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Scared and overwhelmed

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    Scared and overwhelmed

    Hi,

    Just to introduce myself, I'll try to keep it brief. We have a really good income (I just got a bump to $135K, my wife makes about $50K) so chapter 7 is pretty much out of the question. We just bought a house, nothing super fancy around $300K/1300 sq feet. I knew bankruptcy was coming so we decided to buy while we still could. We don't have that much secured debt other than the house, our car (a 2019 ford escape we owe about $15K on) and a 401K loan for about $40K. (Dumb) Unsecured debt is an impressive $160Kish and that's the part I can't keep up with -- about $2K a month short at this point and ran out of room on credit to be able to do the juggling act anymore. Since my utilization is so high there's no shot at refinancing. I looked at consumer credit counseling but since the bulk of my debt is actually debt consolidation loans, and they are pretty inflexible, it would only reduce my minimum payments a few hundred a month. Have a kid in college who has been really expensive - we have a 2nd car we bought for her but she doesn't work so we support her 100%, and she's had a lot of unexpected medical expense. Have a few medical bills myself (around $1500) still unpaid. Been through a lot the last few years (diagnosed with stage 3 cancer in 2020 -- after surgery and chemo I'm being monitored but so far no recurrence - but even with insurance hitting deductibles and max out of pocket adds up). I was also recently diagnosed bipolar (type 2 -not so much mania but lots of depression) which helps to explain to some degree my poor budgeting skills I guess.

    I have an attorney and am working on paying her so that I can file. I'm just so scared right now, still so much unknown, I don't know what my budget is going to look like and how much I'm going to be able to save for an emergency fund because it seems like we run into one emergency after another lately. I feel like a huge failure. I have a bunch of paperwork to fill out for the attorney and hopefully I will find out soon what my payment plan might look like.

    Anyway, I guess that wasn't really very brief, but hello fellow debtors!

    #2
    Some (free) advice in no particular order:
    • It sounds like you are a candidate for a Chapter 13
    • Interview three attorneys, preferably five and pick the one you feel most comfortable with
    • Most attorneys will tell you to stop making payments on your unsecured debt and use that money for your legal fees
    Keep us posted on your progress.
    Latent car nut.

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      #3
      It sounds like you are doing the right thing and your attorney can help answer any questions.

      My best advice as someone who went through Chapter 13 is to make sure you have a good attorney who is experienced.
      I am not an expert. I just share my experiences in the Wonderful Wacky World of Chapter 13! Filed 3-30-18 Confirmed 7-11-18 Discharged 6-8-22

      Comment

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