Bankruptcy

[Jen011]

Hello,

I'm looking for people who have experienced severe bankruptcy in their life. Why they ended up bankruptcy and how others can learn from you? I'm a journalist and will keep everything anonymous. Thanks.

[Pjmax]

No disrespect intended, but have you actually read anything on this forum? It's loaded with stories and answers to your inquiries.

[kornellred]

Hello Jen011 -

Anonymity is virtually guaranteed in public forums on the internet. Almost no one uses their legal name, and trying to discover a poster's real identity is not impossible but hardly worth the effort, since you do not know if what the poster is saying (so to speak) is true. And the word "severe" is not an appropriate adjective when describing bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is often a remedy for severe financial difficulties; perhaps that is what you meant.

I have two bankruptcies to my credit (pun intended). My first was a Chapter 7 in 1994, which was precipitated by divorce. I owed about $50,000 in unsecured credit. The divorce settlement stipulated child support for my 3 children and alimony for my ex-wife for 5 years. There was no possible way I could support my debt and fulfill my court-ordered obligations, so bankruptcy was inevitable. I paid my attorney with a cash advance on one of my credit cards which happened to have a zero balance. He told me not to include that card in the creditor's matrix, because that would be fraud. There was never an issue with that stunt. I do not think it would work in today's world.

My second bankruptcy is a Chapter 13 which I have just completed and I am awaiting the physical discharge document from the bankruptcy court. At the time that I decided to file for Chapter 13 protection, I could have comfortably continued to pay the minimum payments on my unsecured debt, but I reasoned that this was just throwing money away and I would eventually be compelled to file for bankruptcy. I had paid the minimum monthly amounts for many years, and my creditors would not really be losing a dime on my account. I became physically disabled two years into my Chapter 13 and unable to work as a result, but my employee benefits are extremely generous and I have contributed to Social Security for almost 50 years, so my financial situation made completing my Chapter 13 plan quite easy. I will have enough income to survive comfortably for as long as I am likely to live.

That's my story. A true story, by the way.

[woeisme]

Jen011- I am having a real hard time believing you are a journalist since you made several grammatical errors in your post. There are all kinds of stories on this site that you could have "mined" and then asked follow-up and/or clarifications to via the messaging functions, so it seems like you are looking for people naive enough to respond including their personal information.

[frogger]

Jen011- I am having a real hard time believing you are a journalist since you made several grammatical errors in your post. There are all kinds of stories on this site that you could have "mined" and then asked follow-up and/or clarifications to via the messaging functions, so it seems like you are looking for people naive enough to respond including their personal information.

Jen011 is on a short leash..........

[kawh]

I think Jen and her bad sentence construction have gone elsewhere. I never thought journalists were good grammarians, tho.

[woeisme]

I never thought journalists were good grammarians, tho.

I suppose that is the truth! We had an English teacher in high school that used to challenge us to find the most mistakes on the front page of the newspaper. I guess it just annoyed me that someone would say they write for a living and not be able to construct a few sentences correctly, although if I had believed the story I probably wouldn't have been snarky about it.

[Pjmax]

I think Jen and her bad sentence construction have gone elsewhere. I never thought journalists were good grammarians, tho.

Well, these days, anyone with a computer can write a quick story, post it to various "news" sites, and call themselves a journalist. I think what bothered me about this post was that the poster did zero research and seemed to be trolling for a story, any story that might write the article by itself with as little input from the OP as possible.

[drowning123]

You guys are hilarious! LOL.

[bcohen]

What exactly is a "severe bankruptcy"? Is there an "easy bankruptcy" or "fun bankruptcy" to compare that with?

[kawh]

LOL

Looked for the Fun bk thread, shouldn't there be one? Fun like when you withdraw your last $40 in the bank and try to make it last one more week?

[Pjmax]

I kind of thought hiding my car from the repo guy until my payment cleared over a weekend was kind of funny, er, maybe not then, but it is now.

[drowning123]

How about 5 in the morning you run to the bank to withdraw all your funds before the payday loan ACH's hit, so tha you can pay your bk lawyer? In cold weather nontheless! That was so much fun! (Jan Brady's voice)

[forgotten]

I kind of thought hiding my car from the repo guy until my payment cleared over a weekend was kind of funny, er, maybe not then, but it is now.

I managed to keep a $60k car for over a year without paying with no attempt at a repo. I think I got lost in the shuffle somehow for a long time.