It would be nice to see your personal list of creditors and amounts for everyone

[Cali]

We aren't self employed and most of my friends aren't either. So college can help you make very good money in the right industry.

That proves that college is a waste. Why go through all of that hassle when you could simply be in your own business and make 3 to 20x more than working a day job?

That has been proven here recently.

I thought those $150-300k incomes were from day jobs. Here I go, being wrong again, just like I did with all of my past decisions that are putting me into BK.

[debtmonster]

I live in Northern Ca and I was told by the 1st lawyer that the median was 66k.

My highest credit line was 125k. And they base it on income and your credit score which at the time was close to 800.

Most everyone who makes the kind of money that Debtmonster is asking about is self employed.

That proves that college is a waste. Why go through all of that hassle when you could simply be in your own business and make 3 to 20x more than working a day job?

That has been proven here recently.

I thought those $150-300k incomes were from day jobs. Here I go, being wrong again, just like I did with all of my past decisions that are putting me into BK.

[Overmylimit]

I live in Northern Ca and I was told by the 1st lawyer that the median was 66k.

My highest credit line was 125k. And they base it on income and your credit score which at the time was close to 800.

Most everyone who makes the kind of money that Debtmonster is asking about is self employed.

[debtmonster]

IRS 80K
State Taxes 15K

I don't feel sorry for those leeches at all!
Involuntary debts suck!

[BKorbust]

1st Mortgage 340K
2nd Mortgage 90K
Citi CC 32k
Citi CC 15K
BofA CC 25K
Chase CC 16K
Cap One CC 5K
Target CC 9K
Auto 17K
IRS 80K
State Taxes 15K

[debtmonster]

1st mortgage = $417K
Heloc = $242K
Car 1 = $27K
Car 2 = 12K
Citi (8 cards)
B of A (4 cards)
Wamu (4 cards)
Wells fargo (2 cards)
Capitol 1 (2 cards)
Discover (1 card)
Chase (1 card)
J c penney
macys
Mervyns
kohls

total cc unsecured $110K

Thanks for posting your list. We should be able to tally these all up and get great averages after enough people post them.

[slam22]

The median income in California is about $60k. How were you able to qualify the means test with $40k+ above the median?

We were over the median by about 60k and were able to qualify for Chapter 7 based on our overall expenses which included mortgage, all taxes and everything else. We discharged about 300k in unsecured debt as well as any liability for our 1st mortgage when we walk away from that sometime next year. We have been living rent free since our last mortgage payment in March. We are socking away a lot of cash right now so that when we do have to leave our house we are going to be in pretty good shape. All things considered we are pretty lucky.

[Lajazz947]

The median income in California is about $60k. How were you able to qualify the means test with $40k+ above the median?

I make well above the median in California and when you take my state and federal taxes, mortgage , overage for the operation of my business and the allowable deduction I ( on paper) qualify.

Now, I expect a fight from the trustee because I have good income and high debt but I have everything documented and I think that worst case scenario I will have to pay SOMETHING back in a 13.

There IS a way to qualify even if you are over the median income.

[albacore44]

my debt

1st mortgage = $417K
Heloc = $242K
Car 1 = $27K
Car 2 = 12K
Citi (8 cards)
B of A (4 cards)
Wamu (4 cards)
Wells fargo (2 cards)
Capitol 1 (2 cards)
Discover (1 card)
Chase (1 card)
J c penney
macys
Mervyns
kohls

total cc unsecured $110K

[Lajazz947]

The banks didn't make you take the credit.

As usual this creates a tremendous amount of controversy.

My 22 year old has some credit outstanding and it crept up on him. He is managing it wisely and I think that he has learned his lesson early on.

For him there is an excuse because of his age but I think that the banks should be restricted (at the risk of all the civil rights lawyers screaming discrimination) to issuing credit to people under a certain age.

For the adults there is absolutely no excuse for this mess unless it is a job loss or a medical emergency. Even then my wife is insisting on a stash of cash in the future to meet emergencies.

I have no one to blame but myself for not preparing and getting into this. Thank God I get a second chance.

This will NEVER happen to me again. I will take the bus to work before I buy another car on credit and I refuse to even entertain anything more than an emergency credit card.

I am not upset at the bailout plan. Anyone who does not see that Wall street is the world's engine is naive at best and believe me, study history and you will see that the alternative is much more disasterous for us than the bailout plan is.

This is a different economy and if you look at the past bailout plans (of any size) be it the Mexican intervention in 1994 to stop a Latin American meltdown, the RTC in 1989 or any of the others where we have helped, Russia, Thailand, the hedge funds, it all makes sense in the end to avert financial catastrophe.

Sorry about the soapbox, I just feel that way.

[Cali]

Before you start quoting something, you might want to check the date on the info. And yes, we were over the median when we filed, and we have been discharged/closed.

Here is an accurate chart: http://www.usdoj.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa/2...come_table.htm

Got it from here:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/incom...eandstate.html

[debtmonster]

How does one make $300k? How can the rest of us do what you guys are doing?

[debtmonster]

Got it from here:

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/medincsizeandstate.html

[Cali]

I don't know where you get your info, but you are wrong about the median income.

The median income in California is about $60k. How were you able to qualify the means test with $40k+ above the median?

[Cali]

I have friends that make that kind of money(300k) and it isn't porn.

Must be porn then..