What if this is your second BK?

[skyan]

I keep reading that there's life after BK. Well, what if you have two of them?

If your credit score is already low from a previous BK, and then more bad debt 3 years out of discharge, THEN another Ch 7.....?

We still haven't filed and I am scared to death... We never expected to have to file once. But then we did, and we swore we'd never let that happen again. But circumstances beyond our control happened, AGAIN. So it really was out of our hands. Only now I am afraid that if we file now.... what happens if there's another life disaster that causes more debt? We can't keep filing. We don't want to. None of our debts were non necessities. Except ONE card, but it was originally for essential work related items. We just got carried away after the birth of our first child and bought a video camera on it. That wasn't a "necessity" . But, still... How do you get over the guilt?

I know that we do need to file. We already spoke with several attorney's and they all said the same things. And that it is best to file now and get it over with. I am just scared of the future. I don't want to ever have credit again, but I know in the society that we live in, that it's not realistic to expect to live without ANY credit.

Thanks for reading... I am asking seriously though how people with TWO BK's are looked at? Thanks.

[HHM]

Was your first chapter 7 discharged or dismissed.

You do realize that you can't refile another chapter 7 within six years of your prior chapter 7.

[skyan]

It was discharged....7 years ago.

Do you happen to know how we will be judged credit wise after we do this again? I don't know my score, but my DH got one of his and it was only 475. It was in the 600's after our first discharge, until after our CC discharges 3 and a half years ago. I don't know when and how much it changed as time went on. I only know what it looked like right after discharge, and what it is now. I know it is shot and there's not much more damage that can be done to it, but I am wondering how a second Ch 7 will affect the score.

I also just feel like people will automatically judge us as "deadbeats", not like they don't already.... but at this point at least we are trying.... if we DO go ahead and file a 2nd BK, won't that just make us look worse? Not like it matters really. If we don't file, we will eventually have a bunch of judgements and that will be just as bad or worse. Worse for us, I think, since they would probably go after DH's paycheck.

Just feeling bad... thinking out loud.... I know there is life after BK, but it doesn't feel like it the first time around, and even more the second time....

[Nikki28]

My friends have filed twice & I dont judge them at all. And I know they had no problem getting loans probably 2 years out of the 2nd time for cars & they also had no problems getting CC's again either. As for buying a house that maybe harder I have no idea they rent & always have. But I will tell ya this please be sure to take this 2nd filing seriously & think about how you can change your futures because my friends are back in debt again. They did fine for awhile but now are really bad off again.

[skyan]

Thank you Nikki28, for your kind reply.

I have given this filing 4 years of thought. I don't want to do it. The thing for us is... this filing is NOT going to free up any of our current spendable income. So we can't get into further debt right now if we wanted to or if we tried. It will only get the old debts off of our back, that we have not been able to afford the last 4 years. And by doing this, we hope to be able to buy a home in the next 5 years or so. By having better credit. But if we don't file, and continue to not be able to afford the past debts, our credit will never get any better and we will never be able to get a loan for anything.

We have learned from these experiences. What we learned was no job is definite, or permanent. So, we don't want long term credit. And we definitely have learned the proper way to use credit cards through all this. Always pay the balance each month, not the minimum. We do realize that if we ever want a house that we will have to have that as a long term loan, but rent/mortgage is a life long thing anyway.

We also learned through this last 4 years of hardship that our first BK was the mistake. We let a novice attorney tell us we had no choice but to file.... only our situation back then turned out to be only temporary, so BK could have been avoided. We were just so naive back then, and running scared, we couldn't see clearly. We didn't have enough experience in the "real" world to know that things could get better if we were patient.

This last time of hardship... we had no choice BUT to wait it out and see if things improved, and they didn't. So, this time BK is definitely appropriate. But, since things happened as they did..... twice, I am just worried about what if's....

But really, thanks so much for your kindness and concern.