Vacation Dilema

[ksgirl38]

You've asked your questions and you've been given all sorts of advice. Some of it in your favor, some of it not. Seems you don't like those that are suggesting you not go -- are you sure you haven't already made your decision? Regardless if others agree with you or not, ultimately you will have to face the consequences.

Now, make an adult decision that you can be comfortable with, and not AFRAID of, and follow through.

No, my questions still haven't been answered. That's the problem. I'd still like to know where you get a prepaid credit card from. All the ones I know of have a $200 limit and I spend more than that in gas a month.

[footballfan]

You've asked your questions and you've been given all sorts of advice. Some of it in your favor, some of it not. Seems you don't like those that are suggesting you not go -- are you sure you haven't already made your decision? Regardless if others agree with you or not, ultimately you will have to face the consequences.

Now, make an adult decision that you can be comfortable with, and not AFRAID of, and follow through.

[ksgirl38]

I'm not the one that liquidated my 401K and had a house foreclosed on.

[df04527]

^^^this..... She and others just don't get it. Go find another board if your looking for someone to say yeah go ahead do it. I predict multiple bk's in your future young one.

[Peeps]

In the course of one thread, the OP has disclosed manipulation of income for the purpose of a favorable means test outcome, asked about ways to hide a questionable transaction/purchase from a trustee, and sought advice for skirting presumption of abuse timelines. And several people have chimed in about how very understandable it all is. Wow.

Planning a BK is fine. But planning to NOT get caught for BK fraud crosses a line. It's junk like this that perpetuates the ongoing stigma that all BKers face every day.

[ksgirl38]

KS, I can understand what Wantout is saying, because of what they have gone through. I didn't have as much as they did (401ks and such), but I also tried desperately to solve the problem by throwing money at it. For me, bankruptcy was the furthest thing from my mind. I thought my life, as I had known it, was over....my retirement ruined. Then I found this site and started to do some research on my own and found out that were WAS hope. I think that is why you are getting so much negativity......so many on here have been beat down by the current financial times that they are overly cautious about not wanting to do that again. Some have lost just about everything....homes....relationships....employment s.... savings...you name it.

And I also think that although you are in a bit of a financial bind, you can't relate to the desperation many of them have gone through. Most of them are truly trying to help you, drawing from their own experiences.

So that being said...whether you end up going to Hawaii or not..I hope you heed the advice of many on here about getting your financial house in order so you never have to go through this again.

Good Luck!! DM

I agree. My situation isn't nearly as bad as most people and I wouldn't have considered this option either unless someone mentioned it in passing. I guess it's just frustrating when you are trying to get answers to questions and instead all you get are negative comments.

[DaisysMom]

KS, I can understand what Wantout is saying, because of what they have gone through. I didn't have as much as they did (401ks and such), but I also tried desperately to solve the problem by throwing money at it. For me, bankruptcy was the furthest thing from my mind. I thought my life, as I had known it, was over....my retirement ruined. Then I found this site and started to do some research on my own and found out that were WAS hope. I think that is why you are getting so much negativity......so many on here have been beat down by the current financial times that they are overly cautious about not wanting to do that again. Some have lost just about everything....homes....relationships....employment s.... savings...you name it.

And I also think that although you are in a bit of a financial bind, you can't relate to the desperation many of them have gone through. Most of them are truly trying to help you, drawing from their own experiences.

So that being said...whether you end up going to Hawaii or not..I hope you heed the advice of many on here about getting your financial house in order so you never have to go through this again.

Good Luck!! DM

[ksgirl38]

You are looking at filing BK, you dont need to go to Hawaii. Your Bankrupt, you are not supposed to have extra money left over for trips and such right now. If you do, then pay the bills. I put off filing for 2 years, sold things my late grandfather gave me, used all savings, 401k everything to try to pay those debts, there were no sacred cows, yet I still ended up filing. It was by far the lowest point of my life.
BK is not a light hearted laugh it off thing to do, it is a serious matter, and IMO you should be taking it as such.
After your BK is done and you get things right, then save up and take the trip, Hawaii will still be there in a few more years.

IMO you made a mistake in selling your grandfather's items.

[ksgirl38]

Ksgirl, you're right in thinking that writing a check to your brother could be a red flag. Could be viewed as a payment to an insider by the trustee. And making plane ticket purchases by credit card could be a problem as well. I don't know if you can buy a plane ticket with a prepaid debit card. If you can, you could perhaps load one at Walmart? I think they have a prepaid debit card and I imagine you can buy/fund it in person at a store. Or go to the airport and buy in cash though I imagine you won't get a good rate that way.

Prepaid cards should not show on your credit report - as they are not credit cards. And about your hope to keep 4 $0 balance cards after filing, that is unlikely. Most creditors review your reports every so often and will close once they see the filing.

At the end of the day, you have to decide if a) you can afford this trip and b) if it will pose any problems with filing bankruptcy and c) if b is a yes, whether or not you have flexibility to postpone your filing for an additional 3-6 months.

Thanks for the info on the prepaid cards. I prefer to put my gas purchases on credit card and pay at the pump anyway so I was thinking about this option for that as well.

[wantout]

Recently I was offered the opportunity to go to Hawaii. I know someone renting a house on the beach for a week and they asked if I wanted to go. Basically all it's going to cost me is the airline ticket. Everything else is being provided. The problem is I was thinking of filing soon and now I'm not sure what to do. I hate to pass up this opportunity because I doubt I'll ever be able to afford to go on my own otherwise. Do I go and postpone filing? Forget it? Any suggestions? I'd really like to go, but now I don't know what to do.

You are looking at filing BK, you dont need to go to Hawaii. Your Bankrupt, you are not supposed to have extra money left over for trips and such right now. If you do, then pay the bills. I put off filing for 2 years, sold things my late grandfather gave me, used all savings, 401k everything to try to pay those debts, there were no sacred cows, yet I still ended up filing. It was by far the lowest point of my life.
BK is not a light hearted laugh it off thing to do, it is a serious matter, and IMO you should be taking it as such.
After your BK is done and you get things right, then save up and take the trip, Hawaii will still be there in a few more years.

[Freddy03]

My gosh you guys...it's an $800.00 ticket. It's not 10 K hidden in a coffee can she is trying to hide. If she can legitimately do this...well good for her. And also, I can't begin to recall all of the times someone has stopped paying their bills and all of a sudden has extra cash....and the suggestions come pouring in on ways to use that money to "fly under the radar." And the use of money orders, pay with cash...etc...etc. Same deal just the use (destination in this case) is different.

Hopefully, she has learned a lesson about the pitfalls of abusing credit cards and will be wiser in the future when all is said and done. But her taking this trip with her family does not mean that she will be forever destined to be mired in debt because she "hasn't learned her lesson."

Is she "having fun with us"...who knows, but she does have a real concern and it has two sides. I personally hope that she finds a "legitimate" way to get there. She has the money and it sounds like it would be a wonderful time with her family.

DM

I don't think anyone is making a big deal of the plane ticket itself. But last month OP had a similar "plane ticket" question different situation.

I do not think it's wise to buy an $800 plane ticket, $800 TV or $800 worth of anything that wasn't a necessity if I was filing BK in a few weeks.

[SMinGA2]

Ksgirl, you're right in thinking that writing a check to your brother could be a red flag. Could be viewed as a payment to an insider by the trustee. And making plane ticket purchases by credit card could be a problem as well. I don't know if you can buy a plane ticket with a prepaid debit card. If you can, you could perhaps load one at Walmart? I think they have a prepaid debit card and I imagine you can buy/fund it in person at a store. Or go to the airport and buy in cash though I imagine you won't get a good rate that way.

Prepaid cards should not show on your credit report - as they are not credit cards. And about your hope to keep 4 $0 balance cards after filing, that is unlikely. Most creditors review your reports every so often and will close once they see the filing.

At the end of the day, you have to decide if a) you can afford this trip and b) if it will pose any problems with filing bankruptcy and c) if b is a yes, whether or not you have flexibility to postpone your filing for an additional 3-6 months.

[ksgirl38]

My gosh you guys...it's an $800.00 ticket. It's not 10 K hidden in a coffee can she is trying to hide. If she can legitimately do this...well good for her. And also, I can't begin to recall all of the times someone has stopped paying their bills and all of a sudden has extra cash....and the suggestions come pouring in on ways to use that money to "fly under the radar." And the use of money orders, pay with cash...etc...etc. Same deal just the use (destination in this case) is different.

Hopefully, she has learned a lesson about the pitfalls of abusing credit cards and will be wiser in the future when all is said and done. But her taking this trip with her family does not mean that she will be forever destined to be mired in debt because she "hasn't learned her lesson."

Is she "having fun with us"...who knows, but she does have a real concern and it has two sides. I personally hope that she finds a "legitimate" way to get there. She has the money and it sounds like it would be a wonderful time with her family.

DM

Thanks. It's hard not to read these posts without crying.

You know, the only reason I have the credit card debt I do is because I was unemployed and was forced to resort to credit cards to survive. A few weeks ago I took out my statements for as far back as I had them, which was over 3 years worth and I added up what I had spent on them, what I had paid towards them and then looked at the interest charges. If it hadn't been for the interest, I wouldn't even have the debt. The cards would have been well paid off by now. I wouldn't expect anyone else to agree with me, but I really do think the credit card companies shouldn't let people get into situations like this and I do blame them for allowing people (not just myself) to get in over their heads. I sincerely tried to pay them off and even made several attempt to contact them and negotiate a payoff with no luck so this is where I am now. I have 2 credit cards I'm hoping to get discharged and 4 others with a 0 balance which I will keep. The only reason I have the 2 is because I went back and forth between them transferring balances trying to take advantage of the 0% or reduced interest rates hoping I'd be able to pay them off that way. Unfortunately it didn't help.

So I'll ask again, just because I may want to use this option for budgeting purposes in the future. Where do you get a prepaid credit card where you don't have to transfer the money out of your bank account? I'd prefer to be able to purchase one, put $1000 on it and do so in person. I'm just not sure you can put that large amount on one at at grocery store. Does anyone know? I heard Wal-mart has them, will they let you? I also read somewhere that some of these show up on your credit report. Is that true? Thank you.

[DaisysMom]

My gosh you guys...it's an $800.00 ticket. It's not 10 K hidden in a coffee can she is trying to hide. If she can legitimately do this...well good for her. And also, I can't begin to recall all of the times someone has stopped paying their bills and all of a sudden has extra cash....and the suggestions come pouring in on ways to use that money to "fly under the radar." And the use of money orders, pay with cash...etc...etc. Same deal just the use (destination in this case) is different.

Hopefully, she has learned a lesson about the pitfalls of abusing credit cards and will be wiser in the future when all is said and done. But her taking this trip with her family does not mean that she will be forever destined to be mired in debt because she "hasn't learned her lesson."

Is she "having fun with us"...who knows, but she does have a real concern and it has two sides. I personally hope that she finds a "legitimate" way to get there. She has the money and it sounds like it would be a wonderful time with her family.

DM

[ksgirl38]

KS... probably true. Saving to pay an attorney is fine. There's no reason to hide that and no reason to keep it in cash. I'm only pointing out that the op [by her own admission] has a thorough understanding that writing a check for this would raise flags. She also indicated that she has some cash she obviously wants to keep under the radar. Regardless of what she INTENDS to do with the cash, if she doesn't intend to report that she has it, it can be construed as hiding assets. That's what I am referring to. That's what is shocking me. There's no question that I don't know the whole situation. I'm only able to base my assumptions on what the op has told us. I really do hope I'm misunderstanding this.

Lately I've had issues with my bank. One of the reasons I'm switching to a new one is that they charge an excessive withdraw fee, which includes transfers. I have both a savings and checking with them and since the checking doesn't make interest I keep the bare minimum in there and transfer over from savings when needed. Since I knew I'd need to pull this money out anyway at one point or another I just cashed a paycheck rather than depositing it and pulling it out later to avoid that excessive withdraw fee. I just haven't gotten around to deciding on an attorney yet so the funds are still at home. Pretty sure which one I'm going with, but wanted time to think it over. So no I'm not "hiding assets" as you've suggested. So think whatever you want.