$600 Payment

[t&msmom]

DH and I made a couple of payments to his CC after we got taxes back that totaled about $1300...that was back in Feb and April. We are filing in December. How is that going to affect us? (We paid on his CC until this last Nov. payment, which the atty told us not to pay.)
My other question: Our mortgage payment is $849 a month. If we aren't allowed to pay over $600 to a creditor in the prior 3 months, how is that going to affect us?
God, so many ???'s.

[lrprn]

DH and I made a couple of payments to his CC after we got taxes back that totaled about $1300...that was back in Feb and April. We are filing in December. How is that going to affect us? (We paid on his CC until this last Nov. payment, which the atty told us not to pay.)

I assume you are worried about preferential payments. If you pay one non-secured creditor more than $600 total but not pay others within three months of filing, then the trustee can declare that a preferential payment and ask for that money back from the creditor. These cc payments of yours are well beyond the three month window, so no problem.

Keep in mind that it won't effect you in any way if the trustee does go after a preferential payment. It's between the creditor and trustee.

My other question: Our mortgage payment is $849 a month. If we aren't allowed to pay over $600 to a creditor in the prior 3 months, how is that going to affect us? God, so many ???'s.

Your mortgage is a SECURED loan, so it's fine to pay whatever amount is due. Same goes for any other secured loan, a high utility bill over $600, etc. Only NON-SECURED creditors are included in the $600 total in three months before filing restriction.

Hope this helps explain things better.

[monkatom]

LRPRN,
Quick question our lawyer told us to sell an asset we could not keep in 7 and use the money for various items including paying our CC bills if we wanted as this would keep the CC companies from harrasing us. he said we could do this up until we file but some of our minimum payments are over 600 will this raise ant red flags or no since we are paying all CC cards minimum paymnets?
Thanks

[lrprn]

LRPRN,
Quick question our lawyer told us to sell an asset we could not keep in 7 and use the money for various items including paying our CC bills if we wanted as this would keep the CC companies from harrasing us. he said we could do this up until we file but some of our minimum payments are over 600 will this raise ant red flags or no since we are paying all CC cards minimum paymnets?

As long as you pay ALL your non-secured, non-insider creditors what they are owed each month (even if some are above $600), no red flags should be raised.

"."
(From http://www.moranlaw.net/preferences.htm)

Frankly, I believe that paying your non-secured creditors anything after you are certain you are going to file bk is a waste of money that can be better used to position yourself to hit the ground running financially after Ch 7 or prepare for 3-5 years of Ch 13. You can deal with harrassing phone calls very effectively without having to pay the creditors to avoid the calls. My $0.02.

[t&msmom]

That makes sense. Thanks a lot.