How long to wait to file

[needachance]

I am wondering what to do here.

We are current on everything right now, but as of August 21 we cannot pay the Chase bill which went from 1400 to 3000 minimum payment. We have a meeting with the attorney next week.

I am seeing a lot of folks who wait a while after they stop paying to file. Why is this? We are looking at some major medical expenses coming up soon as my son has to have more EEGs for his epilepsy etc but plan to pay those. I also need some major dental work as I haven't been in 7 years due to no money. now that we are not able to pay the big bills, just a couple months of the Chase payment would cover my dental work (also one I won't put in BK and walk away from). Do people wait to file until they have taken care of some things like that after they stop paying?

I am just confused about why wait, but if I can take care of some necessary things that have been neglected for months and years with some of the "extra money" that would be really nice, but the idea of not paying and not doing something about it makes me a little sick to my stomach.

Thanks for input.

[falken]

That is one reason people wait. If you are planning on filing you might as well stop paying anything you intend to dischard (credit cards, etc).
Use the money you are saving for the expenses you mentioned, and try to save some of it also (up to the amount you can excempt).

I recommend you consult with attorney to go over your options, however. Then you will have a better understanding of what is best for your family.

[falken]

I was in a similar situtation as you, BTW. I was current on everything the first time I met with a lawyer, about 2 months later I decided BK was my only option.

I stopped paying on all my credit cards and unsecured loans and a car lease I was planning on giving back in the BK, it was amazing how much extra money I had each month! I was able to bring my savings up from about $500 to $8000, stock up on food, and get some medical expenses taken care of.

I filed about 3 months later and my first payment to the trustee was not due until the month after that.

BTW, I am refering to doing a CH13. Not sure how it would apply if you were doing a CH7.

[zpbk13]

I was hoping after we stopped paying our credit cards that we would have tons of extra money but that just hasn't proved to be the case for some reason. Part of it is that we had been living on credit cards and once hubby's overtime dried up we were really hurting. We are saving to pay our attorney in full plus the filing fee and pre-bk counseling which total $1540 and we are pretty close to that number in our checking account.

We also did purchase a new car and put $500 down and are paying about $400 per month and that is an expense we did not have before so I guess when I add it all up we probably have about $400 per month or so that we could be using for stockpiling purposes and a little savings.

We are stopped paying credits cards in February and will file late next month so that we have the whole attorney fee paid off. I really appreciate the advice on this board to file when you are ready. I just got off the phone a little while ago talking to our attorney and she echoed the same thing. No hurry unless a creditor escalates and we get something in the mail re: being sued. She made me feel so much better!

[LuciluS]

We stopped paying all but 1 credit card late last Sept. 2 were due on end of Sept. So, let's just stay Oct. 08. The 1 card I had a BT from one CC to another CC in Aug. Our BK Attorney told me to make 3 min. payments & try to add $25-$50 a mth, which I did.

Above occurred because Attorney thought we would be able to file in Dec. or Jan.09. I had some monthly monies received until 2/09 due to the market tanking. So we will be filing in 9/09 using Mar. - Aug. Gross Income.

If you know you are going to file BK in the near future, stop paying on your credit cards unless: (1) purchases of over $600 of any CC in the past 90 days (if purchases, need to be small & necessary) (2) no balance transfer of any CC within 90 days (no payments to unsecured loans equaling $600 before filing (4) no insider payments within a year of filing. All of the above is the advice of our Attorney.

If you are current & your income will not fluctuate, stop paying on the Credits cards now. It was quite an eye opener when we stopped. It forced us to live without Credit Cards. The first couple of months, it was tough. We survived though LOL!

My personal opinion: Do not file BK knowing you have large medical bills in the near future. Just remember, if a bill is over $600 you cannot pay more within 90 days. All Medical Creditors who have not been paid must be listed just like your CCs'. After BK is closed, you may pay any Creditor you want to.

For example, Hubby was hospitalized a week the first part of April. He has $3,000 to pay, before 100% medical insurance kicks in. The insurance company has sent us EOBs on ALL related expenses but the Hospital. I'm able to look and see it was $22,000 and shows pending. We will owe around $1,500 - $1,700 on that hospital bill. Well guess what?

We are in our 90 day period before our filing in 9/09. Therefore, all I can pay them is $599 & the rest will be paid after our bankruptcy is closed. Don't have to pay any of it, as Chapter 7 erases the debt. I'm very concerned as Dh and I are walking medical patients & hospital has the right to refuse to treat us unless it is an Emergency.

Gee, I think our Creditor Matrix the medical creditors will out number our other Creditors. Because I've only received one bill from the Nephrologist, so lots more medical personnel left to be paid.

[needachance]

Thanks for all the answers. We meet with an attorney on Thursday, we will see if it feels right. Because I have read here I know that I don't have to just take the first one I meet with. We haven't stopped paying anything yet.

[tatt2monster]

Needachance, everybody here is right. You almost have to carefully "plan" a bankruptcy the same way you would perform estate or tax planning. There was so much I didn't know that I had to do or take into account. You can't just decide to do it and file it the next day, although I do understand that extreme cases might force people to do just that.

I first started exploring the idea of bankruptcy in March of this year and might not be filing until March of 2010. Based on what I've read here, that is not at all unusual.