Not sure if BK is the way to go....

[Beedlebrow]

Okay, here's my situation.
About 65k in CC debt, mostly due to gambling, and cash advances to make minimum payments on CC's.
With our current income, we come up about $700.00 short a month to meet expenses, not counting the CC's.
I'm sure we can get closer on that amount, and we are looking into getting second jobs.
We have (I'm hoping) $80k in equity on our house, not sure though because the market is not seller friendly.
We have two cars, 1 and 2 years old, with less than $5k equity in either.
We need both cars for work.

Of course, we don't want to lose the house or cars.
A chapter 13 would still leave us owing something to creditors, and we can't afford that.

It seems our equity is too high to get a chapter 7.

To me, it looks like our best option is to sell the house, pay off our CC debt, and rent a place that fits our budget.

Am I wrong, or am I missing something?

[lrprn]

Okay, here's my situation.
About 65k in CC debt, mostly due to gambling, and cash advances to make minimum payments on CC's.
With our current income, we come up about $700.00 short a month to meet expenses, not counting the CC's.
I'm sure we can get closer on that amount, and we are looking into getting second jobs.
We have (I'm hoping) $80k in equity on our house, not sure though because the market is not seller friendly.
We have two cars, 1 and 2 years old, with less than $5k equity in either.
We need both cars for work.

Of course, we don't want to lose the house or cars.
A chapter 13 would still leave us owing something to creditors, and we can't afford that.

It seems our equity is too high to get a chapter 7.

To me, it looks like our best option is to sell the house, pay off our CC debt, and rent a place that fits our budget.

Am I wrong, or am I missing something?

If you have the equity in your house to pay off your credit cards and you are willing to sell your house and get second jobs to accomplish that and get positive on your income/expenses balance, then IMHO that is a far preferable option to declaring bankruptcy.

[Beedlebrow]

Thanks for the input.
The second jobs will be necessary if we elect to keep the house.
If we sell, and rent cheaper, then we don't need the second jobs.

As far as willing to sell the house, I'm looking for our best option.
It looks like we will have no choice but to sell, willing or not.

On one hand, we sell, clear our debt, and have good credit.

On the other, we file, and are forced to sell, enter a payment plan, and have poor credit.

I guess I'm looking for an option where we don't lose the house and cars, and come out debt free.
If we still have the house, I'm not too concerned about our credit, I know we can improve it.

So, while we have no disposable income, will the amount of equity we have in the house require us to sell, bankruptcy or not?

*Just thought of this: Can we elect to reaffirm the house and cars, and still go through a chapter 7 on the unsecured debt?

[SinkingFast]

If you take out the CC payments and you're still coming up $700/mo in the red, then you have some serious bleeding somewhere in your budget. Filing BK won't help you at all. You have deeper issues than BK alone will address.

If you've already stopped the newspaper subscription, not renewing magazines as they peter out, cut the fat out of your grocery spending, turned down the heat or cranked up the A/C, and done every thing you can think to do, then you have to look seriously at the cars and the house.

I applaude the fact that you are even talking about selling your house. So many people come here and DO NOT want to sacrifice a thing to resolve their situations. You can well imagine the deaf ears in a room full of people who've either already lost everything, or currently live under the thumb of the Trustee in a Ch 13 plan.

You'll be better off in the long run if you turn away from your house. Sell it. Use the equity to pay off what you can, if not all your debt, and move someplace cheap for a while. Save up a nice down payment and move into a new home otherwise debt free.

[Beedlebrow]

Thank you.

That's what I figured.
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and this forum has helped immensely.

If anyone has other ideas, I'd love to hear them, but I think I know what I have to do.

[debtisbad]

Get rid of the house. A home is where happy people live and can be any size!! That is something I think we in America are learning (or getting ready to learn). Houses are not going to be appreciating for quite some time due to the fact they ran up so fast in value. You can always buy another home in the future. If you do end up having to file, you can still buy another home when your credit improves. The consensus is that takes about 2 years. Though, for some others it has been much faster. I have no idea how long my situation will take.

Good luck to you. Many people are here to help!

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

Gambler Too

About 65k in CC debt, mostly due to gambling, and cash advances to make minimum payments on CC's.

thats about my debt due to gambling too ! although im a "no asset case" but i do own one car im paying on, originally i filed ch13 due to having 2 full time jobs which threw me over the state median, now ive decided to quit one job and refile for ch7, have another 341 meeting to go to sooner or later

good luck to you in whatever you decided to do! catchmeifyoucan