Relieved that I'm finally taking action, as this problem isn't going to go away, I have to deal with it. But scared, as so much unknown. If lawyer agrees filing another CH13 is my best option, it will be my second (last one was discharged 2016). I'm basically posting this just to vent some of this stress & worry. I've done a lot of lurking here & reading, answered a lot of my questions in this wonderful forum, so thank you to those of you who run this.
Going with the same lawyer I used before - he did a wonderful job for me before, but I was ashamed to admit I was back in trouble, so I talked to a few other lawyers. They scared me a bit, didn't seem as professional and on top of bankruptcy law as my first one did - so I'm grateful I am swallowing my pride and going back to the guy who helped so much before.
Basically, I survived my 5 year plan in spite of having a big loss of work hours in the middle of plan (company lost contract) by slowing down on paying taxes. Knew this was not allowed, kept waiting for the ax to fall, was just desperately buying time. But the trustee never contacted me about the unfiled taxes, and my case was discharged, the IRS liens lifted. After the discharge, I finally filed the late returns, & thought I could use the equity in my house to pay them off. Along with being able to borrow a little if needed as my credit score improved, to pay these taxes.
But I wasn't counting on the penalties & interest. A year ago I tried to take care of the state by taking out a Sig Loan to pay them as the state had an "amnesty" program going on. But then the state came back with the massive penalties & interest they wanted. & now fear I'll be in trouble for paying state but not IRS - only did it as State debt was smaller, thought I could knock that off at least.
Now I still have massive IRS back taxes due with penalties/interest and what the State wants in penalties & interest, and some credit card debt AND the sig loan I used to pay the State... I tried to talk to banks about refi to use equity in house, but a) my score going down again so can't get a good loan offer, and b) STILL would not be enough to pay off the debts. This has been a 3 year struggle post discharge trying to figure out a way to pay all these debts. I didn't think of the possibility of trying to do another CH 13 until 3 months ago. Then the more I read up and researched, it began to seem my best hope. But of course I feel defeated, and exhausted and scared that this won't work either.
I do have a stable job. I have a newish vehicle (drove my last until it fell apart literally). I did start to put into 401k so I have a little there saved. And more equity in the house than I did before - but don't know if that helps or hinders this time... I'm going to lay it all out honestly for this guy and hope he can come up with another miracle for me, that I can work with. And this time be smarter if things change, stay on top of paying the taxes if I have to work nights at Amazon to do it, sigh.
I'll probably be on here more in the next weeks either in panic or hopefully, a workable plan. Again, thank you to whomever started & operates these forums, they have saved my sanity during many midnight panics.
Going with the same lawyer I used before - he did a wonderful job for me before, but I was ashamed to admit I was back in trouble, so I talked to a few other lawyers. They scared me a bit, didn't seem as professional and on top of bankruptcy law as my first one did - so I'm grateful I am swallowing my pride and going back to the guy who helped so much before.
Basically, I survived my 5 year plan in spite of having a big loss of work hours in the middle of plan (company lost contract) by slowing down on paying taxes. Knew this was not allowed, kept waiting for the ax to fall, was just desperately buying time. But the trustee never contacted me about the unfiled taxes, and my case was discharged, the IRS liens lifted. After the discharge, I finally filed the late returns, & thought I could use the equity in my house to pay them off. Along with being able to borrow a little if needed as my credit score improved, to pay these taxes.
But I wasn't counting on the penalties & interest. A year ago I tried to take care of the state by taking out a Sig Loan to pay them as the state had an "amnesty" program going on. But then the state came back with the massive penalties & interest they wanted. & now fear I'll be in trouble for paying state but not IRS - only did it as State debt was smaller, thought I could knock that off at least.
Now I still have massive IRS back taxes due with penalties/interest and what the State wants in penalties & interest, and some credit card debt AND the sig loan I used to pay the State... I tried to talk to banks about refi to use equity in house, but a) my score going down again so can't get a good loan offer, and b) STILL would not be enough to pay off the debts. This has been a 3 year struggle post discharge trying to figure out a way to pay all these debts. I didn't think of the possibility of trying to do another CH 13 until 3 months ago. Then the more I read up and researched, it began to seem my best hope. But of course I feel defeated, and exhausted and scared that this won't work either.
I do have a stable job. I have a newish vehicle (drove my last until it fell apart literally). I did start to put into 401k so I have a little there saved. And more equity in the house than I did before - but don't know if that helps or hinders this time... I'm going to lay it all out honestly for this guy and hope he can come up with another miracle for me, that I can work with. And this time be smarter if things change, stay on top of paying the taxes if I have to work nights at Amazon to do it, sigh.
I'll probably be on here more in the next weeks either in panic or hopefully, a workable plan. Again, thank you to whomever started & operates these forums, they have saved my sanity during many midnight panics.
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