Question

[hocus]

I saw a lawyer from Legal Helpers last Saturday. One of my problems is that I can't afford a Chapter 13. I need a Chapter 7.

She told me that I have to go three months without charging anything before they would file. Has anyone ever heard that?

With some encouragement from people here, I called another atty today. He didn't mention anything about that at all.

I have missed a bunch of work because of illness in the last year. The median for me is about 19000 over 6 months. Right now I am at about 17000. I'm back at work full time now. In three months, my six month income would be about 22,000. Obviously that three months is crucial to me.

The atty I talked to today is a local one who specializes in bankruptcy. Now, having thought about it, I can't imagine that what she told me is right. I have to charge some of my regular bills to have enough money to pay everyone.

I'm very glad for the advice to call another atty.

I would just want to be sure about whether or not a person can charge anything within three months of filing.

If it matters, I live in Wisconsin.

Thanks again. I'm glad I found this place.

[keepmine]

If you have to use a cc to pay your regular living expenses, you have a problem bk won't fix. What are you going to do once you file bk and your access to credit is curtailed?
What the first attorney told you is sort of correct in that you don't want a creditor filing any sort of challenge to your bk. 90 days would take away the presumption of abuse if the charges are relatively small and are for necessary items.
If you are still paying debts you wish to discharge, that's money wasted. Quit paying those bills and use that money for living expenses.

[hocus]

I can't wait 90 days because I will be over the median.

I will be able to meet expenses from my checks.

I had to use the cards for necessities because my paycheck was a lot smaller than normal because I was off work.

If they question any charges, I would be better off paying off any amounts that they challenge than waiting 90 days.

[SinkingFast]

The Creditors may Object to charges made within 90 days prior to filing. 70 days on Cash Advances. But a lot will depend on what you bought or paid for with the CC's and how much money total, line of credit by line of credit, you're talking about.

Generally speaking, you would have had to have charged luxury items, and the total would have to exceed $1K-$2K to make it worth the Creditor's while.

And you are right. You can agree to pay back those amounts to the Creditors.

But many attnys don't even wanna go there because charges within 90 days opens the doors to other Objections.

[hocus]

Thanks.

Can you tell me what the other objections might be? I'm a real newbie at this and I want to know what's going on.

[SinkingFast]

I'd hate to scare you needlessly, but,............ A Creditor can threaten to Object to the entire balance on the card if they want.

It's happened before. To a poster on the Forum about a year ago. No charges on accts for 5 months prior to filing. One CC threatened to Object to the entire $15K charged on that acct. After a bit of haggling back and forth, the poster's attny advised the poster to settle with the Creditor. They wound up paying 10% of the full balance of the card.

Granted, that was probably a fair trade. Thousands of $$$'s in debt for $1500. But still, there was real danger the Creditor was gonna Object.

If you Consult with several attnys and the consensus is to wait to file, that may be an indicator of what might happen in your area.

Chase, City, BoA,........... They don't have their own attnys in every Court area in the Country. They hire attnys in different parts of the Country to represent their interests. Attnys who work on "commission" so to speak. They get a take of what they recover on behalf of their client. If you live where there's an aggressive Creditor's attny, you could put yourself in jeopardy by filing too soon.