A long time coming

[tucson]

Hello All,

I have been reading this forum for the past 8 months while I continued to just go deeper and deeper into debt thinking I could somehow turn the ship around and instead it sunk.

The reason I am posting is last week my wife and I had the talk we should have had a year ago (I finally came clean and feel good!) and we decided Chapter 7 BK may be our best way out. Over the years we have had 100's of thousands in unsecure debt but always found a way out because I used to make alot more money or we sold a house etc etc etc... Not this time. My income has been low for the last 3 years and we currently have about 150k in unsecure debt alot of which was from a convenience check about a year ago to fund a venture that never panned out. Frankly it all just snuck up on me. Thats what you get when you rob peter to pay paul.

I have some questions. I just returned from a visit with a local bk lawyer and after a quick review he said no problemo but i have concerns about a few things.

-First I have continued to use a few cards in small amounts for our regular bills up until about 2 months ago which I do not think is a problem.

-Second. We have a line of credit with wells fargo that I attempted to stop paying but like a moron left a checking account open with them. They then withdrew the payment from that account causing it to overdraft. I then used the credit line to cover that overdraft. Old habits are hard to break! Will this be a problem if we file soon?

- Third. In June of this year my truck went to truck heaven and I purchased a new truck. Will the court see this negatively? I need my truck to continue with the job that I finally found work in again.

We are current on our mortgage and two car payments and have sufficient income for these items. We have taken the means test and we fall just below the maximum but I am still concerned. Will I have any problems with the recent credit line transfers and will I be able to keep my truck?

I am real scared right now. My wife is even more scared. We have a mess and we need to deal with it. Taking the advice on here we stopped paying our cards 2 months ago and stopped using them also except for the few bills I forgot about that were autopay using one of the cards and the credit line transfer which the lawyer seemed to think was explainable.

Any words of wisdom?

Thanks!

[LimpDisc]

The new truck shouldn't be an issue. We purchased a new SUV just last month. We were told it's a good idea to get your transportation needs set before you file.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

[tucson]

Thanks for the response. Anyone have any ideas on covering the overdraft caused by the line of credit with the line of credit?

[Klesko]

You need to show that the line of credit was used to cover that payment. If the amoutn was over 600 then they MAY force the person/company paid to return the amount paid as it was a preferential payment.

As long as you can show it was used to pay that account I think you should be fine.

[LimpDisc]

Thanks for the response. Anyone have any ideas on covering the overdraft caused by the line of credit with the line of credit?

How much of the line of credit was used?

We recently had $50 pulled from our Chase card to cover an overdraft situation because I forgot to remove an autopay. I was told it wouldn't be an issue.

[tucson]

Its a 35k line of credit of which 34,970 is now used after the transfer. The payment was 540 bucks and the account had 0 in it because I intended to close it. They overdrafted the account and added 60 worth of charges bringing it to $600 that I needed to transfer. Both the line of credit and the bank account are with Wells Fargo.

Thanks again for the responses I am so glad I found this place!

[sammyt74dp]

That talk with the wife is familiar territory. When you actually have to face the problem head to head and do, you feel better right away. You'll feel even better after your 341 meeting is done. You situation sound familiar as mine, but we are getting through it. Almost over hopefully. It has been the most nerve racking stressful time I have ever had. But I now realize much of it I was over concerned on. As far as Well Fargo, I wouldn't worry about any thing from them, just remember they are dealing with alot of this right now and you are just another write off.

Just do your best to keep notes and do what the attorney advises in a timely matter and should go smooth...Remember the Trustee is only making $60 a case. Move em in move em out. Good luck

[tucson]

sammyt74dp.

Yeah my wife had never been involved with the finances. I handled everything and always found a way to pay for it. She said she knew something was up when I started having her use different cards for different things and I wish she had questioned me!!! We may not have gotten in so deep... Either way whats done is done and I am glad, even happy I manned up to the problem. I can say one thing we will never let it happen again. We are still young enough we can start over and build a bright future on the money we EARN instead of borrowing it. Once this is all said and done we have already laid out a plan to pay off our vehicles then take on the mortgage. Even if it takes working 3 jobs at minimum wage we will get it done. I never ever want to feel the knot in my gut I have carried around with me for the last few years. Next stop...Credit counseling which I have no idea what that entails ;)

[sammyt74dp]

The credit counseling is basic stuff, did ours online. Gave them our expenses, took an easy test, etc and what they recommended we do to save money is turn down the water heater a bit to save energy..My wife and I started laughing.

[2manybills]

Hello All,

I have been reading this forum for the past 8 months while I continued to just go deeper and deeper into debt thinking I could somehow turn the ship around and instead it sunk.

The reason I am posting is last week my wife and I had the talk we should have had a year ago (I finally came clean and feel good!) and we decided Chapter 7 BK may be our best way out. Over the years we have had 100's of thousands in unsecure debt but always found a way out because I used to make alot more money or we sold a house etc etc etc... Not this time. My income has been low for the last 3 years and we currently have about 150k in unsecure debt alot of which was from a convenience check about a year ago to fund a venture that never panned out. Frankly it all just snuck up on me. Thats what you get when you rob peter to pay paul.

I have some questions. I just returned from a visit with a local bk lawyer and after a quick review he said no problemo but i have concerns about a few things.

-First I have continued to use a few cards in small amounts for our regular bills up until about 2 months ago which I do not think is a problem.

-Second. We have a line of credit with wells fargo that I attempted to stop paying but like a moron left a checking account open with them. They then withdrew the payment from that account causing it to overdraft. I then used the credit line to cover that overdraft. Old habits are hard to break! Will this be a problem if we file soon?

- Third. In June of this year my truck went to truck heaven and I purchased a new truck. Will the court see this negatively? I need my truck to continue with the job that I finally found work in again.

We are current on our mortgage and two car payments and have sufficient income for these items. We have taken the means test and we fall just below the maximum but I am still concerned. Will I have any problems with the recent credit line transfers and will I be able to keep my truck?

I am real scared right now. My wife is even more scared. We have a mess and we need to deal with it. Taking the advice on here we stopped paying our cards 2 months ago and stopped using them also except for the few bills I forgot about that were autopay using one of the cards and the credit line transfer which the lawyer seemed to think was explainable.

Any words of wisdom?

Thanks!

Hey Tucson: Welcome aboard!! You guys are fine! You're situation sounds very familiar to ours. We just passed the means test. We actually had a leased car and my attorney said if you want to get rid of it now and "buy" a car while your credit is still good, this is the time. Which we did and voluntarily surrendered the lease. That was 5/22 and we filed on 7/3. Not a problem. In fact, Toyota just filed the reaffirmation agreement with the court.

I have always been the person that juggled the money. I did'nt want to stress my DH anymore because he was already stressing about his work. Well when I finally added everything up - what a wake up call! Then BofA started raising interest rates, Citi followed and by that time we were over $500 more a month in CC payments totalling $3K a month. We had $159K in CC debt.

I was a nervous wreck and I work in the legal field. In the end, it has been a blessing in our lives and in our marriage. Putting everything on the table, both of us taking responsibility for where we are financially, and being more responsible about where we spend our money, etc. Many valuable lessons. Put your marriage and your family first, everything else will fall into place.

We are doing a "ride-thru" on the house and we'll see where this lovely California real estate market takes us.

Our 341 last about 3 minutes. Just be honest and make sure all of your documentation is there.

[frogger]

Welcome to the show. You're among friends here.

[DeadManCrawling]

Indeed, friends abound here. Occasional disagreements, too, but that is normal among folks.

Sounds like your fine with all of your details posted.

I felt great relief last night as I sat down and sorted out boxes and boxes of collection letters, default statements, credit reports and got the paperwork organized, finally, for our own Ch 7 filing.

Our situation was far worse than even I thought. Somehow, though, just sorting that stuff and knowing the full picture (and that we will be fine with our filing) was a great stress reliever.

Knowledge IS power, in BK more than anywhere else, I think. As you learn more about the law, it becomes less intimidating. It is comforting to know the answers to some of your own questions.

Welcome aboard, and good luck in your journey!