DISCLAIMER.....This post may offend people....PLEASE don't let it!!

[pink_amulet]

Good luck to all!!!
pink_amulet

[StaciMM]

I know what you mean. Someone on a board (don't remember which one, don't think it was here) was complaining recently about attorneys charging more and how that was making it hard for people to file. Well, if someone started looking for an attorney last week, of course the attorneys were going to be busy and anyone taking on new clients was going to charge accordingly!

I do think that alot of the people who have been rushing to get it done in time were at that point due to having to work really hard to get the $$ together to file.

[Annika]

We filed in December, before I even knew about the upcoming changes. Then I heard about the new laws, and was glad I'd already filed.

But it makes me feel bad for people who couldn't avoid waiting until the last minute (i.e. no money for a lawyer, etc.).

[pink_amulet]

We filed in December, before I even knew about the upcoming changes. Then I heard about the new laws, and was glad I'd already filed.

But it makes me feel bad for people who couldn't avoid waiting until the last minute (i.e. no money for a lawyer, etc.).

[sunshine08]

I can see your side, I can also relate to the thread's title, and warning.
It isn't offensive to me. It took us almost a year to decide, actually it all started about 3 years ago, we tried calling individual credit cards, a couple worked with us, then we went the credit counseling service, then we started checking the balances, really couldn't see a lot of change, so we sat down and compared statements, before/after, some were actually significantly higher. Finances were tighter, we reworked the budget so much, we thought we had to do sell the kids, that was May 04, we still tried to get a second mortgage and that nasty debt-income ratio snake reared his ugly head, then I procrastinated until the first of the year and filled out that book from the attorney called a petiton and finally filed in May. Best thing I ever did, (well, second to divorcing 1st husband).
We used the money we had saved from not paying the credit counseling service, after we caught up some important bills. Of course in the mean time we had a string of bad weather, weather wise and financially that we are still recovering from.
Honestly, the "new" law was pretty much a shoe in around January it was only a matter of when it woud be signed. Plenty of time to plan. However, due to recent charges and creative planning, the "by the skin of your teeth" filers most likely had to get their house in "order". So I can understand somewhat, I don't like to wait until the last minute either but about half the time it sems to end up that way.

[hhou812hh]

My guess is some people probably made some charges/advances back in April/May when they heard the new law was changing and wanted to wait as long as they possibly could to decrease the chance of cc companies disputing it. Sometimes I wonder if this will raise any flags that some people are rushing just to meet the deadline when they may not really need bk at all.

I'm not judging anyone, just trying to think of how the US Trustee may look at some of these last minute filers.

[BassBoy]

pink amulet,

No offense taken here. You make a good point. However, I must say for myself that I waited until I could no longer take it anymore because I had this brainwashed notion that BK was the most awful thing in the world. Damn, I wish I would have known ALL of the facts about BK so I could have decided sooner than I did.

My filing (Ch.7) was on 10/12/05.....cutting it close, but our atty said as long as we had the fees paid in full by 09/01, we would be guaranteed filing before law changes. And since we are surrending our home, it was easy to pay the atty in full by 09/01 because we could stop payments on everything we were discharging. But filed on 10/12? I was starting to sweat a little.

[Minnymouth]

Yes, many people "wait till the last minute" to do anything (have babies, marry, get dressed, etc)....They don't seem to get in a hurry about anything...

Most put off claiming bankruptcy because its embarrassing, hope the situation will change by itself, lack of funds to pay lawyer, etc.

By waiting too long - they almost got caught in the new laws....and some probably did!!!

Bankruptcy is a reality check that many of us probably needed...... to get our lives back on track...

No offense taken,

Minny

[WhenThePawn]

I see your point, too, pink, and I'm not offended at all. But as other people have posted, some people file at the "last minute" because they see BK as a dead end, embarrassing, or as a last resort. Maybe they didn't realize that BK will actually make things a little better instead of making them worse.

I know BK is something to really think about for a while, but for hubby and me, we first met with a BK lawyer in Sept. 2004 and filed in Oct. 2004. If you would have told me in July or even August 2004 that we were going to file Ch. 13, I would have disagreed and argued with ya.

Yes, we knew our debt was very bad. We had cut up our credit cards months before and thought we could make our way out on our own. We were never late on any payments, but with finance charges, no progress was being made. Pretty soon we were only making minimum payments. We knew something had to give, so we sought debt counseling from a nonprofit organization. We felt relieved that we had taken control and were happy we could pay all debt (except my student loans, our cars, and our mortgage) by writing one check to the counseling agency. According to the agency, they got us lower interest rates and negotiated monthly payments that were doable for us. They said we would be debt free in 5 years.

Well, after 4 months of sending a huge payment each month and babysitting the counseling agency to make sure everything was getting paid, the phone calls and letters in the mail started. Creditors weren't getting their payments. Accounts were going into collections. Interest and late charges were piling up. The counseling agency wasn't answering all of our questions or returning all of our calls. We were getting conflicting info from different sources. Turns out that they were paying only some of our creditors. Others never saw a dime of our money.

It was a very scary, stressful time in our lives. We thought we could clean the mess up ourselves. We decided we wouldn't deal with the credit counselors and just fix the mess ourselves. We were going to call each creditor, explain what happened, and go from there. Only many of the creditors didn't want to play nice. Or wouldn't accept proposed payment schedules until we paid off the late charges and interest that had acrrued (in some cases, that was like $700!).

The afternoon after my husband spent much time calling creditors with no luck, he called me at work. He sounded defeated and told me he didn't know what we could do. We thought our house would be taken away from us along with all of our possessions (although we still hadn't missed a mortgage payment). I told him we had no choice and would just have to file BK. There's a really annoying commercial that has played constantly in the midwest about filing BK--it has played for years. That was really I knew about BK, what I've seen in this lawyer's commericals. I checked out his Web site and was shocked that we could file and still keep our house and our cars. That was all I cared about. I did a little more research that afternoon and then called a lawyer. The rest is history. We have 2 years to go in our Ch. 13 and I can't wait to be free of debt!

Wow, that was a long story. Sorry about that! Basically, I'm saying that I can see how not realizing you need to file, or resisting BK til the last possible minute can happen.

[hhou812hh]

I have to reply again since this whole thing is pretty crazy! Most of today's filers (not talking about hurricane victims or similar) are just plain nuts! If I was a trustee, I would ask everyone that filed this week especially today why they filed at all and kind of make them sweat. I guess this just is another reason why the laws changed. If you need bk protection by all means FILE! It just looks so obvious that all of today's filers just did it to get rid of debts and beat the deadline. I guess I'm being naive but I figured it would be a smooth flow from April to today. Today looks like tax day at the post office.

Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the lines.

[Zapata]

Hi, I filed on Wed. For months, I thought maybe I might get hit by a truck and die first and get to avoid the shame and hassle or horror of filing for BK. Seriously.

In 2002, my credit rating was 746, and I had less than $200 on credit cards, owned a house (now foreclosed on), and took a vacation every year where I -- get this! - actually flew on a plane somewhere and stayed in a hotel!

You ask WHY we wait? Cause life happens.

[Zapata]

I have to reply again since this whole thing is pretty crazy! Most of today's filers (not talking about hurricane victims or similar) are just plain nuts! If I was a trustee, I would ask everyone that filed this week especially today why they filed at all and kind of make them sweat. I guess this just is another reason why the laws changed. If you need bk protection by all means FILE! It just looks so obvious that all of today's filers just did it to get rid of debts and beat the deadline. I guess I'm being naive but I figured it would be a smooth flow from April to today. Today looks like tax day at the post office.

Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the lines.

The original post wasn't offensive. But yours is. Sheesh. So you actually make a MORAL distinction between people who filed before this week and the ones who filed this week? Thanks. Sure glad you aren't the trustee.

[Quentin]

Each person's personality and circumstances and experiences in life are different from others'.

Each person has their own pace in life depending on who they were born to and what their exeriences were during their growing up.

It is so easy to point the finger at each other.

The most difficult thing to do is to not judge others' decisions and choices.

Human nature is very interesting, is it not?

[Zapata]

The most difficult thing to do is to not judge others' decisions and choices.

Human nature is very interesting, is it not?

Yes, and not judging others is truly where character comes from.

Human nature is very interesting, indeed. We are such creatures. What a journey!

[derf]

However, I must say for myself that I waited until I could no longer take it anymore because I had this brainwashed notion that BK was the most awful thing in the world. Damn, I wish I would have known ALL of the facts about BK so I could have decided sooner than I did.

Ditto.

I filed on 10/12.

I had contemplated filing 4 months prior to that date, but talked myself out of it, thinking that I would be able to make things work out and avoid BK.

I too had the idea that BK was far worse than it actually is.

The last thing in the world I wanted to do was to file BK.


Regardless, I began re-thinking things and concluded that my situation was not improving, and did go through with filing BK.

Still- It was the last thing in the world I wanted to do. I did not want to file.

However, regardless of what I did or did not want; the most intelligent decision at the time was for me to file.

Now, in a quirky sort of way, I'm glad that I did.


The mind has a funny way of talking itself into circles with matters of this nature.