Husband's Over-time

[frustrated1]

We are getting ready to meet with a lawyer in hopes of filing Ch. 7 and I have a few questions if anyone would be willing to answer.

1.) Does Over-time count as part of the median income?

2.) My CC are auto deducting for repayment plans and the payments are too high - how do I get them to stop auto deducting without confrontation?

3.) Can I lose my home/car in BK even if I have a little bit of equity?


Thank you so much for the advice.

[JRScott]

1. Yes

You take the last 6 months of income (including overtime, bonuses etc) then double it to find out the income for filing purposes.

2. Call them up and tell them you have to stop the autopayments. Go to the bank and make sure they understand you don't authorize them. (It might even be safer to open a new account, and put your check in the new account...at a different bank).

3. You don't give enough information to answer this. Is it possible yes. However it is unlikely if you can afford the payments and your equity is less than what your state allows for exemptions.

[Help!]

Most attorneys would advise waiting to file until the paystubs reflecting overtime drop out of the 6 month period before filing (especially if you are no longer able to earn that overtime pay). Otherwise, you are penalized on the means test for income you no longer have.

Getting those automatic payments stopped was a challenge for me. Even after I contacted them by phone and was told they were cancelled, they continued. My advice would be to send them a written letter de-authorizing the automatic payments and send it certified mail requiring a signature. I actually had to close my account to put a stop to one creditor's unauthorized automatic payments. I'm sure it wasn't intentional and that it was just an oversight on their part (yeah, right)!

[frustrated1]

My husband will most likely always have OT. It might just be an hour but his company always has it. So, waiting until the OT drops off the paycheck is impossible. My lawyer told me this morning to just open a new bank account because the credit cards will not stop auto-deducting. They want their money!!!! I just don't want to lose my home IF we qualify for Ch.7

[Frogge]

O/t

The overtime issue is very frustrating for us. It seems so incredibly counter-productive for DH to turn down overtime hours when available, but unless he wants to HAVE to work it for many years, he has to say "no" when asked to work extra hours for several months before we file. And, there's never any guarantee that he will get the same hours offered in the future.

Like I said, it just seems so backwards to me that the laws would be such regarding the 6 month history that you are forced to make LESS to IMPROVE your future situation and be productive. JMO.

[JRScott]

My husband will most likely always have OT. It might just be an hour but his company always has it. So, waiting until the OT drops off the paycheck is impossible. My lawyer told me this morning to just open a new bank account because the credit cards will not stop auto-deducting. They want their money!!!! I just don't want to lose my home IF we qualify for Ch.7

Your lawyer is giving good advice, I suggested making new accounts above

[JRScott]

The overtime issue is very frustrating for us. It seems so incredibly counter-productive for DH to turn down overtime hours when available, but unless he wants to HAVE to work it for many years, he has to say "no" when asked to work extra hours for several months before we file. And, there's never any guarantee that he will get the same hours offered in the future.

Like I said, it just seems so backwards to me that the laws would be such regarding the 6 month history that you are forced to make LESS to IMPROVE your future situation and be productive. JMO.

Hopefully he's talked to his bosses and let them know why he's not working the overtime. They most likely will be understanding I hope

[Mom2one]

We are going through the same thing right now. My husband has to turn down overtime, we are hoping to file in December. He was working overtime alot because we were trying to make the minimums on our credit cards. We had no idea how bad it would hurt us as far as claiming BK. Overtime for the most part has been cut. But it will most likely pick up again before December, I wish he would confide in his boss, But he is not ready yet. It really sucks as money is tight as we are now on a cash only basis, trying to save for an attorney and pay bills......

Christine

[AngelinaCatHub]

Question, could you ask the boss to defer the overtime pay? Take it off in comp time or vacation? Not sure of legality. ‘Hub

[Cali]

You aren't forced to make less, you either have more expenses than income(C7) or you file C13.

We had one of our 6 mths with 5k more than we made the other 5 months. We were over the median but our expenses were more than our income. We filed C7.

The overtime issue is very frustrating for us. It seems so incredibly counter-productive for DH to turn down overtime hours when available, but unless he wants to HAVE to work it for many years, he has to say "no" when asked to work extra hours for several months before we file. And, there's never any guarantee that he will get the same hours offered in the future.

Like I said, it just seems so backwards to me that the laws would be such regarding the 6 month history that you are forced to make LESS to IMPROVE your future situation and be productive. JMO.

[Mom2one]

Actually is like making less, because if you continue with the overtime, it looks like you make more than you actually do and overtime should never be expected. My husbands work has been relatively busy for over 17 years. This is the slowest it has ever been!!!

Christine