need help, filing on august 1st

[sepiid]

Hey all,

I need some help/guidance. i have already retained a BK lawyer and payed 1200 so far another 600$ to go.

i stopped paying my CC(4 of them, 2 citi, 1 amex, 1 GE money) and 1 car note this month and will have about 1500$ "extra" because of that.

i am trying to figure out what i can spend it on or pay down or save for.

i am in CA, $44~k of CC, 20k car loan that i will surrender, and 13k car loan i am going to ride through.

with 4th of july coming up could i spend some of that money on fireworks??? or perhaps pay a huge chunk towards my student loans? or pay a couple months extra rent early? or pay my car insurance for the year? or replace our broken upright freezer? or buy a dishwasher for the wife?

i just need some guidance on what might be acceptable or unacceptable ways to spend it.

[SMinGA]

You're in CA & you rent - so you should be able to choose the CA deductions that allow a fairly large wildcard. Meaning it won' be a problem to have cash on hand.

Beyond that, repairing and/or buying needed things for the home seems reasonable. Going on a shopping spree of fireworks seems like a waste of money in my opinion.

[tabasko]

you have extra money????? one thing for sure you can not charge off a student loan

so that may be your best bet

[momofthree]

Like SM mentioned, CA has a high wildcard (around $21k) that you are able to exempt. This includes cash. So it is probably your best bet to save that money to help you on your way towards living a credit-free lifestyle.

I'm not sure how student loans figure in to preferential payments, so don't pay down those student loans until you've discussed it with your attorney. Since you can exempt cash, it may be best to just hold onto the cash & then wait until after your discharge to pay down the student loans.

I don't think there would be a problem of spending some money on fireworks. Less than $100 is reasonable....