Finally pulled the trigger

[slam22]

Well after many months of angst and much planning we finally filed Chapter 7 yesterday. Executive summary is that we live in Southern California, we are upside down on our home by about 200k (big surprise), most of that is now an unsecured HELOC. We also have 200K in CC's and a line of credit. My wife lost her pretty high paying job almost two years ago and a failed business after that so it has been a slippery slope ever since all the way down to filing BK yesterday. My income just hasn't been able to absorb everything. So all in all it's just about 400k in unsecured debt we are asking to be discharged. No CC activity for over 9 months, we have a good lawyer, I've still got 300k in my 401(k), 80k in our two Roth IRA's, two paid for cars(beaters) and about 20k in cash. All things considered I think we are going to be ok. We are letting the house go though but it's just stuff. We have each other and a pretty good nest egg to begin our fresh start. There will probably be a few bumps on the road to discharge so I'll keep you posted if there is anything interesting to report. If I have one piece of advice for everyone is to plan, plan, plan. Good luck to everyone.

[Cali]

Congrats on finally filing!

I hope everything goes smoothly for you. I am also in SoCal.

[Help!]

I'm always hesitant to congratulate anyone on filing because the process can be so painful, but if it gets you one step closer to where you want to be in life... congrats!

[keepmine]

I've still got 300k in my 401(k), 80k in our two Roth IRA's, two paid for cars(beaters) and about 20k in cash.

I'll tell you one darn thing-you're gonna come out of bk in a lot better shape than you entered. The ERISA qualified retirement accounts are exempt from creditor seizure and protected in bk so you didn't make the huge mistake that many make by looting those accounts to pay unsecured debt. Good job!

[liz417]

Hi Slam,

Congrats on finally making that decision to move forward. You sound like you are better prepared than most of us, so you should be fine through this process.

I live in SoCal too, and the housing market is just soooo awful right now...

[dragonnfly]

I read a quote the other day somewhere on a blanket and its so fitting to me and my hubby right now it was "We may not have it all together, but together we have it all." Thats very close to how I fell about all this. No court, no judge, no trustee can get between that no matter what hoops they make us jump through. Good Luck and I hope it goes smooth. Dragonnfly

[pa308]

I've still got 300k in my 401(k), 80k in our two Roth IRA's, two paid for cars(beaters) and about 20k in cash.

I'll tell you one darn thing-you're gonna come out of bk in a lot better shape than you entered. The ERISA qualified retirement accounts are exempt from creditor seizure and protected in bk so you didn't make the huge mistake that many make by looting those accounts to pay unsecured debt. Good job!

I didnt loot my 401k, but did take a loan against it to pay creditors....Looking back it was foolish, but was thought it was a good decision. It was false security

[AngelinaCatHub]

I read a quote the other day somewhere on a blanket and its so fitting to me and my hubby right now it was "We may not have it all together, but together we have it all." Thats very close to how I fell about all this. No court, no judge, no trustee can get between that no matter what hoops they make us jump through. Good Luck and I hope it goes smooth. Dragonnfly

Thank you Dragonfly for that bit of wisdom. That will help many. I'm so pleased this person has not blamed himself as many do. This is what makes us human, we make mistakes and/or circumstances come to play. I congrats them. 'Hub

[JRScott]

Good Luck throughout the process . Feel some relief you've started the process