Need support & encouragement!

[IamOld]

it's www.google.com/voice

It is a LIFESAVER!!! Just change your numbers with creditors to that BEFORE you miss your first payment - now, I will say it will deflect about 70% of the calls, but after a while the creditors will call all phone #'s you've ever had...

[r2106]

Okay, thanks! I will try it!

[IamOld]

So, the Google Voice number is the one that I want to give to my creditors?

YES!!! So once you've got the number, change your HOME phone to be that one, and if you have your work number listed with them, maybe your cellphone as work, or the such...BUT eventually they will try to reach you at any number you've ever given to them - ALSO remember that they capture whatever number you do call from...call blocking doesn't work for toll-free numbers. With google voice, you have to "link" it to a number (and then you can set it on "do not disturb" meaning that when someone calls the google voice # it goes directly to voicemail.

Now, once you have all that set up, you can make outgoing calls from the google.com/voice website - it'll call your cellphone and then "conference" your called party in - BUT to them it'll look like you're calling from the google voice #.

[keepsmiling]

I <3 gv

[r2106]

I contacted an attorney and he sent me some paperwork , I use the word "some" loosely. I got the paperwork in September and have not completed it yet. I started it. Worked on a page today. Just one page took me over an hour to complete. That was just the income page. Due to the nature of my work it took longer to figure out my income for the last 3 years. Husband's was fairly easy. My big worry right now is that I do not want to loose our house. We can afford our house, it is just the credit cards we cannot. Our income has been running less than $50, 000 and more than $40,000. The attorney claims that we would qualify for Chap. 7 and be able to keep our house and cars. All of our cars are old and paid off. All together they are probably worth less than $5000 and we have three. I stopped paying the creditors in September and they wasted no time in hounding us. So far they are all calling our home daily and then some. We just keep the machine on , set it to 2 rings and ignore ....we do not answer. I did get a google number but was afraid they would start calling our home number again, or worse, find out our cell numbers or call us at work.

[lillymarlene]

Hi r1206, and welcome. Though my creditors ended up breaking one of them from overuse, I found my answering machine to be a real lifesaver. It would have been even tougher going through that year when I stopped paying credit cards, until I finally filed chap 13, without it. I sent written requests to my personal creditors to stop the phone calls at my business, which worked. Only a few trusted friends and family members had my cell phone (which has managed to stay that way.) I was always aware of never making calls from numbers, to certain individuals, that I wanted to keep "private."

My brother was contacted by a few aggressive collection agencies looking for me. He would act like I had moved out of the country. :-) You might think of telling some of your relatives, especially if you had listed them as an emergency number, what's going on, if you think they may be contacted.

Good luck.

[budgetgal]

As soon as you file, within days, the phone calls stop. I only had a month were I was receiving them, but it was crazy. They had my home and cell and would call each one every 4 hours. I basically turned off the ringers. Luckily, they didn't phone my work. That would have been a big problem. I hope you are able to file soon to get the relief. Sounds like you are getting all your ducks in a row. I don't own a home, so no advice on that. Best of luck to you. You really will be so relieved once you file.

[nohoneymoney]

I contacted an attorney and he sent me some paperwork , I use the word "some" loosely. I got the paperwork in September and have not completed it yet. I started it. Worked on a page today. Just one page took me over an hour to complete. That was just the income page. Due to the nature of my work it took longer to figure out my income for the last 3 years. Husband's was fairly easy. My big worry right now is that I do not want to loose our house. We can afford our house, it is just the credit cards we cannot. Our income has been running less than $50, 000 and more than $40,000. The attorney claims that we would qualify for Chap. 7 and be able to keep our house and cars. All of our cars are old and paid off. All together they are probably worth less than $5000 and we have three. I stopped paying the creditors in September and they wasted no time in hounding us. So far they are all calling our home daily and then some. We just keep the machine on , set it to 2 rings and ignore ....we do not answer. I did get a google number but was afraid they would start calling our home number again, or worse, find out our cell numbers or call us at work.

Keep using this site to find out how to fill out the forms. There are also references to books you can get to help you. If you are stuck on an item, post a specific questions on this forum for answers. There is plenty of information on how to value your home, cars, personal belongs and how exemptions work. There are threads on expenses and income to help with filling out those forms. In the end it will all depend on what your lawyer tells you but this is a great starting point and a great way to ask informed questions with your lawyer. Best of luck.

[iv65536]

One other piece of advice: make sure your funds are in an account at a financial institution with which you have no debt. Also, read up on accounts at banks that freeze your checking account if you file, even if they are not a creditor (most notably Wells Fargo - do they still do this?). I filed holding two bank accounts and funds on an Amex gift card, all exempted. My attorney cleared me to go ahead and get money out of the ATM for a few days' expenses immediately after he filed the case.

The key is to have contingency plans in place.

[budgetgal]

I filed in June of this year and Wells Fargo didn't freeze my account. I had less than $1500 in checking and savings combined. I read that they were still freezing some higher balance accounts, but have no first hand knowledge of that. I pulled out some cash to have on hand just in case account got frozen. It was reported in my filing as exempt. I agree with iv65536 that having contingency plans in place is key.

[Jf24]

Have an appointment this week with lawyer. Looking into a ch 7 or 13. I have 7 cards and I'm suggested to stop paying and I can't fathom what it will be like when 7 creditors start calling. Didn't check yet but they probably all have my cell and work number. My cell I can handle but work will be an issue. I answer phone in front of customers.

Will look into the google voice. Do you get one number from google and change both home (or cell) and work number to the one google number? Or do you get 2 google numbers?

[IamOld]

jf24 you may need to tell them at least once to not call you at work.

You can get a google voice number - one per email address....so you can get two if you want...

[keepsmiling]

Change those numbers NOW. While you still have access. And get your cell number off anyplace it might be online-- ie, Facebook etc.
I wound up just forwarding all my landline calls to GV. Anyone who actually knows me well enough to need to get me has my cell. I don't have a smartphone so I can't screen.

[Jf24]

So bottom line I need 2 GV numbers, one to change my cell with them and the other my work number. I have 1 gmail account and would have to create 1 more for the other number.

[keepsmiling]

Nah, just give em the same one. Keep it simple. You don't necessarily have either a cell OR a work number, after all.