need help please

[racefan92]

I was wondering if there was someone here that could answer some questions? My wife and I have a monthly income of 5000.00 and household of 3 in Illinois. We have about 20k incredit unsecured cc that we were considering filingbk on. We also owe 420 a month on my truck,355 a month on her car,342a month on mortgage,and 167 a month on second mortgage. We need both vehicles and have no assests on either,need to keep the house and have no assets in it either. Would we be able to keep these with our income,would we be able to file ch7? Also i should mention that the bankruptcy would be only in my name due to all the cc are in my name. Both of our names are on vehicles and mortgages though. thanks for the help

[Tbornetun]

We would need to know what state you are in to determine if your income would qualify. Try doing an online means test, see where you come out.

http://www.legalconsumer.com/bankruptcy/means-test/index.php

[justbroke]

Are you current on all of those assets (cars, home)? How much, if any, equity do you have in the home and cars? Are you upside-down on the home? Do you have negative equity in the cars?

Whether you should keep those assets will depend on your financial picture and whether you have any equity (which is what the Trustee will look for). Sure, you can keep a home where you are 20% under, but it does not make financial sense to do so.

[racefan92]

W are in Illinois. I would say i have about 2k in asset on truck,about even up on car and mortgage. I really dont want to file chapter 13,do they force you to file 13 if you want 7? Do you think are income would be enough that a trustee and judge would let us keep the vehicles and house? Thanks again

[mellydan]

new to forum...need advice...sorry, long

sorry....posted in wrong place...

[Trixie007]

Ok, I love researching so this forum has been very helpful. I can't seem to stop reading. But I can't turn my brain off or stop worrying even with reading all this info so thought I'd post my situation and get some other input.

Hello and wecome! You are in the right place and have lots of company! If you can still edit, you might want to move this post and start your own thread, which is the usual thing to do, rather than posting it in an existing one.

RaceFan92: I'm no good at analyzing situations for whether or not to file, but I've read on here that a rule of thumb is if your debt is more than 40% of your income, you are a candidate for BK.

From what I read, your situation is:

Mo Income: 5,000 (is that net or gross?)
Mo Secured debt payments: 1,284 total

Balance for unsecured and living expenses (and taxes?): 3,716/mo
unsecured debt ratio: 20k/60k = 33%

Obviously we can't see all of your details of your situation, but with just these numbers to go on, if this were me, no way would I play my rare & valuable BK card.

[mellydan]

Thanks....um, I seem to be totally missing something. WHERE do I post a new thread? I looked at the FAQ, and am probably just having a blonde moment...but how do I start a new post? Then I'll move one...I hate to ask, it's probably really obvious, but what can I say...

[StartingOver08]

mellydan, go first to Bankruptcy Forum then look for your topic, scroll to the bottom of the page and on the left side you will see a button that says "New Thread". Its ok, it is not really obvious the first time. Maybe a moderator will move your post to a new thread too!