Disabled Vet

[Disabled]

I am a disabled married veteran getting about $1000 a month from the VA. I owe about $30,000.00 in unsecured credit card debt. After paying rent and utilities and other bills there is barely enough left to buy food. Only own a 1993 Mazda worth about $800.00 and have no savings and our furniture is old and not worth much. The credit card companies are calling constantly and I fear they will sue me. I simply have No Way to pay my debt. No money to file bankruptcy. What should I do? I feel cornered with no way out. Isn't there help for disabled veterans who are in debt? Should I write the credit card companies and explain my situation? They stand only to spend money on lawyers and will not be able to collect because we have Nothing. Please someone tell us what we can do.

[no_it_all]

<snip> I simply have No Way to pay my debt. No money to file bankruptcy. What should I do?

To file bankruptcy you have to pay fees of around $350.00 Are you saying that you don't even have that???

[Minnymouth]

First you need to contact someone at the VA Center who can help you.....

They can put you in touch with a paralegal to help you file for bankruptcy....

There may even be a "fund" that is avaiable to vets in your circumstances to help with the filing fees.

If not, then you will have to come up with the filing fees, approx $350.00 somehow (borrow, sell something, etc)....

Once you file for BK, then the creditors will leave you alone and all cc debt will be discharged if unsecured. And even secured debt can be dishcarged under a harddship case.

I'm sure that vets have paralegals that will help them at no charge for services, just leaving the filing fees.

Your case more than likely will be a simple Chapter 7, no asset case....

Make some phone calls, ease you mind........ once they sue its a long, long process trying to solve the problem, and a very expensive one on your part....

Minny

[anonymuse]

Between being a veteran and/or having a disability, I'm sure there is some kind of pro bono program that will help you with the legal side of filing. And, hopefully, as Minny said, there might be a fund to help with the filing costs.

Good luck and welcome to the boards.

[NextLevel]

Step 1: Assess your situation.
Step 2: Figure out what your absolute disposable income per month is ("X"), and then subtract $100 from that ("Y"). You are left with something ("Z"). This is what you have available to pay your creditors.
Step 3: Make an accurate and thorough list of each of your creditors. Put it on the computer, and keep excellent records. Record your accounts #'s, date you opened the account, your current balance, your minimum monthly payment required, and your (now) past due amount. Rate each one by importance, with the criteria being how much owed and how far behind.
Step 4: Take every single creditor over $200 (so, say, if you have 10 credit cards, and 8 of them carry a balance over $200, then you have 8 to worry about), and divide the money among them. If you have $150 each month left over, then you can divide $150/8. That's not much, but it's something. Sometimes, you need to adjust and give MORE to the larger cards and LESS to the smaller cards (above $200).
Step 5: DO NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, call a debt-counseling service. Read, search and scour these forums about these services. They will end up killing you in interest and delay the pain that is probably inevitable.
Step 6: Call and MAIL (Via Certified, Return Receipt Requested) each of the creditors in your list, and write to them pleading that you are trying to catch up and you'd like to know if they can do something. Tell them you can pay a small amount each month, but do not list what amount that is (yet).
Step 7: From the calls and the letters (and the returns of your Green Cards), keep excellent records. Record the NAME, TIME AND DATE ,and specific details of each phone conversation. Hell, record them if you have to so you can transcribe them when your done.

Take a deep breath. This is probalby the hardest part, but it's now through.

For those cards that WONT help you:

(1) Prepare to be served with a summons (a lawsuit). This isn't as scary as it sounds, and there are MANY forums, websites, and specific bits of knowledge I can share with you to allow you to defend yourself successfully. Yes, you heard me right -- you have to defend yourself. From your situation, I do not believe you can afford an attorney for these cases/lawsuits, so you're going to have to go it on your own. DO NOT--REPEAT--DO NOT let a DEFAULT JUDGEMENT get entered against you. This means simply, if the lawsuit says GO TO COURT ON THIS DAY, then damnit, go to court on that day. Simply not showing up is the easiest and most guaranteed way that a creditor can get a judge to agree to their side of the situation. I can help you further with these types of situations. Please, just go to court. I can even help you prepare an ANSWER TO COMPLAINT and COUNTERCLAIM. It varies, of course, by state and venue, but they're mostly the same. Even Pro Se filers can get help at the courthouse. And, like all posters here have recommended, the VA will certainly be able to guide you, if not outright recommend an attorney or legal aide office.

(2) Those cards that DO want to work with you -- will. Then, it becomes a game (and I say game in the sense that each party knows the other wants to have it better for themselves) to find out how much you can pay, and how much they'll take. The fact that they've agreed to TALK is better than nothing, so take that with a grain of salt. Then, it's a conversation or two or three by telephone, talking with various reps, to come to a dollar figure per month. REMEMBER WHAT YOUR BUDGET IS, and do NOT go over that budget. Keep the $100 in reserve, you'll need it for th unexpected. Most credit card companies that AGREE to help you, will do so for a short time. You'd better have a plan to INCREASE income within the next year, or they're not going to like what you offer. Tell them something, even if it buys you 6 months.

(3) If all goes to hell, you are going to simply have to file Chapter 13. It can be as cheap as $150 down. Many attorneys offer this, and they know that they will be paid through the court via payments, so this is pretty common-place. $500 down is not usually required. Remember, you can pay NOTHING to your creditors the month you file Ch13 because, yep, guess what, you're going to start paying the court to pay them, so the money switches hands. That's 1 month off, so you can save up to the pay the attorney.

From your post, I see you have $30K in debt. In a chapter 13, you can take up to 60 months (5 years) to pay that off. You add some money to the attorney, and some money to the trustee, and let's say you have $35K now. that means, over the course of "X" months, you pay "Y" to the trustee, and that's it. No payments to anyone else, period. All creditors who you list (and if you file Ch13, you better list EVERY one of them, even the ones who may have wanted to work with you) have to abide by the court ruling and protection of the Ch13 stay.

Meaning, if you have $35K in debt ($30K + $1.2K [atty] and $3.8K [trustee fees]) you're going to pay ~$580 per month for 60 months.

That's the long and short of it. By the way, since you're receiving disability pay from the VA, that's EXEMPT technically, so you'd also qualify for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW:

(1) Take my advice, read over it, and ask questions.
(2) Call 10 attorneys tomorrow who 'specialize' in bankruptcy. Tell them you need a free consultation. Of the likely 6 attorneys who don't give you the time of day, 4 remain. Of those four, two are probably decent and 1 will probably be good, but may require alot of money to file. Call 10 more then, and raise that to two in the bunch of 20 who actually can help. 1 of the 2 may be cheaper initially, which can help you. DO NOT PAY FOR AN INITIAL CONSULTATION, PERIOD. If you are forced to, you let me know and I can help you find some. The VA can too.
(3) ABSOLUTELY go into high gear and start doing this POST HASTE. You do *not* want default judgements, reposessions or foreclosures. Do you own or rent? You could, of course, refinance a house you owned to pay this off, but I suspect you do not own a home, correct?

Cheers, good luck, and Semper Fi (USMC 90-94)

[Disabled]

Thank You All for your HELP.

I was ashamed to tell you all. My disabilities incluse mild mental retardation, depression, and general axiety/social anxiety with SEVERE Panic Attacks. I am so Frightened and Totally confused. Thank You, Disabled