Making purchase after bk

[HHM]

Not sure what the point of this thread is anymore.

[debtmonster]

DM....recently you were telling us how many great cars are available for $5,000-$6,000. Now one needs to spend close to $17,000 to get a decent vehicle? Which is it?

It's true, for a good, reliable vehicle you can find one for $5,000-$6,000. But not for a BMW that I am accustomed to that handles like it's on rails and comes with stability control and is built to last 400,000 miles.

The majority of the population doesn't care about the stuff I care about, so a $5,000-$6,000 car is perfect for most people.

A $6,000 BMW will have a good 150,000-200,000 miles. One with 30,000 to 40,000 miles that's like a 2004-2005 or newer will cost $15-17k.

The thing is, I need to live DEBT-FREE for a good year to come up with that money. I'm looking into buying a $250 van today. If it's not too much money to fix it, then maybe we can dump both cars and have zero payments for a while. Thing is, this van has over 160,000 miles. I have no idea what work will need to be done to it to bring it to my high maintenance standards.

I am SUPER picky when it comes to maintenance. Maintenance is the key to making a car go 200,000 miles reliable. If you find a used car where somebody used Amsoil it's whole life in both the engine and transmission, you're good to go. Problem is, virtually nobody knows what that oil is, plus they don't sell it in stores. So people just use the cheapest crap they can get away with. That cheap crap makes seals leak and causes major wear and tear over the life of the engine. The money you saved in the cheap oil, you'll end up spending 150x more on rebuilding the engine and transmission. So people think they are saving money by not buying Amsoil, when it's the completely opposite. The only time you would not put in Amsoil is when you're going to buy the car and resell it right away.

There's also a really good car wax out there that's fully synthetic. It's not anything like the cheap Turtle wax and other stuff on the shelf, neither. It's also a mail order product. It takes several hours to apply and there's many stages to do it. That's my other recommendation... I just can't remember the name of it off the top of my head.

[OhioFiler]

DM....recently you were telling us how many great cars are available for $5,000-$6,000. Now one needs to spend close to $17,000 to get a decent vehicle? Which is it?

You wrote: I've been hitting Auto Trader HARD! There's sooooooo many nice cars on there for cheap. I'm not a big fan of Ford at all, but I saw a nice 2005 Ford Five Hundred for $5,000 that looked BRAND NEW! Not every car on there was wrecked or had water damage. You just have to spend a good 30-40 minutes looking at all of the ads wading through the crap. If you have $6,000 cash money in the bank, you can have a nice car. You save that money up during a foreclosure. While you're living rent-free, you stock pile the cash to buy a car with no payments. That's the game plan for now. Give back BOTH of these upside down cars and get one good car that will be PAID FOR.

Like I said many times... I'll hit Auto Trader, put in my zip code, put 300 or 500 miles out, pick cars that are under $6,000 with like 30,000 or 45,000 miles on them and go looking from there. When I find a deal, I'll call them and confirm that the car is there still there and then I'll go buy it. Simple as that. NO FINANCING. Screw those banks and their 24% redemption interest. THEY CAN GO POUND SAND.

Believe me... if I can find a car up to 500 miles away that has a "trade-in" value of say $8,000 and I see an "individual" selling the car for $6,000 while the dealer sells it for $12,000, I WILL BE AT THAT PERSON'S HOUSE WITH $6,000 CASH MONEY! Think I won't?! It's WORTH IT to spend a day driving to pick up a car to save $6,000. I can't make $6,000 in a day from a day job. 2 days of driving won't kill you to save money on a good deal.

[debtmonster]

I would guess it comes from saving money they no longer have to pay on credit card bills they were trying to keep up with.

That's exactly it. But even not paying debt, we still have no more disposable income at this time. The money is flying out of our checking account at high speeds to pay utilities and now our dogs have to go to the vet for shots. I need to go to the doctor's. $500 is not enough for 2 people to live on for 30 days when paying a ton of non-debt bills such as utilities, gas for the cars, food, car maintenance, etc.

I'm going to look at an old 1996 van today that has 165,000 miles on it. They are going to repo our SUV any day now and we'll need something to be able to bring the trash to the dump (we don't have garbage pick up here.)

[username1223]

Not trying to be nasty here, but if one has a bunch of cash to go out and buy something, why and how did they get through a BK?

Unless they now have a job that pays a lot more than before, if one didn't have enough money coming in to pay bills, where did all this "new" cash come from? - jb

I would guess it comes from saving money they no longer have to pay on credit card bills they were trying to keep up with. IMO there is no reason to not go out and buy the motorcycle as long as you pay cash. Since you are finally free just don't get into another loan or credit card situation. It is just not worth it. Also $6500 sounds like kind of a lot and you may be able to get a better deal. Don't buy any vehicle new and try to haggle the price down and check out all options- do not take the first thing or deal you see and don't rush. Just try to hold onto as much as your money as you can and get the absolute best deals. Good luck to you.

[debtmonster]

DM, I thought you needed to save up for a year or so to get moving expenses? Or are you just dreaming here?

As to teh rest of your post: hell YEAH you can save once bankruptcy removes the debt/obligations that are sinking you deeper every month. It is a golden opportunity!

That BMW dream is getting FARTHER and FARTHER away!

I just got paid on Monday (I get paid once per month) and I'm already down to about $500 left to live on, if not less. And this has to last until April 15th!!! There's NO WAY to live on that to pay the phone bills, fuel, food, business expenses, etc.

Things I DID NOT pay this month:
-The mortgage
-The property taxes
-The home owner's insurance
-The BMW payment
-Back taxes to the IRS
-All of our credit cards
-The electric bill
-The house phone and cell phone

Even NOT paying everything, we're STILL BROKE! At the point I am now, bankruptcy WILL NOT STOP the bleeding. I need to make at least $4,000 GROSS for it to stop. For the life of me, I don't know how people live on less. Honestly.

It's like if you're not making $80k/yr., you're in MAJOR poverty. My car payment is only $300/mo., which is NOTHING and I can't even afford that at this point. I grossed $2800 this month ($1400 under the median for Florida). By the time you take out like $600 taxes, there's nothing. Most decent two bedroom apartments here are like $900-1200/mo. now. That's more than 1/2 my income right there.

I need this FairTax thing passed IMMEDIATELY! If it wasn't for paying all of the $$ to the IRS, I WOULD HAVE SOME MONEY!!!

[wonkettegirl]

I just want to get a SWEET car with NO PAYMENTS so that way I'll have no more repo's to worry about. I know I could get some crappy $5,000 car that's reliable, but then I won't be happy and will always want more. That's why I want to save up $20k some how and pay cash for another nice BMW. Of course I will have to buy a used one and not some $40-50k new one like before

DM, I thought you needed to save up for a year or so to get moving expenses? Or are you just dreaming here?

As to teh rest of your post: hell YEAH you can save once bankruptcy removes the debt/obligations that are sinking you deeper every month. It is a golden opportunity!

[wonkettegirl]

For me, bankruptcy stopped the bleeding and enables me to live within my means and save up. I was stuck with a house I could neither afford nor sell in this market (post divorce) and every month I went further into debt. I was also stuck with about 11k marital debt. By the time I filed bk, I had accumulated another 10k debt in about a year and a half, trying to make the mortgage payments and sell the damned house!

BK took away the house payment, and wiped out all marital and post-marital debt. I now live on my paycheck quite nicely and am socking away between $800-1200 almost every month.

[debtmonster]

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FL's exemptions SUCK!!!

You got that right, homie.

[WorkingItOut]

Well, OK - but the reason you filed BK was because you didn't HAVE that money to start with - - or am I missing something.

You filled out a form that showed that your expenses you pay was about equal to your income, not including all those payments you mentioned - so after the BK you have all this extra money?

If you're under the median income, in most districts, it doesn't really matter if you have money leftover. I realize some districts are cracking down on that and do make people with leftover money who are under the median go Ch.13 instead. But it's not happening everywhere. I am under median (barely), and once my debt payments were stopped, it left a nice chunk of change for me to save up or spend or whatever I wanted each month. Now, my lawyer did turn in a Means Test that showed lots of expenses each month (all within legal limits) that I don't necessarily have each and every month. So "on paper" it looks like I have less money left over than I do.

[UpsideDown]

Well, OK - but the reason you filed BK was because you didn't HAVE that money to start with - - or am I missing something.

You filled out a form that showed that your expenses you pay was about equal to your income, not including all those payments you mentioned - so after the BK you have all this extra money?

'Course, I live in FL and we don't have anything like CA to work with at the start. Here, a 'new start' is like just being born - with nothing, or close to it. - jb

.....Of course you can have a multi-million dollar mansion and that's OK; just can't have anything else. I have 2 cars paid for, each 10 yrs old, with over 130K miles and I'll have to pay the trustee to keep them! FL's exemptions SUCK!!!

[debtmonster]

Well, OK - but the reason you filed BK was because you didn't HAVE that money to start with - - or am I missing something.

If I didn't have all the debt, I'D HAVE THE MONEY! My entire paycheck has been going out to debt. That's why I am broke. Problem is the debt now exceeds what I make. With $6k in bills and $3k gross, something isn't working here.

Once I have to move out of the foreclosure and start paying rent some place, then I won't be able to stock pile the money. The main way I will be able to save is by living rent-free for a while like many people have done.

I just want to get a SWEET car with NO PAYMENTS so that way I'll have no more repo's to worry about. I know I could get some crappy $5,000 car that's reliable, but then I won't be happy and will always want more. That's why I want to save up $20k some how and pay cash for another nice BMW. Of course I will have to buy a used one and not some $40-50k new one like before.

I found a beautiful M5 for $21k. These cars normally sell for $70k and up brand new.

Once I get a nice car like that with NO PAYMENTS, I plan to keep that sucker for a good 20 years, as long as I can keep it in a garage and not have the Florida sun destroy it. My friend's mom kept her BMW 5-series for almost 19 years. She bought it brand new. I told her she was crazy to get rid of it.

[drowningNdebt]

Well, I'm looking at going back to my old work as a loan officer. One or two loan closings can net $10,000. There for my income changes. It would be like 3 months after discharge though.

[jeb]

For starters, when the burden of debt (credit cards, mortgage notes, loans, etc...) is off your shoulders AFTER you file BK, you are able to accumulate a savings.

Well, OK - but the reason you filed BK was because you didn't HAVE that money to start with - - or am I missing something.

You filled out a form that showed that your expenses you pay was about equal to your income, not including all those payments you mentioned - so after the BK you have all this extra money?

'Course, I live in FL and we don't have anything like CA to work with at the start. Here, a 'new start' is like just being born - with nothing, or close to it. - jb

[debtmonster]

Not trying to be nasty here, but if one has a bunch of cash to go out and buy something, why and how did they get through a BK?

Just like the people said above. Once I give back my two cars, that's going to save me $1050/mo. right there. By not paying my mortgage, property taxes and insurance, that's going to save me another $1100/mo. By not paying all of our credit cards, there's another $1000+ /mo. saved.

The day I file is the very day the SAVINGS BEGIN.

If I can stay in my house for 16 months, that's 16 x $1100/mo. I can be stock-piling away to pay CASH MONEY for a late model car.

16 months would enable me to put away $17,000. For $17,000, look at the nice cars I could afford to buy!!!!

Click the link and look!! SWEEEEEEET RIDES!

Look at all of those low mileage beauties that I could pay CASH FOR by staying in my house RENT-FREE after the foreclosure.

If I were to not go with this particular vehicles, there's PLENTY of good alternatives.

All 2007 and up under $17,000 with under 15,000 miles. TONS of cars to pick from in my area.

Bankruptcy ROCKS!