The mental torment

[inpain66]

I joined here in August. I know I have to file for chapter 7 but saving the money seems impossible. I am still paying 50% of my debts and stopped paying the others. The threats are so bad from those I stopped paying.

I am also in payday loan hell. The stupid payday loans are the reason I cannot save for the lawyer.

I cannot sleep. I am eating terrible food. I am stressed to the max. How do you all deal with it?

Also. How could I save the money for the lawyer? Any ideas?

My take home income per month: 1,8000

Half the bills living in BF house: 950.00

car payment: 300.00

Parking fee for working: 110.00

Gas min a month: 100.00

other debts I am still paying on with the credit union: 200.00 a month

Payday loans: owe 700 still, they take min of 100 biweekly from my bank and none of that goes to the 700 I owe!!!

[inpain66]

...and the other cards and loans I stopped paying would be

Student loans: 300 a month

loan: 200 a month

cards: 290 a month

It is soo terrible and I am so sad!!!

[Flamingo]

First of all, it is not the end of the world. Secondly, would your BF mind if you slid one month without paying half of the household bills and applied that to attorney's fees? Also, have you consulted with an attorney? Get a free consultation ASAP to get a better stance as to where you are exactly so you know where to start and what to do. It will help you make a plan.

Anxiety runs high at this time for anyone in financial distress and thinking about filing - it is totally normal. If you find you just cannot cope, see your family doctor and let him/her know you are having bad financial difficulties and cannot eat, sleep, etc. Believe it or not, you will get through this. Best of luck to you!

[inpain66]

MY bf would help if he could but he really cannot. He was laid off so all his money goes to the other half of bills and house payment.

I did see a lawyer. I am under the limit so I am def a chapter 7 but it is just hard to get the money since I tend to get scared and pay creditors. I am also afraid of losing the car since it is with a CU. Oh well.

I guess the creditors cannot kill me or send me to jail. They can sue me and then I will HAVE to scramble and find the money for the lawyer. I am being threatened that they will sue me and some are just over 30 days late. The one is saying they will file against me a the local district magistrate. I thought I would have at least 90 days.

[BROKENN]

Do not pay anymore credit cards if you are definitely filing. Pay living expenses!
It is all scare tactics, by design to make you do exactly what you are doing, paying for them instead of food and atty. They really don't care.........
Get an answering machine....... To sue you, its like months or years.

Get money out of any bank you have credit with.

Actually sit down and plan this! That alone helps some of the stress.

Are you keeping your car? Are you up to date on payments? Does it fit in your budget?

[JRScott]

For food check into angelfoodministries.com. See if they have a site near you and if you can use it. It is not so expensive and good food.

I hope this doesn't upset you but what is the other debt at the credit union your paying on? You probably are going to have to stop paying this.

Student Loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy generally speaking. If you've already missed payments it might be to late, but you might call them and see if you can put them into forbearance for the short term.

The next problem is that probably the car is going to have to go or a cheaper place to live. Even with a bk at this point I don't see you making it based on the numbers you provided above esp considering you won't be able to discharge the student loans.

[TEW]

Inpain
Stop paying for anything you are not going to keep. Even if you do get sued it is going ot go away are you are discharged. So give yourself a Christmas present and pay your lawyer instead of the creditors

[dingdong]

Have you tried putting your Sl in forebearance or hardship deferment?

If you have Govt backed SL, you should be able to apply for a William Ford Direct loan.

You don't want to default on your SL, believe me, I know.

IF you apply for a forebearance, they can actually back date the forebearance, I believe it is up to three months, and give you a 6 month FB. Which means, any payments and interest and put on hold for 6 months, but interest accures. If you apply for a hardship deferment, interest doesn't accrue, but I believe you can only use the deferment option for hardship a limited amount of times ( Not 100% sure, you will have to check)

The good thing about getting these loans in FB/Deferment, is if you are say behind since October, the forebearance will reach back to October and extend 6 months from that date. They usually re-adjust your CR to report the payments as timely once the forebearance is issued, even though no payments were made. It is as if you never made a late payment.

Once you get them in FB/DF, apply for a Ford Direct loan and ask for the Income Contingent plan, they will lower your payments very low, based on your income and household size.

You can't discharge the SL debt anyway, so it will save you 300.00 a month while you are contemplating filing BK. You can usually do this all online, it is very quick and simple and you need very little documentation to ask for a forebearance. You basically just say you need a FB for financial hardship and it is granted. Once they get the request for FB, they usually immediately put your loan in FB and you are good for a few months. Culd give you the breathing room you need to save and file.

[inpain66]

Thanks everyone!

I cannot move since my bf owns the house. I will need a car so I do hope to keep it. I have 40k student loans. I will look into what SL company can do for me.

The sad thing is even after a chapter 7 I will be poor for the rest of my life due to SL. I do not want to get a different job and my job will never pay great. I left a high paying job 1.5 yrs ago for the current one.

I am a caseworker for low income people and i love my job. It is kindof funny since the job I love has now driven me to poverty. I wish there was a loan forgiveness program for people like me who dedicate their lives to helping the poor.

[jdphillips73]

I unplugged every phone in my house 5 months ago, changed my cell number, been very peaceful assides from the ocasional "we cant contact you..." letter.

one creditor called my work and I told them that they were about to get me fired and I would never be able to pay them back, and I would sue them...no more phone calls.

[StartingOver08]

Thanks everyone!

I cannot move since my bf owns the house. I will need a car so I do hope to keep it. I have 40k student loans. I will look into what SL company can do for me.

The sad thing is even after a chapter 7 I will be poor for the rest of my life due to SL. I do not want to get a different job and my job will never pay great. I left a high paying job 1.5 yrs ago for the current one.

I am a caseworker for low income people and i love my job. It is kindof funny since the job I love has now driven me to poverty. I wish there was a loan forgiveness program for people like me who dedicate their lives to helping the poor.

Have you checked into the student loan forgiveness programs? Here is a link for one of the programs:

http://www.staffordloan.com/repayment/federal-student-loan-forgiveness.php

Here is another link with quite a few catagories that offer student loan forgiveness and one of them seems to fit your current position, check it out:

http://www.scholarpoint.com/Articles/Are-you-Eligible-for-Student-Loan-Forgiveness.aspx

I hope that one of these links can lead you to the right solution - good luck!

[jribe]

if you're a social worker- there usually are different programs to help "forgive" part of your student loans. They usually want you to work for a government agency for X amount of years. You should google it and see what comes up for your area. Good luck!

[inpain66]

student loan forgiveness programs that exist are a joke. All I found require the person to pay for 10 yrs first!

[ready2puke]

Hi Inpain..I and eveyone else here understands your anxiety..Its gotten better for me, but sometimes when I lay in bed I feel a twinge of falling off the cliff feeling. You have to stop paying those cards period..I know the month I stopped I was freaking out..first time ever not paying on my cards and it is scarey, I wont lie to you..But after you make that decision there is no turning back and you come to the realization that this is gonna be my life for awhile and you will learn to deal with it. The phone calls are at first terrifying. I never talk to them I dont answer my phone. Even at my salon I have the ringer off. I never thought I'd beable to handel all this and so far Im still alive and sleeping very well most of the time..Unfortunately I'm eatting too much too...lol
I havent filed yet, will in Feb..so Im sure I'll go thru a new level of anxiety like eveyone else and will come out the other side like everyone else and guess what? You will too...
Chin up sweetie this too shall pass. I hope this BF of yours is worth it....if not move out and into something smaller like a studio.....maybe he needs to sell it or rent it and move too...your not married to this guy right???
Anyway...take care and keep reading and posting..its terrific therapy

[Genenco]

I joined here in August. I know I have to file for chapter 7 but saving the money seems impossible. I am still paying 50% of my debts and stopped paying the others. The threats are so bad from those I stopped paying.

I am also in payday loan hell. The stupid payday loans are the reason I cannot save for the lawyer.

IPayday loans: owe 700 still, they take min of 100 biweekly from my bank and none of that goes to the 700 I owe!!!

First I would change banks..Screw the PD loans, they're nothing but legal loans sharks and no they won't come and break your legs if you don't pay.

The credit union, is that a secured loan or sort of a personal loan? If a PL, then again, stop paying on it and change banks if you're with them also..

Find a lawyer that takes payments..Some do and will fend off creditors while you're saving the cash...I have heard of some which will let you pay in installments even though the BK goes through (very rare) and is discharged...

But most important of all..Chill, settle down, don't worry (I know, easier said then done) because believe it or not, this is a common feeling and not one easily let go of...

You'll feel much better in 3 months, that's something you can bank on

P.S. Regarding car, sounds like it's kind of new (Since you want to keep it) and there's a chance of either redemption (Not too likely as they want cash all at once) but then again, there's a possible "Ride through" which is possible and a couple other things.

Check this site for information, there's loads of good stuff and of course, WRITE DOWN ALL QUESTIONS YOU HAVE FOR YOUR LAWYER you won't regret this and your lawyer will have no problems asnswering them..