How has bankruptcy effected you?

[ceashell707]

I'm new. I'm 39, divorced in 2007 after 16 years and I have tried to keep up but I just can't. I do not get child support which is my choice. My daughter had a pretty serious illness, thankfully she is well but the illness has left me with close to 10,000 in medical bills. That with about 10,000 in regular debt I do not have a choice but to file for bankruptcy.

I'm curious to see what your experience with filing is, is it difficult, time consuming? Did you feel a huge relief after? I have an appointment with an attoney in 2 weeks.

[angles]

It’s a journey, but better then going down the road where the creditors hassle, sue or garnish your wages. There are lots of similar posts like yours. Rather then me repeating what most other say, if you do a search you can read it all yourself.

BTW, if your medical debt is discharged, how does that help you with future medical costs?

[ceashell707]

My daughter is no longer sick. I did not have a very good medical insurance policy for her at the time and I had to decide to pay for her medications rather then the hospital and doctor bills.

[AlmostAmos]

To be quite honest, it has improved my life more than I ever could have imagined. And, get this - I'm not even discharged yet! The 2 months before filing, and the 2-1/2 months since have been wonderful. We don't have to worry about collection calls, we have $ to go grocery shopping, etc. This is coming from a person who had PERFECT credit history, not 1 late payment on my credit, 750+ credit scores (x3), etc. The stress of keeping up w/ everything was more than I realized.

[angles]

To be quite honest, it has improved my life more than I ever could have imagined. And, get this - I'm not even discharged yet! The 2 months before filing, and the 2-1/2 months since have been wonderful. We don't have to worry about collection calls, we have $ to go grocery shopping, etc. This is coming from a person who had PERFECT credit history, not 1 late payment on my credit, 750+ credit scores (x3), etc. The stress of keeping up w/ everything was more than I realized.

You touch on something interesting. I think the people who had good-to-great credit are initially harder on themselves then someone who has been walking that fence line for some time. For example, I have a friend who chooses to take the family on small outings or buy items that are not necessary before he will pay his rent or other bills. They just sort of live life and are not worried about paying anything. They are not at all stressed about money or about making payments on anything. We on the other hand, have lost many nights of sleep when we knew we would miss our first payment. And that was three weeks before we missed it. So, after several months of stress and then finally filing we were relieved and slept great that night.

[ccsjoe]

You touch on something interesting. I think the people who had good-to-great credit are initially harder on themselves then someone who has been walking that fence line for some time. For example, I have a friend who chooses to take the family on small outings or buy items that are not necessary before he will pay his rent or other bills. They just sort of live life and are not worried about paying anything. They are not at all stressed about money or about making payments on anything. We on the other hand, have lost many nights of sleep when we knew we would miss our first payment. And that was three weeks before we missed it. So, after several months of stress and then finally filing we were relieved and slept great that night.

I can echo this on ourselves. Just like AlmostAmos here, we were mid 700's, never 1 missed or late payment, etc. And like Amos, it feels great to have $ to go meet our basic needs without worrying about floating payments between the cc's and whatever credit was available to cover.

[brokejoker]

It was surprisingly easy to file. It took a weekend of pulling our credit reports and sorting through the piled up stack of unpaid bills to pull together the info for our lawyer. After we filed it was almost immediate relief. The silence from the endless phone calls and not having to drag back bunch of bills from the mailbox every day is great! The 341 went smoothly and now we are just waiting for a discharge.

It's done amazing things for our family too. The stress is just gone. We have a budget and we stick to it. DH and I have both lost about 30 pounds since filing (amazing what stress does to your body)! We are having a bit of trouble finding new topics to talk about. Take away the fighting about money, worrying about bills, and discussing how we're going to pay X this month and there is a bit of silence to fill.

[HOMEBODY]

I also had perfect credit for years..never late, always kept my commitments to the credit card co and mortgage companies. Then my renters started missing payments and my business got a little slow and things got out of control. Since filing, I have saved money, I can pay all my bills each month, have enough to buy a little luxury here and there and went on nice vacation after 3 years of working non stop. My life now is clear..I know where everything is going. Mortgage companies are now willing to modify and are not threatening me with foreclosure. Its the middle of the month and I've already paid my mortgage, my business rent, my utilities and whatever I made from here to the end of the month is for my savings and my retirement account. I had doubts about filing at first and felt really bad..but now the feeling now outweights what I was feeling back then...Its great not to be under so much pressure and I tried working with the credit card companies, especially Wells Fargo. Discover and Chase were taking money out of my checking and there wasnt even any money to take out so I was being charged overdraft fees left and right...such a stressful period in my life...so glad its over and I have a new start.

[kartoons19]

I also never missed a payment in my life, but extended unemployment especially when I’m unable to collect unemployment (contracted position) can change things quickly. I had a lot of money saved, but blew through it. I also had a lot of credit available, which I used to keep a roof over my head. Even with working side jobs, it just wasn't enough. For a long time I kept thinking things would get better, but it never did. Once I decided to file, I felt relieved.

The paperwork was a bit of pain, but nothing compared to what I had been through. I had to wait a month to file only because my attorney is a one-person operation, so I had to wait for her to get to my case. Since filing I feel like so much weight has been lifted off of me. I can turn my ringer on again and take calls. I can go to the mailbox again and not worry about getting collection notices. The 341 was a breeze and now I am just waiting for discharge. In the meantime I am getting closer to getting my master's degree and have recently found a great job, so everything is looking up. While I still wish I never got into this situation in the first place, I am grateful for the fresh start. I only wish I would have filed sooner. Good luck to you.

[houston7]

My only concern was whether or not my unsecured creditors ( Chase, B of A, Wells Fargo) would show up at the 341.
They didn't.

I filed in April and was discharged in July, and I already have a nice, fat, folder of unsecured credit card offers and auto loan offers.

To say that banks view chapter 7's as just another day at the office is a huge understatement.

[Logan]

How has it affected my life? Other than having no debt I now spend time on this message board.

Logan

[runnersdelig]

Up until our job losses in 2008 we never missed a payment on anything, our cars were paid off and we were plugging along fine. After we lost our jobs, BoA put us through the ringer on our loan remodification and once Chase increased our interest rate from 3.99% to 29.99% we were just sinking deeper and deeper into debt. Slowly but surely all the credit card companies started to do that and we couldn't keep up. We got into many arguments about money, we started to hate our house and I thought at one point each other.

Now that we've filed and gone through the 341, we have started to save again and we don't argue about money. We have a budget set up every month and we still to it, paying all of our bills right when we get the bill. There's no more the fear and panic of not wanting to go home in the event we get served with another law suit, I can turn the home phone on again, and I don't dread the mail anymore. I'm thankful for the 2nd chance and I am never going into debt ever again. We've cut our consumerism ways and do things at home as a family. In short, it's helped us tremendously.

[chrisdfw]

I am so much better off, its hard to describe. I struggled for months after my problems. I came out the other side with so much less debt and did not have to part with any property or money after a short battle with the trustee over exemptions.

It seems bad going into it, but coming out its great. The calls stopped, the lawsuit from citibank stopped. I learned not to play credit roulette for a low rate, even a low rate for life. I was extremely lucky in many ways. I though I was being smart financing things at zero percent for life, but when I missed one payment, interest skyrocketed. Nobody wants to negotiate, citibank sued, and a chapter 7 was the result. I suppose in the end I came out the winner, but there was a lot of abuse in the meantime. If I knew that the process was so painless I would have done it sooner. You don't have to fear the bk process and let the creditor harass you. I tried for a long time to tread water when I should have gotten it over with sooner. In the end I discharged the credit cards, unfortunately kept the student loans, and kept the vehicle financed on the credit card.

Its not as scary as it seems. Don't let the creditors harass you and beat you down. If you can't pay, then let go. I fought and tried for much longer than I should have. hit the reset button.

[artgood]

Very early in...

Just met with 2nd attorney (the one we have chosen to represent us).

Already, I am having sleepless nights. Chest pains and headaches.

This is the singular worst experience of my life, and we haven't even filed yet.

The constant fear, worry and depression is almost overwhelming.

Then there are the phone calls. The constant 20 to 30 times a day phone calls - from 2 banks.

I certainly hope it gets easier.

[ccsjoe]

Just met with 2nd attorney (the one we have chosen to represent us).

Already, I am having sleepless nights. Chest pains and headaches.

This is the singular worst experience of my life, and we haven't even filed yet.

The constant fear, worry and depression is almost overwhelming.

Then there are the phone calls. The constant 20 to 30 times a day phone calls - from 2 banks.

I certainly hope it gets easier.

artgood, we've talked before. It does get easier. Have you retined the attorney yet? Once you do, just give the 2 banks your attorney's name and number....that should ease up somewhat. No guarantee they'll stop calling until you actually file, but a lot will stop for a couple months. Relax and try to sleep, finding the right attorney for you is a big step, and things will start flowing from here on out.