Take a Vacation or not?

[mnguy]

Hello all. I was wondering if me taking a vacation and paying for it with my debit card / right from my checking card would send off any red flags, since I plan on filing Ch.7 one month later?
Will they care if I paid for the trip from my checking account.....no purchase (plane tickets or lodging) would be over $400 individually...

Just wondering....

[StartingOver08]

Could be construed as a luxury 30 days before filing - even if you use your debit. JMO.

[Stilltheone]

I charged our vacation 3 months prior to filing. Our total amount was WAAAY more than $400.

Why don't you just take the $400 out in cash?

[StartingOver08]

I charged our vacation 3 months prior to filing. Our total amount was WAAAY more than $400.

Why don't you just take the $400 out in cash?

He said "no purchase over $400 INDIVIDUALLY..." that is what caught my attention. So the entire vacation will be substantially more than $400.....

I could be wrong, but that is how I interpreted the above phrase. That is why I think it is a luxury less than 30 days before filing.

[Stilltheone]

He said "no purchase over $400 INDIVIDUALLY..." that is what caught my attention. So the entire vacation will be substantially more than $400.....

I could be wrong, but that is how I interpreted the above phrase. That is why I think it is a luxury less than 30 days before filing.

Ahh, I gotcha!

[mnguy]

Why would it matter if I used my checking account and pay for the trip right away? The debit card isn't even part of the CC's I'm going to include in my bankruptcy....

[Bandit]

Why? Do you have cash that you need to get rid of?

That does happen from time to time in this.
Can you do the vacation and make it a trip that you 'needed to do'? Like had to go visit a relative or something like that...or it was a christmas trip to see family kind of thing...

They will be seeing that particular bank statement & might ask you a question about it & then they might not. What will you say?

[Flamingo]

Why would it matter if I used my checking account and pay for the trip right away? The debit card isn't even part of the CC's I'm going to include in my bankruptcy....

We were asked to provide explanations for all checks, debit purchases/payments or cash withdrawals over a certain amount (I believe it was $500) and had to provide an explanation of all deposits into our checking account over $1,000, for a period of one year. Is what you are doing worth the risk? Of course not, but it is your decision.

[Stilltheone]

We were asked to provide explanations for all checks, debit purchases/payments or cash withdrawals over a certain amount (I believe it was $500) and had to provide an explanation of all deposits into our checking account over $1,000, for a period of one year. Is what you are doing worth the risk? Of course not, but it is your decision.

Really? Is that true? We never had to provide anything like that. We didn't even have to provide a year's worth of bank statements. Just 6 months.

[Flamingo]

Really? Is that true? We never had to provide anything like that. We didn't even have to provide a year's worth of bank statements. Just 6 months.

Goes to show you how things differ as to what some people have to provide and others don't. Yes, we had to provide an entire year as required by our Trustee. And our filing was back in early 2002 - it is much more stricter now. The OP has to determine whether or not the benefit outweighs the risk as to what he wants to do. If the trip is taken and it turns out he has to explain where those funds went, or what that withdrawal/purchase was, etc., etc., then there might a problem.