We own 6 rental houses. We purchased all of them within 1 year and the economy has shifted to the point that we aren't making money on them. We have 120K in credit card debt. A majority of that debt was used for repairs to the houses that we no longer can afford.
1) If we filed bankruptcy, would we have any hangups for the number of purchases we made on our credit cards over the last couple of years?
2) We took a vacation in November 2008 and purchased a camera on that vacation. It's a long story, but we were scammed and my credit card was charged huge fees. I tried to fight it, but then MBNA denied all the ppwork I filed. My interest rate went up to 28% and I could no longer afford the minimum payment. 2 months later, the rest of my cards up'd their rates and we had to stop paying...ALL CREDIT CARDS. I haven't made a payment since Feb 2009. I'm so worried at this point--guess I should be. But my priority was paying for my house. Do I have reason to worry about this?
3) My parents borrowed us $5K to help get us out of a financial mess with our rentals. IN exchange, we sold them our camper (which they used a lot anyway). We sold it in April for $2500 and then never had to pay them back for money they borrowed to us ($5000). Now, I am reading that they go back a year to see if you switched titles to anyone in your family and I'm freaking out about this. We didnt PLAN to file at the time so I didn't think it was going to be an issue. Now, I'm worried that we need to try to wait a year before filing (until April 2010), so that I don't pull my parents into this mess. They don't even KNOW we are possibly filing.
4) What happens if we want to file Chap 7? Do we still collect rent on the rental properties and then NOT pay our loan at the bank? Or is it an immediate surrender? Or do I just let them foreclose? I don't know what to do.
5) We have 3 mortgages on our primary residence. Our total mortgages total about 185K and our house is probably worth 100K (probably not even that). Will I have to worry about losing my house if we used the equity in it to purchase the rentals? We plan to continue to pay those mortgages.
6) We have 3 cars. 1 is my husbands (with a loan), one is mine on a lease and one is my son's (in my name) that is free and clear. Will we lose my son's car? Or can we keep it and return the lease that I have? I have to surrender it in Sept 2010 anyway.
I am having a Phone interview on Tuesday with an attorney. I hope to know more at that point. I'm almost scared to tell him some of this. I don't know if filing Chap 7 is the best, or if we just wait and see what happens with our creditors from the ccards we havent' paid. 2 of them are asking us to dispute the debt right now. I don't know how to proceed with any of this and I've considered bankruptcy for about 4 months...I just don't want to get into more trouble or appear fraudulent if we proceed. I'm also not sure if I can trust an attorney to be honest with me about my situation or if they just want me to file so they get their money?
Sorry for writing so much. I have no where to discuss these things and I'm a little anxious. Sorry.
1) If we filed bankruptcy, would we have any hangups for the number of purchases we made on our credit cards over the last couple of years?
2) We took a vacation in November 2008 and purchased a camera on that vacation. It's a long story, but we were scammed and my credit card was charged huge fees. I tried to fight it, but then MBNA denied all the ppwork I filed. My interest rate went up to 28% and I could no longer afford the minimum payment. 2 months later, the rest of my cards up'd their rates and we had to stop paying...ALL CREDIT CARDS. I haven't made a payment since Feb 2009. I'm so worried at this point--guess I should be. But my priority was paying for my house. Do I have reason to worry about this?
3) My parents borrowed us $5K to help get us out of a financial mess with our rentals. IN exchange, we sold them our camper (which they used a lot anyway). We sold it in April for $2500 and then never had to pay them back for money they borrowed to us ($5000). Now, I am reading that they go back a year to see if you switched titles to anyone in your family and I'm freaking out about this. We didnt PLAN to file at the time so I didn't think it was going to be an issue. Now, I'm worried that we need to try to wait a year before filing (until April 2010), so that I don't pull my parents into this mess. They don't even KNOW we are possibly filing.
4) What happens if we want to file Chap 7? Do we still collect rent on the rental properties and then NOT pay our loan at the bank? Or is it an immediate surrender? Or do I just let them foreclose? I don't know what to do.
5) We have 3 mortgages on our primary residence. Our total mortgages total about 185K and our house is probably worth 100K (probably not even that). Will I have to worry about losing my house if we used the equity in it to purchase the rentals? We plan to continue to pay those mortgages.
6) We have 3 cars. 1 is my husbands (with a loan), one is mine on a lease and one is my son's (in my name) that is free and clear. Will we lose my son's car? Or can we keep it and return the lease that I have? I have to surrender it in Sept 2010 anyway.
I am having a Phone interview on Tuesday with an attorney. I hope to know more at that point. I'm almost scared to tell him some of this. I don't know if filing Chap 7 is the best, or if we just wait and see what happens with our creditors from the ccards we havent' paid. 2 of them are asking us to dispute the debt right now. I don't know how to proceed with any of this and I've considered bankruptcy for about 4 months...I just don't want to get into more trouble or appear fraudulent if we proceed. I'm also not sure if I can trust an attorney to be honest with me about my situation or if they just want me to file so they get their money?
Sorry for writing so much. I have no where to discuss these things and I'm a little anxious. Sorry.
I think that after you talk to your attorney you will feel a bit less worried. There are a couple of issues that might come up but they are not deal breakers.
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