Frustrating...inconsistant income...

[BKman]

Don't you run the risk of a law suit from the CC companys if you wait to long? Is it really that hard to convert when your income becomes "normal" or drops?

[lrprn]

That would make more sense, HOWEVER, I'm not sure if it's done that way.

You are right, JEM. Because of the way the bk law was re-written and passed back in 2005, the court has no choice but to count every single source of income received the prior six full calendar months before filing. Stupid? Sure. Thank your 2005 congressional representatives who voted overwhelmingly for the very badly written bk law back then. I'm sure a lot of them enjoyed the $$$ that the cc, auto, and banking industries sent their way under the table to make sure they voted yes.

If the extra income earned during the prior six months puts you over the median for your state or skews your income so much that the Means Test shows disposable income when you really don't have any when your income is normal, then your only option is to wait to file until the extra overtime or bonus income drops off. Sorry that it has to be this way, but that's the law .

[BKman]

I wouold LOVE to go with a chapter 7 now. I had a good December so if I waited any longer I would go crazy. My attorney said if your income drops and you are under to income limit for your state you can try and convert to a chapter 7. Being self employed I would like to try and convert in July. That would clear out December and give me a better chance to convert and be done. My wife wants to move out of state near family and I just can't see making payments and feeling trapt for 5 years.

Those that can and are doing it are better than me. I have gone 3 months without using any credit cards and I have no desire to go back.

[JEM]

Wow were all in the OT boat. The wife has been racking up tons of overtime and brought home some nice little checks. Is there a way you can prove base pay then show overtime? They have to know that the OT wont last forever and we will be back where we were.

That would make more sense, HOWEVER, I'm not sure if it's done that way.

From my (limited) understanding, it's your income for the 6 mos. look back period. Many "one time" things are counted in the look back and that's when people end up having to wait for it to "fall off".

[goneunder]

Wow were all in the OT boat. The wife has been racking up tons of overtime and brought home some nice little checks. Is there a way you can prove base pay then show overtime? They have to know that the OT wont last forever and we will be back where we were.

[JEM]

We're in the same boat Jem. My hubby starts his OT the end of this month and it will run for a couple of months. We plan on filing in March also. I'm wondering what this will do to us as far as filing goes. I have an appt with another attorney Tues and plan on asking about this.

We can sure use the money right now, but I'm worried at the same time. We'll be eating good and buying some things we need though that's for sure, cause OT for us doesn't come very often.

Ya, that's my plan too, make sure we are good and caught up (hopefully a little ahead) on utilities, water bill etc..., take care of some small house maintenance that needs to be done.

It just feels like a rock and a hard place. Certainly nowhere near enough to help us get out of debt, but too much to possibly make for an easy Ch7. Sigh.

We won't even get to interview attorney until after the holidays, so I feel so anxious about this.

[jdcat]

We're in the same boat Jem. My hubby starts his OT the end of this month and it will run for a couple of months. We plan on filing in March also. I'm wondering what this will do to us as far as filing goes. I have an appt with another attorney Tues and plan on asking about this.

We can sure use the money right now, but I'm worried at the same time. We'll be eating good and buying some things we need though that's for sure, cause OT for us doesn't come very often.

[topekajack]

Or would we have to just wait it out until his income drops off? (We stopped paying CC's a few weeks ago--so I figured March was probably as long as we could push it without getting sued)

I have 12 cc's and haven't paid any of them in 10 months. That's not to say that you wont get sued as soon as March.

[JEM]

My husbands income changes weekly depending on how many hours he works. OT is NOT voluntary. If they tell you to work 5 10hr days, then you end up with 10 hrs OT. Right now, they are short on drivers, so he's been getting quite a bit of OT.

I'm afraid this many screw up our plans of filing in March. I don't think it will be enough to push us over the median income for our area, BUT I think it may screw up our expenses and make it look like we have too much DMI.

What would happen in a case like that? Would an attorney be able to tweak our expenses a bit to "eat up" some of that monthly income?

Or would we have to just wait it out until his income drops off? (We stopped paying CC's a few weeks ago--so I figured March was probably as long as we could push it without getting sued)

Lets say we filed and it was enough DMI to push us into a Ch13, and then his hours went back to "normal" and our income dropped way off, could we convert to a Ch7? How does that work if your income goes DOWN when you are in a Ch13?

I never thought I'd worry about hubby getting more hours. It seems like it's screwing up our timeline.