question about paying off CC Before BK....+

[LaidOff53]

We will be filing CH 7 in Dec 09 because we have to wait for our income to go below the median , We have a Home which we plan on reaffirming and 54,000 in CC's , we are current on everything ( so far ) . We have 11 credit cards and only 2 have are joint with my name on the account , the rest are in my husbands name with me listed as a authorized user . My question is ....Since we have to wait 10 months to file I thought about paying off the 2 CC's that are joint accounts ( me & DH ) so that I wouldnt have to file at all . If i pay off 2 cards while still paying Mins on the cards in my husbands name, when he does file will they look back 8-9 months and see that we paid off the 2 cards with my name on it ? Or is 8-9 months long enough in advance that it wont come back to bite us . We plan on paying the mins on all other cards while throwing as much money at the 2 that are joint accounts so we can pay them off before DH files so i wont have file at all. I have read online that as long as i am only listed as a authorized user that i will not be held accountable to pay back that debit .

[TEW]

Why pay the minimums? And you are only going to discharge 54K?

[LaidOff53]

yes we need to keep the house we will have no equity after using the 40,400 exemption, we want to get rid of the 54,000 in CC's . we need to pay off approx 3500 for 2 credit cards that i am listed as joint on , the rest is in DH's name with me listed as an authorized user . We were hoping that if we pay those 2 off , i will not have to file with him. Just wasnt sure if they will look back 8-9 months and see that we paid off the 2 that had my name on it .

[JRScott]

You probably should ask a lawyer to be 100% sure.

If you pay more than 600 dollars to any one of them in the 90 days prior to filing you have to list them on the Statement of Financial Affairs you file with the bankruptcy petition. Outside of that timeframe it would depend on your circumstances, trustee and district internal rules.

[TEW]

yes we need to keep the house we will have no equity after using the 40,400 exemption, we want to get rid of the 54,000 in CC's . we need to pay off approx 3500 for 2 credit cards that i am listed as joint on , the rest is in DH's name with me listed as an authorized user . We were hoping that if we pay those 2 off , i will not have to file with him. Just wasnt sure if they will look back 8-9 months and see that we paid off the 2 that had my name on it .

Sounds like a plan but like JR said you can not pay more then 600 to any unsecured creditor 90 days before filing.

[chad9162]

Why "payoff" the two cards? Just have your husband file bk by himself. His bankruptcy would no longer make him a joint owner. If you are a joint owner then you'd be the only one liable and theoretically continued to pay. At east that's the way I understand it.

[LaidOff53]

You probably should ask a lawyer to be 100% sure.

If you pay more than 600 dollars to any one of them in the 90 days prior to filing you have to list them on the Statement of Financial Affairs you file with the bankruptcy petition. Outside of that timeframe it would depend on your circumstances, trustee and district internal rules.

so i should be okay if i always pay just under 600 per month on each of the cards i want to pay off right ? what if i pay them off more than 600 per month and then wait 8 months to file ? Will this be frowned upon ? also what if i can transfer the balance of the cards i want to pay off next month and then wait 8 months ? would that be a better solution ? I am just trying to figure out how to leave me out of the BK so at least one of us can get something in an emergency.

[StartingOver08]

You have more of a risk by doing a balance transfer. Don't do that.

If you are going to pay off 2 of the cards - do it early in your process (now) rather than later. The 90 days prior to filing gets a lot of Trustee review. Also, they can look back 6 mths (some can go back a year if they think you have made any insider payments - but that does not seem to be your case at all). So the earlier you pay back those two cards, the better it is for your filing. If you do not want the cards in the bk, close them before you file.

As to the $600 - that is not a monthly amount. That is a cumulative amount over the 90 days before filing. So if you pay them off now and you file 9 mths from now, it will not be an issue at all.

[woeisme]

I have read online that as long as i am only listed as a authorized user that i will not be held accountable to pay back that debit .

You will definitely want to confirm this with a lawyer. Are you in a joint property state? If so, and the debt was accumulated after you were married, the debt would be considered both of yours, regardless of what the status of you on the account was, authorized user or joint account, even if you were never on the account at all they could still come after you depending on your state laws. So you just want to double check with your lawyer that you can really file under just hubby's name and discharge all the debt, because it'd really suck after going through all the trouble of filing to find out that you are still liable.+

[TEW]

You will definitely want to confirm this with a lawyer. Are you in a joint property state? If so, and the debt was accumulated after you were married, the debt would be considered both of yours, regardless of what the status of you on the account was, authorized user or joint account, even if you were never on the account at all they could still come after you depending on your state laws. So you just want to double check with your lawyer that you can really file under just hubby's name and discharge all the debt, because it'd really suck after going through all the trouble of filing to find out that you are still liable.+

I know OP's state and I was only going to have DW files it would not be a problem.