Why Are/Have You Filed BK?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[NCfellow]

A couple of months after we moved into our new house my wife's job was terminated. She was in school at the time and pregnant with our second child. We basically lived off credit cards during 2 1/2 years. We figured we'd be able to start paying it all off after she graduated. This wasn't the case and now we have to file. Our future combined income won't cover our expenses! She starts in a couple of weeks and we plan on filing in a month.

[drivermom]

Irrespondsibility and living beyond my means

I also have had a few bouts with depression, vertigo, 2 surgeries since January and a car accident. I missed alot of work and didn't get paid for part of it. Mostly it was my own irrespondsibility and not paying my mortgage.

[monlyba]

~ $40k+ in student loans that i haven't even started repaying (graduated 5 yrs ago!)

~ high cc debt due to the way they "throw" any kind of credit at college students (my parents were never good with credit either so i only viewed cc's as money to spend - no long term plans for repayment - i didn't really know any better)

~ living with a roommate who convinced me it was "no big deal" for us to break leases at more than one place, therefore owing them for the rest of the year's rent

~ i chose an industry that is known for its low pay because it's what i was/am passionate about (non-profit/human services) so every job i have had is low-paying

~ high car payment for crappy car due to high interest rate b/c of my bad credit... but had to have transportation, and with bad credit all they want to do is put you in a new car... so of course that means being upside down for a couple of years at least

~ had a baby last year and racked up medical bills for me and her, and haven't worked since i can't find a job that justifies the cost of daycare

hmm, what else... i guess those are the main factors! ignorance, employment issues, family financial situation, etc etc etc!!

[GoingUnderInNV]

Working a great job, great pay, killer hours (three day weekends EVERY week)... Company sold out my job to India (or Pakistan... like it really matters). Moved away from area because of ZERO tech jobs, and Seattle was in a SERIOUS tech rut at the time, so I landed in Reno. Took six months (with requisite draining of savings account paying credit card bills) to find a decent job (read: 1/3 less than I was making before). Just didn't have the money to pay the two big credit card bills that weren't even a blip on the radar at my last job. Fast forward a year and a half, and MBNA doesn't even want to discuss payment plans, so they forward my account to a law firm (Mann Bracken) to do their dastardly business. They chose to drop a bomb, and now I've chosen to send a nuke their way. With the new laws we (the People) have given these credit card companies carte blanche to do whatever they want, so I personally don't give a hoot if they lose money. Period.

I'm Steve, and I'm in Chapter 13. Proudly now, given the behavior and (in my eyes) unethical practices of two credit card companies. Screw 'em. My life will go on, I have plans to recover, and I'm not looking back. I also won't sign ANY credit application EVER AGAIN that contains this mandatory (ie, predatory) arbitration hogwash.

[pv34pv3p]

Factors:

1) 16 years of 0 child support...Never sought it...never complained. Can you say stupid?

2) 22 Years in the Navy...Saw the World/Priceless Memories/Never had the $$$ to qualify for a mortgage...See #1

3) 3 years as a franchisee...Nickled and Dimed to death...No good can come from signing a 200 page contract...


pv34pv3p(it's only money...)

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

Catchmeifyoucan, here: cuz i'm a gambler, and still am, i just don't have the credit cards to play with anymore.

catchmeifyoucan

[PenneyP]

Job injury

We bought a house in September of 2005. In December 2005, my husband was injured on the job. He hasn't been able to work since then - so the bills piled up and we finally had to file bankruptcy. The company he worked for is still fighting us in court - they don't want to pay workman's comp. And he can't file for disability until the workman's comp thing is settled. So we filed bankruptcy because my husband hurt his back (4 ruptured discs) while working for a company he'd been with for 10 years, and they are being heartless . . . . . . . can't think of a word bad enough for them . . . . and because of that, we had to file bankruptcy or lose everything we have . . . .

[Faith]

My husband lost his job in 2001 and we sold our house and lived off that and his 401K. In the year that followed, we ended up with $100,000 in credit card debt (we had a lot when he lost his job already) plus we also had $550 a month in student loans. Over the next 4.5 to 5 years that increased to $120,000. When the credit card companies raised our minimum payments and interest, we couldn't make it anymore. We finally filed for BK after the bank seized our rent payment out of our accounts.

[pambysue]

Hi Catchme! I too am a gambler. I didnt use CC because I didnt have any credit left on them! but, i became addicted to online gambling and used my debit card from my bank account. then when payday came around, i was falling short due to overdraft fees, etc. Then there was nothing left over to pay any of my bills. I am surrendering my house and have found a nice duplex where my daughter & I can start over again. I so want this ALL behind me!! I am filing chap 7 in december when my income shows at below the median for NY. I have absolutely NOTHING to show for all my long working years. I wish I could turn back time and live my life differently, but..I cant. All i can do is learn from my mistakes..and God willing..get a fresh start!

[lost11]

Excessive Credit Debt

Made horrible financial decisions and over spending! Started a business with 5 mouths to feed and no savings. All monies earned went to start up and personal living expenses and now outstanding debt gets worse everyday!

[bige1030]

Excessive Credit Debt

I made some bad financial decisions, especially in terms of buying my first car. I couldn't afford the repairs it required, and I put them on the credit card.

I've suffered from mental illness for quite a while and started getting treated a few years ago. It's cheap sometimes, but it gets expensive at other times. I had a hard time finding a good, affordable therapist until this summer - when I finally found one.

[Hagar100]

Excessive credit card debt, 90-plus percent of which I was unaware of until August 15, 2006.

My wife handled the family finances and repeatedly assured me that all was well up until the day the bank called to tell me that we were $2700 overdrawn. At first I thought they were calling the wrong person but I ended up having to scramble and managed to cover the bank overdraft. That night my wife admitted to about $49,000 in credit card debt but the next day, while checking into a home equity loan, I did my first free credit check, which showed $94,000 in credit card debt. It eventually ended being $114,00 in unsecured credit card debt plus about another $3000 that I paid off to local businesses prior to our filing BK. In addition, I ended up discovering that our savings account only contained about 1/100th of what I had been led to believe. As best as I'm able to determine, there's nothing really to show for all of this debt; no luxury items, no hidden cash, the money wasn't gambled away- I think it just creeped up on my wife until it couldn't be kept a secret anymore and then it fell to me to deal with it.

It seems hard to believe that all this occurred without my being aware of it but I did like many of us do and took my spouse's word for it that things were OK. I found that she had gone to considerable lengths to keep the truth hidden from me; having CC's that I didn't know about, hiding mail from me, giving the CC companies her cell phone so that they wouldn't call our home phone, etc. For my part, I deposited the same amount into checking every payday, never used or even saw the checkbook or savings book, and covered my personal daily needs using a small amount of cash that I put in my pocket each payday. I only had one credit card that I personally used, which had a $1700.00 balance on it, which was used mainly to purchase parts to keep our vehicles up and running, with me doing all of the mechanical work myself.

Now my wife and I are separated and likely on our way to a divorce (with 5 kids ranging from 11 yoa to 21 yoa) although, thankfully, this did drive her to finally seek psychiatric help. We filed a Chapter 7 as a couple and it seems to be going well with a status of "awaiting discharge", with the final day for objections being Jan 2, 2007 and none expected to be made.

I was able to hire an atty to represent us in the BK and also paid off the local debts that we owed by my selling the lone luxury item I owned, a Harley that I had owned for 25 years (since before we were married). I now have my own checking and savings accounts and am saving regularly, despite paying all of the bills that accompany having a household with 3 kids still at home.

I am thankful that the chapter 7 seems to be going along without a hitch. I was raised to pay my way in this world, live within my means, and thought that I was doing so. I wasn't excited about the prospect of a chapter 13 as I know that it would fall to me to make the payments for 5 years and I just feel that I've taken enough of a butt-whipping in this already. All I want is the chance to stand on my own two feet again and provide for my family.

The mandatory debtor counseling was a joke- seemingly intended for slow 5th graders. The counselor asked me what I was going to do to avoind ending up in the same position some day and I replied, "I'm getting divorced!"

At work I'm a boss with 15 employees who manages a 1.1 million dollar budget to within a fraction a percent every month. I'm able to do so because I have the information necessary to make good decisions. I am achieving this again in my personal life and for that I am truly grateful.