Why Are/Have You Filed BK?

[tictacsir]

Dumb decision number 1: paid off medical (and pet medical) bills w/my cc to eliminate hassle of multiple payments in a month.
Dumb decision number 2 and unforseen circumstance number 1: started grad school on an unsecure part time job for a law office with too many problems (got laid off due to downsizing, not eligible for unemployment)
Dumb decision number 3 and unforseen circumstance number 2: signed a lease with a friend who was looking for a job (friend found job, out of state, and left me with the rent on my own).
Dumb decision number 4: Supported myself on my cc while looking for work.
Unforseen circumstance number 3: Landed a job working for the state of Louisiana. First day of work, August 29, 2005; Hurricane Katrina decided to take a shot at me. It worked, I lost the job.
Unforseen circumstance number 4: Found a new part time job, but car wreck occured, motorist not paying attention. His fault, but no insurance. Took my insurance company 2 months to work out whether they wanted to fix my car or not (many many other claims filed during this time...go figure). No rental cars available due to hurricanes so I was therefore unable to transport myself to work (80 miles away).
Unforseen circumstance number 5, or (light at the end of the tunnel?): Managed to file 13 (somehow!) with a part time job and no idea what I was going to do next. BUT, things are looking up now.

[AreSoonParted]

How I got where I am....Real Estate

Bought a house in November 2004 for 190K. 10% down. Did some fixing up then had to relocate....house would not sell. finally sold for 127k in 11/05
about 2 days before final foreclosure judgement!!!!!
Had to crank up the c-cards during the moving relocation period. Oh, I have 2 sons on the Autism spectrum and that has been expensive as well....so to sum up, real estate and medical.

[fsugirl]

Working for a very large telecommunications company here in Florida and was terminated unexpectedly. .Went from making 60K a year to working 9.00/hourly !! It's a crying shame !!

With 2 children under the age of 4 we had no other choice. It was a very hard decision to make, but can honestly say now that it saved our marriage and our family ! It was the best choice with the situation we were in.

[rst6pac]

medical bills ran up due to our lovely governments lack of making sure that working middle class has proper health insurance for our children. all caught up at once and created a big fat garnishment

[sisterfunkhaus]

I we file, it will be b/c of charged medical bills, a medical loan, charging living expenses during DH job loss, and living off cc after I quit my job and before starting my home daycare business.

[Goldline]

My reason is disability

That reason wasn't even on the list but here's my story. Nine years ago I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Now I believe it was brought on by dealing with my husband's mental illness. I'd never known pain like that until then. He was getting so bad that I knew I'd have to find a facility to take care of him and didn't want to lose my home because of that. So I had him sign a quit claim deed and filed for divorce. His son discovered what we'd done and because I sent him back to Michigan to visit his son's, the youngest had him declared mental imcompetant and got legal custodian of him. Then he proceeded to countersue me for the settlement. In the end I was forced to settle out of court for $30,000 of which $22,000 went to pay his attorney. Then I had my attorney's fees to pay. Boy, do they ever make a lot of money!!! Right? Almost 2 years later he died and 3 years after that I was scammed into a debt elimination program costing me $12,000. Are you beginning to get the picture now? Presently I have 3 judgments against amounting to $64,000 which puts liens on my property title. They can't get my disability income but I can't do anything with my home without satisfying those judgments. And because I have a very small amount of equity in my home, I can't risk having that sold out from under me by filing Chapter 7. Where will this all end????

[extremelyhumble]

Can't Pin it on 1

Way of our generation - spend now, worry about it later! Divorce - I raised two kids on my own, had an okay job and always gave my kids a good life - figured when they moved out on their own, I'd be able to get my credit under control and save for retirement. Right........lost my job 1 month after my second moved out. 18 years on the job - here's your cardboard box, 3 weeks severance and best of luck for the future. Who's to blame. I guess I played a large part in it, but obviously by the number of posts here, I'm not alone. I've been in 13 for 2 years and 7 months. The budget I'm on is tight. Every day I get mail from over-eager creditors wanting to sink their teeth in me again. "Let us help rebuild your credit"......like they're really worried about my well being. I was over-extended on my credit.....don't think this was entirely my fault. I can't believe the amount of debt creditors had allowed me to accumulate! Never again I say. I'm paying back 100% and am learning to live on a cash-only budget - 1 year and 5 months to go on my 13 plan. What do I do to humor myself when I get credit card apps in the mail? It's fun..........you know how they give you a post-paid envelope? I write "take me off your list" on their app, then I stuff all my other junk mail in their envelope, seal it with duct tape and mail it back to them.

[katze]

Stupid spending. Then the increase in minimum payments. Thought we had better file before the new laws took effect. We didn't want to spend the rest of our lives paying off 84k in credit card debt.

[DOA]

As much as I would like to blame it ALL on my congestive heart failure, I can't. That was just the final straw. Ran up way to much debt in my early 30's, wife took a $12,000 a year paycut when she was laid off, and in June of 05 I was off work for two months thanks to a virus attacking my heart. My insurance covered a bunch, but cardio care isn't cheap, and I still owed a large sum as well. It just all piled up, and now we are here.

[magoo]

Most of the debts were from 5 or 6 years ago, and are finally catching up. Lots of medical bills from 13 y.o. daughter's suicide attempt, and 3 subsequent drug rehab stays. Wife and I were separated for about a year during that time, and the house got ransacked by the D's druggie friends, and most stuff worth anything was taken.

We were one of the first victims of identity theft, before anyone knew what it was, or what to do about it and how to deal with it. Check forgery, ATM card and credit cards went on their own little vacations at other people's pleasure. Not to mention those handy little cash advance checks that the credit card companies just love to send in the mail, for people to take out of your box. $2000 worth of them from Spiegels, of all places! Collect calls from the jails, a lot of them 3-way calls, and tons of long distance phone calls.

Wife lost her job during this time, and pretty much had a nervous breakdown. Our income was cut to about 70% of what it was, with a high mortgage payment, and no way to refi. Been waiting to get her on disability, but they, like the bk courts, are backed way up. Not sure if we're ever going to get her eligible.

I was doing pretty good at getting the smaller stuff paid up, but everytime I got rid of one, two more came in. The $2000 & $3000 cc bills turned into $6000 and $9000 with all the interest and late fees. The 7 year statute of limitations was coming up on most of these bills, and they were all hitting at once. I really made an honest effort to square things up with everyone, but I got overwhelmed, and couldn't take it anymore. I was on the edge of a nervous breakdown myself. Had been putting off going the bk route, but decided that it was time to do it before the laws changed. It'll be so nice not to have to screen our calls anymore.

[FilingOnMyOwn]

Originally had 30K in medical debt from a motorcycle accident. Transferred this debt onto 0% balance transfer deals on credit cards, so they would stop harassing me about the medical bills. For the next 2 years, lived in my parents basement, rode a bike to work, and paid every spare penny on the debt down to under 5K. Then came the job loss and economic downturn after 9/11, couldn't find work, ANYWHERE. A couple years of default interest, fees and bills being sent from creditor to creditor, I am back to 20k in the hole. What a waste of years of my life. Had I known this would happen, would have filed in the very beginning.

[JGGR]

Family illness, maternity leave, bad $ choices, unemployment....

I had my son in oct 2003, decided to take care of him not counting that he too needed some support!!! My father got very ill (cancer) towards the beginning of '04 and he lived out of state. I chose to be with him because I was always his favorite daughter and he wanted to spend some time with my son. So, the only provider was my husband. I used my credit cards for my own and my son's expenses, and did not get a job until Sept 04 - already to late. So, finally, exactly a year later and after all these cranky and outrageous calls from our creditors we decided to go for ch 13, and boy do we feel much better now!!!

[tresjolie]

Hey all---a newbie--thought this was the best place to put my first entry!

I also have 3 of the choices as my final downward spiral towards bankruptcy-----the first being divorce and trying to adjust to my income after a nice six-figure joint income (not why I was with him but definitely an adjustment), losing a job with no job in sight for a long period of time, and misuse/use of credit cards---sort of a result of the 2 aforementioned problems as well as my own mismanagement of my income and credit cards.

Meeting the bankruptcy attorney on Wednesday for the first visit and wish I had gone ahead and done this prior to 10-17-05 but was still trying to make the bills and see if a second job would help----no---just prolonged the agony and left me exhausted, sick, and just paying the bills not paying down the debt.

[LostOne0069]

Purely my own fault. bad planning, bad choices, bad money managing skills. $100k in credit card debt.

[red_rider]

For me the root cause was divorce. I tried to hold on for six years thinking I could get through it in time. Looking back on it now it was the toughest six years of my life and I have to admit that when I finally filed it was like a huge load was lifted off my shoulders. I contemplated the idea of a BK a few years before deciding it was the last option for me. My biggest mistake was obtaining most of the credit in my name only (I made the most and often times was the sole source of income for the household). My ex remarried and had little debt of her own. Her aim was to hurt me finacially and I let her for six years. Now I have filed and hopefully am on my way to rebuilding what I once had. My lesson learned is to recognize that I am responsible for my financial future and I will make decisions that are in my best interest no matter what the future will bring.