Hello All!!! I am new here

[alleycat]

I am under so much stress right now I dont know what to do, I am hoping someone here will have some guidance for me....

I recently recieved a letter that a debt collector has recieved a no fault judgment against me for a Dr. Bill from 4 yrs ago. I thought it was covered under charity care , but apparantly it is not.

As it turns out I have many unpaid hospital/dr bills on my credit report total upwards of 30,000 . I have been unemployed for over a yr and only recieve 890 dollars A MONTH in unemployment, I made an appt. with legal aid and they are going to call me Thurs. for an intake phone meeting.

My questions are:
Will I have a hard time filing chapter 7 , i do not own a home or a car
Has anyone else on here filed through legal aid?
Thanks I am so glad i found this forum!!!

[frogger]

Welcome. Starting reading the sticky threads and most of your questions will be answered.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Welcome. Starting reading the sticky threads and most of your questions will be answered.

That is the best start here, but, what state are you in? For this reason I ask, the Statute of Limitations is way past if your debt is four years old. Next, they cannot get a default Judgment unless you are served a summons and do not show. You are being scammed by a collection agency. BTW did you know they lie? Yes they do. Welcome aboard. 'Hub

[AngelinaCatHub]

Allycat: Let me be a bit more specific since you are new here and I'll try to step through some of this.

I am under so much stress right now I dont know what to do, I am hoping someone here will have some guidance for me....First, we were all there and yes you will make it through just fine.

I recently recieved a letter that a debt collector has recieved a no fault judgment against me for a Dr. Bill from 4 yrs ago. I thought it was covered under charity care , but apparantly it is not. Do you mean a default judgment? There is no such thing as a "no fault judgment". Don't believe it and if true you can look up Public Records in your County to see.

As it turns out I have many unpaid hospital/dr bills on my credit report total upwards of 30,000 . I have been unemployed for over a yr and only recieve 890 dollars A MONTH in unemployment, I made an appt. with legal aid and they are going to call me Thurs. for an intake phone meeting. I wish you good fortune. Hope it works out.

My questions are:
Will I have a hard time filing chapter 7 , i do not own a home or a car
Has anyone else on here filed through legal aid? You should not have a problem as you do have bills and no income. The 30K will put you way under any means testing if you even have to do that. If you are pretty sharp, for about 17 bucks you can download the Chapter 7 book and go pro se. It is nolopress.com. You may be able to wave the filing fees for indigent reasons.
Thanks I am so glad i found this forum!!! We are please you have joined.

[OhioFiler]

With the limited info provided the OP sounds judgement proof to me.

[alleycat]

Thank You, for your responses

I live in NJ so the sol is 6 yrs if I am not mistaken, so no luck there for me.
I am collecting unemplyment, but that is under 900 a month, so i can only hope that with that i will be able to file chapter 7 that is about to run out and I still have not found a job, but even when I was working I didnt make over 16,000 a yr. I realize that the collecter cant garnish my unemployment , but it can stay on my record for 20 yrs. I am trying to get on my feet and this will be hardship for me.
I am just so scared because everyone tells me its so hard to file bankrupt after 10/25
Again thanks for all your replies, it feels good to know I am not alone!!!!
oops.... and yes angelina you are correct it was a default judgment, I NEVER EVEN KNEW!!! they sent notice to and old address that since then, I have moved twice, but they sure knew where i lived once they got a judgment

[keepmine]

First things first.
You need to find some sort of job before you even think about filing-preferably one with health insurance benefits.
You need to be able to support yourself post bk.

[alleycat]

I worry about that too

I am looking... I send 3 to 4 resumes out a week , go on at least 2 interviews a month, The thing is I fear that if I dont file their will be a mountian of judgments against me and I will be in and out of court all the time. Not having a job is one of my major stress issues right now.
Will I not be able to file because I am unemployed?

[music12]

being unemployed won't stop you from filing. keepmine is saying you need to find a job before filing because otherwise, post-filing you might not be any better off: what if something happens and you have new medical bills but you are not insured? you will have debt all over again. that's why it's better to find a job with health insurance, then file.

it became "hard" to file bk after 10/2005 only for people who make a lot of money (over the median). that doesn't apply to you. for you, it's as easy as it was before 10/2005 (unless you suddenly find a job that's above median for your state).

good luck!

[alleycat]

Thanks MUSIC12

Thats the info that I needed, I am concerned about what will happen after as well. I am so far in a hole though that chapter 7 can only make it better, I had cancer and that would be considered pre-existing on a new insurance policy anyway.

Before this all came to light I was planning on going to school, but with what my credit score is getting a student loan would be out of the question.

My line of work is customer service and that doesnt pay very well so I dont anticipate my income going above the means test allowment any time soon.

Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to help!!!!!

[music12]

isn't there a limit on pre-existing ailments? i thought after a year of waiting period, your pre-existing conditions do become covered. am i wrong? at least that's true of medicare (there it's a 6 month waiting period).

[alleycat]

I would have to look into that, right now I would be willing to take any job insurance or no insurance. I am getting desperate, Thanks for your help!!!!

[music12]

take a deep breath. fighting cancer must be SO hard. i already admire you for surviving this far. you will make it, just persevere.

[alleycat]

Thanks , Looks like some rough road ahead. Glad I found this site !!!!!

[PdxDavid]

Regarding the NOLO Chapter 7 Book...

If you are getting the ebook (from the publisher site) you can enter code A416 for an additional $10 off making it $7.99.

I hope posting this is okay. I read the rules sticky and didn't see anything about it.