Need Advice - New to board (long)

[jribe]

Hi Everyone,
I stumbled across this board a few days ago, and have some questions for my situation.

My husband recently quit his job due to threats and harrasment (physical) by another employee at the small company he worked for. He tried going to the owners, but they condoned the situation because they can't get rid of the other guy (and don't want to). So i told him to do what was best for him and his safety.

I work in the banking industry, and things are getting weird- there are talks of layoffs. Until all of these events, we felt secure and were able to pay our obligations. We were going to be buying our first house- but backed out.

Now with his lack of a job, we are thinking that BK Ch 7 is our only viable option.

We have two cars that are 10-12k negative equity, about 50,000 for both cars, as well as about 30,000 in credit card debt, and a timeshare for about $8,000.

We've really been trying to get by the last few months- i borrowed money from my 401k, we spent through our savings, etc. So we've skimped on things that we needed: clothes, car repairs, medical needs etc.

My question is - if we are planning on waiting approx 4 months to even begin to file for BK- is it okay to use the CC's a bit? Nothing serious, but for the things we hadn't had done.

We are current on all of our payments- cars, loans, cc's etc.

If we do use one of the cc's, is it okay to just pay that one for a month or two, and let the others go delinquent?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! We're just kind of lost right now!

[TEW]

It think it's better to use the CCs for life expenses then to wack the retirement accounts leave those alone.
Have you run the means test at all? when do you think you can file?
If you are sure you are going to file stop paying the loans CC cars unless you want to keep them? (don't pay for it unless you want to keep it)

[jribe]

It think it's better to use the CCs for life expenses then to wack the retirement accounts leave those alone.
Have you run the means test at all? when do you think you can file?
If you are sure you are going to file stop paying the loans CC cars unless you want to keep them? (don't pay for it unless you want to keep it)

We've run the means test, and i think because of my income we were a bit above median, but after a few months we should qualify for it. I was trying to use the one from legalconsumer.com, and was a little confused by some parts. For instance, if you own two cars, but only plan to keep one- do you still put both?

We were likely going to wait until April/May to file- but had some things we need. So if we use one of the credit cards, can we just make next months payment on that one? Or will that get objected to likely?

[keepmine]

What'd suggest is, stop paying all debt you wish to discharge in bk and use that money to pay for things you need. No time like the present to get used to living on a cash basis.

[jribe]

i know.. with just my income we still negative about $300 every month (with not paying the bills we'd discharge). we're meeting with an attorney tomorrow to help with some questions. We have found a used car (the same make/model as my current car) for about 12k, (i owe 21k on mine) and i'm wanting to know if i can get that one- and stop paying on my current car. The used one is a 2004, about same mileage- but would save us over $150 a month in the car payment. But i don't want to screw us out of getting a chapter 7 to do that.

[TEW]

We've run the means test, and i think because of my income we were a bit above median, but after a few months we should qualify for it. I was trying to use the one from legalconsumer.com, and was a little confused by some parts. For instance, if you own two cars, but only plan to keep one- do you still put both?

We were likely going to wait until April/May to file- but had some things we need. So if we use one of the credit cards, can we just make next months payment on that one? Or will that get objected to likely?

I do agree with keepmine.
you can act like you are going to keep both cars if it helps with your means test. whos to say you can't change your mind after you file.