Only passed means test by $150.00

[aces67]

If people would stop replying to my posts as a debate, there would be no controversy.

If you're making money over the median, then you are making more money than most of the people. It would buying a house for more than you could afford. When I bought my house, they wouldn't let me finance over 3x our gross income. I don't know why people are sitting there buying $400,000 and $500,000+ homes. That's just nuts.

That's what homes here sell for. That would be almost 10x our gross income and is almost 10x the median income for our state. If banks would stop approving people who have no business buying these houses, inflation wouldn't be going out of hand. Too much false supply and demand.

You know what I paid only 62K for my home and my note is only $450 a month. We spend almost $1K a month on medical expenses and health insurance.

Just b/c you are over the median does not mean you have money, a fancy house or a fancy car. We filed bk and we only had a total of around $20 K in debt. You should not ASSUME that over the median people are well off, rolling in dough or living above their means b/c we are none of those three.

[debtmonster]

You know what I paid only 62K for my home and my note is only $450 a month. We spend almost $1K a month on medical expenses and health insurance.

That's totally not fair that you're able to buy a house that cheap and all of my options here are nothing less than $300,000 to $600,000 for a single family home. This is such a scam.

[hereforinfo]

That's totally not fair that you're able to buy a house that cheap and all of my options here are nothing less than $300,000 to $600,000 for a single family home. This is such a scam.

Many of us "W-2 sheep" have health insurance, retirement accounts, and make a solid, consistent salary. You have NONE of those things. Yeah, we're sure jealous of you living in your mom's spare bedroom and dodging the repo man because you only have $20 in your account and no way to buy a car. .

[lovebirds]

You know what I paid only 62K for my home and my note is only $450 a month. We spend almost $1K a month on medical expenses and health insurance.

Just b/c you are over the median does not mean you have money, a fancy house or a fancy car. We filed bk and we only had a total of around $20 K in debt. You should not ASSUME that over the median people are well off, rolling in dough or living above their means b/c we are none of those three.

I agree with all of this. I make over the median as an entry-level, just graduated engineer. I am certainly not rolling the dough. My mortgage payment is $1300 simply b/c of high insurance costs in Louisiana after our hurricanes. My house costs way less than median in this area.

And who cares if you can't get car loans and credit cards if you do a Chapter 13? I hate when people are super excited to get new credit after credit (good intentions and all) ruined them in the 1st place.

[debtmonster]

Many of us "W-2 sheep" have health insurance, retirement accounts, and make a solid, consistent salary. You have NONE of those things. Yeah, we're sure jealous of you living in your mom's spare bedroom and dodging the repo man because you only have $20 in your account and no way to buy a car. .

If I was workign W-2, I'd STILL be living in the spare bedroom and dodging the repo man! DON'T KID YOURSELF!

The mom has passed away. Apparently you're not paying attention to details.

You're going to be W-2 until you die with this attitude. Do you think Bill Gates or Steve Jobs is worrying about petty benefits when they are making billions of dollars and not worrying about some joke of a few grand per month to live on?

[debtmonster]

And who cares if you can't get car loans and credit cards if you do a Chapter 13? I hate when people are super excited to get new credit after credit (good intentions and all) ruined them in the 1st place.

You got that right!!!

Just don't do a Chapter 13. DO A 7!!! 13's SUCK! And if you don't believe that, wait until you're ordered by the judge to make payments for 5 to 10 years. So you go ahead and destroy your credit with the bankruptcy bomb, and then you STILL can't get credit afterward. SO WHY DO IT!? Filing Ch. 13 is like not even filing bankruptcy at all. I would not waste my time with that crap. I would do a 7 or nothing. Let the collection agencies hound all they want. I'll C&D those bastards all day long.

[hereforinfo]

If I was workign W-2, I'd STILL be living in the spare bedroom and dodging the repo man!

That's probably the only thing you've said in this entire post that's correct.

[debtmonster]

That's probably the only thing you've said in this entire post that's correct.

No, EVERYTHING I have always said has been correct. You are just a "glass is half empty" kind of person. You need to stop being so pessimistic and doubtful all the time. That's no way to go through life with that attitude.

[pookieny]

I was under the median by just $22 but because of a wage ganishment from Capitol One, I was under monthly for my expenses by $300!

I'm with DM, whatever you can do to avoid going with a chapt 13, I would try.

[pookieny]

That was a lot of knowledge. For each person that could do what I did would save them YEARS of headaches. If you're a masochist and have that pain fetish, then by all means, do whatever you can to file a Chapter 13.

I don't like suffering. So I did what I could to get into a 7. If I would have filed early last year, I could have been pushed into a 13. You do have some control when it comes to going bankrupt. Bankruptcy can require some planning.

Doing what I suggested is 100% legal. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having your own home business. Millions of people do it all the time. An MLM is one of the easist and most legit. Just be sure to file a Schedule C to get the write-off's. You can use a CPA, Turbo Tax or Tax Cut software to help you file.

mmm, you've actually have given me some good ideas seeing as I always pay through the nose in taxes each year.

[justbroke]

Just don't do a Chapter 13. DO A 7!!! 13's SUCK! And if you don't believe that, wait until you're ordered by the judge to make payments for 5 to 10 years...

This is not true. Chapter 13s are either 36 months and, by Statute, can not be longer than 60 months (5 years).

Filing Ch. 13 is like not even filing bankruptcy at all. I would not waste my time with that crap. I would do a 7 or nothing.

Chapter 13s have legitimate and very power things including the superdischarge (which discharges debt that you can't in a Chapter 7). Not only that, the power of stripping junior mortgages itself, can be well worth the 3 or 5 years of budgeting. A person with assets and income, should not play the "let the creditor come and try to get money from me". Judgments can last for as many as 20 years, and garnishments are no fun either.

Each Chapter of Bankruptcy provides something different. You don't even have to file Chapter 13, you could file Chapter 11. Bankruptcy is a tool and if used properly can be an effective precision tool. Now, if Chapter 20s were more commonplace, I'd say the Chapter 20 is the best if you need to lien strip. LOL

[debtmonster]

You read the article on MSN. 40% of the people who attempt a Chapter 13 FAIL.

Those are not odds I would gamble with.

C'mon, man! Just do the 7 and call it a day. We can meet for drinks after you're discharged and celebrate.

[justbroke]

You read the article on MSN. 40% of the people who attempt a Chapter 13 FAIL.

And what was the reason? Job loss? Not everyone qualifies for Chapter 7 on the outset. You can blame your Congress for the way it works. What I am saying is that for the 60% of the people who make it through, they may actually shed hundreds of thousands (or even a million or more) dollars off their mortgage, while keeping their home. They have more powers than under a Chapter 7 as well.

Each (Chapter) is a tool. I think you're more the "just do Chapter 7" and I'm being the moderate. I think you need to look at what is financially in your best interest. Unfortunately, Chapter 7 is not the cure for all types of insolvency. I'd take the Chapter 13 odds if I can shed $400K or more (which I will upon discharge). I can't "knowingly" do better in Vegas.

I think your only disconnect Monster, is that you make the leap that everyone can file Chapter 7, simply by quitting their job, waiting several months and then filing. There are many cases in which the U.S. Trustee won dismissals where Debtors "planned" too well and stopped working so that they could qualify for a Chapter 7. In these cases, they were "bad faith" objections and rightly so. However, a person working two jobs to make ends meet while trying to raise children, could voluntarily quit one of those jobs without any "bad faith" inferences.

I do agree that if you can, file Chapter 7 and be done. However, if you're using the power of the Chapter 13 to do things which you cannot do in a Chapter 7:

• pay priority tax debt to get the IRS off your back and to keep them from garnishing and/or levying against property
• an instant "refinance" on most secured debt (decelerate the term of your car loans by stretching it out over 5 years, lowering the payment while reducing the interest rate).
• avoid judgments (which are terrible things if you have property or earn income from W-2 sources -- and don't live in Texas)
• strip wholly unsecured liens off your primary residence (can be worth $100's of thousands of dollars)
• bifurcate other secured debt into secured and unsecured portions
• the "superdischarge" for debts related to liability, marital dissolution (non-support), other judgments (not available a Chapter 7)

Chapter 7 is not the hammer that makes everything look like a nail. It has its place and is in no way a precision tool.

What I'm saying is, to use the tool that works. I'll take 60/40 odds anyday when it's "not" a gamble. Filing Chapter 13 is not the same as gambling. You know you "win" if you pay the term over 36 or 60 months. Things can change, but that doesn't make it gambling.

[stressedNC]

Anybody ever wonder why its a 164 dollars? Its such an arbitrary number... luckily I came in at 162.... boooya! ;)

For us it was less than that $112 was the number we were told we should be under at the end of J(Western Distric NC).

[debtmonster]

Justbroke, you're making Ch. 7 appear to be more difficult than it really is. Maybe you make like $150,000/yr. and have a hard time qualifying, but about 90% of the country has $40,000/yr. or less income earners.

Chapter 7 is the easiest thing to do for the majority of the people. Your posts are doing nothing but scaring people. Bankruptcy is really not all that big of a deal the way you're making it. If it was, I'd be shaking in my boots and losing sleep over it.

Maybe if you're a doctor, lawyer or some other rich person who managed to buy all kinds of fancy toys and stuff and want to keep them, then Chapter 13 is good for you. But for the majority of our poor folks who don't have boats, ATV's, motorcycles, 2nd homes to use as rental properties, all kinds of expensive jewelry and everything else that a person gets into debt for, I dont have any of that stuff to worry about wanting to refinance anything. THEY CAN COME TAKE IT ALL! I want a CLEAN SLATE and want NO DEBT.

The richer you are, the harder bankruptcy is going to be for you. For us folks who make under $50,000 per year as a household income, they aren't to going say a word to us. We'll go to our 341, they'll ask us a few questions and that will be that. End of story. Then in 60 days it's over.