Advice...

[jgordo52]

I know you guys aren't attorneys, so I am just looking to be steered in the right way to go. I have about 29K in CC, about 10K in Student loans. With a roommate I make about 45K a year and live in IL. I have a car that's paid off, 1999 Mercury Sable with 100K miles on it, a 2003 Harley Davidson V-rod that lists for about 11,400 and it's got about 7k worth of extras. Just sold it to my brother today for 13k. I'm trying to sell my car, avoid Peter Francis Geraci and bankruptcy all together at the suggestion of someone on this board. It kills me to part with this stuff, but obviously it's better than the alternative. Peter Francis Geraci is supposed to take out 190 on the 25th of my account. They wanted 2k and I gave them 100 on the initial meeting. I'm behind on all my cc's, they all are willing to put me on a hardship plans at a RIDICULOUS amount. Like when I was making payments to American Express my minimum was 250-270. They now want me to pay 420 and they'll reduce my interest rate to 9.9%. I told them that wasn't acceptable and I wanted a supervisor to call me back. I was going to use the money from the sale of the bike and car to start to pay these guys back and hopefully get back in good standing with my creditors.

My questions?

With these hardship plans do I have to agree to their terms, and who's to say that when this is over (hardship plans) that my APR won't be jacked up to 30% and I won't get anywhere again making my minimum payments?

A deal to sell my car fell through today, what do I do now, keep trying, file and then have to do CH 13 mostlikely?

I'm struggling looking for answers...

If I get the car sold and have about 5500 from extra what I owed on the bike and what I got and say 3k for the car, would you pay to become current, or go the hardship plans. Will creditors workon the APR with me, cuz I don't want to get back where I make a 270 dollar payment and I get 250 in interest, and only gain 20 dollars?

I hope this makes sense cuz I'm kinda jumping around.

[MomIcantFindmy]

The thread my not really belong here in Chap 7.

Most of us here gave up trying to deal with the creditors after being lied to, having interest rates jacked up, money not authorized taken from our accounts etc. If you are thinking about a chap 13 plan you may find it helpful to speak with an attorney. Then you have the protection of the courts when dealing with creditors and payback. If you get the car sold then you could use the funds to pay the attorney.

First thing, though, call 3-5 attorneys in your area and meet with them for a free consult. You will be better able to confront this issue after you have spoken with someone.

[lrprn]

With these hardship plans do I have to agree to their terms, and who's to say that when this is over (hardship plans) that my APR won't be jacked up to 30% and I won't get anywhere again making my minimum payments?

The creditors can propose plans that you can reject or accept - it's completely up to you. You can propose plans that the creditors can reject or accept - it's completely up to them. In the meantime, your interest rates are hitting the 30% ceiling and you are falling farther and farther under.

How long do you plan to play the credit negotiation game? Do you have a specific endpoint in mind?

A deal to sell my car fell through today, what do I do now, keep trying, file and then have to do CH 13 mostlikely?

This is the least of your problems right now. You sold assets and for quite a bit of cash already, and to insiders. If you need to file in the next 6-12 months, these "asset transfers" could be a problem for you. You need sound legal advice to sort out if this is the case or not in your local bk court.

If I get the car sold and have about 5500 from extra what I owed on the bike and what I got and say 3k for the car, would you pay to become current, or go the hardship plans. Will creditors workon the APR with me, cuz I don't want to get back where I make a 270 dollar payment and I get 250 in interest, and only gain 20 dollars?

Frankly you're playing a desperation numbers game here. It's never easy to see if you are truly overextended without hope of getting back on your feet. It's all too easy to be overly optimistic.

Most of us wait far too long to file. We drain off assets, cash in retirement accounts, make desperate attempts to raise cash....and most of us still end up filing in the end. Most bk lawyers will say the one thing they wish is that their clients would have come in much sooner - they could have saved a lot of money for themselves.

It's time for you to stop selling off assets for now and set up free or low cost initial consultations with 3-4 experienced bankruptcy lawyers in your area. There's no obligation, and you will find out a lot about what's going to be possible and what isn't in your situation. Get moving! Come back and let us know what you find out, ok? Good luck!