Life is much easier. My only regret is that we didn't do it sooner. We struggled for years and never made a dent, just continued to get behind, the cc's continued to raise the interest rates, until we could no longer make the payments. I would like to be able to retire after our bk is done and the rate we were going we would have worked until we died. I work for a company that actually still has a pension and I have worked there for many years, so I really wanted to be able to enjoy it
We have already had a major car expense, but with my emergency fund (it took almost all of it) we were able to cover it. This past week, someone broke a window in my car. An extra $250 expense, but again I had it when before I would not have.
I just keep putting money aside to cover the next emergency.