Has Anyone Here Been Through Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?

[nanookadenord]

I talked with a credit counselor yesterday and they couldn't recommend a debt management plan because I don't make enough to cover even my basic expenses let alone the debt that I have accrued trying to cover my basic expenses. I would need to come up with an extra $600 roughly in order to come in under a debt management plan. I am already working full time with one of the days being a 24 hour shift. I get my kids on the weekends, so that leaves me with two days for another job, which wouldn't get me close to the $600 needed.

I only bring home $408 a check after health insurance at $584 a month which is court ordered for me to have for my kids and $200 for child support. I get paid every two weeks. So, $816 a month isn't cutting it. The counselor recommended bankruptcy as I am in the hole each month by $600.

Has anyone here been through it? What can I expect during the process besides my credit tanking?

 

[Sabertooth]

I've been through it though there isn't much to tell. That insurance requirement will still be a problem afterwards. Can you apply for Medicaid for your children, given your income? That may avert the need for a bankruptcy, if you are eligible.

 

[Heart2Soul]

I talked with a credit counselor yesterday and they couldn't recommend a debt management plan because I don't make enough to cover even my basic expenses let alone the debt that I have accrued trying to cover my basic expenses. I would need to come up with an extra $600 roughly in order to come in under a debt management plan. I am already working full time with one of the days being a 24 hour shift. I get my kids on the weekends, so that leaves me with two days for another job, which wouldn't get me close to the $600 needed.

I only bring home $408 a check after health insurance at $584 a month which is court ordered for me to have for my kids and $200 for child support. I get paid every two weeks. So, $816 a month isn't cutting it. The counselor recommended bankruptcy as I am in the hole each month by $600.

Has anyone here been through it? What can I expect during the process besides my credit tanking?

I have and it was inevitable...most of my debt came from medical bills. I was so stressed all the time and when I finally filed bankruptcy it was a huge burden off my back.

 

[nanookadenord]

I've been through it though there isn't much to tell. That insurance requirement will still be a problem afterwards. Can you apply for Medicaid for your children, given your income? That may avert the need for a bankruptcy, if you are eligible.

They have medicaid as secondary insurance. Because I work full time I am to provide insurance. I can petition to have it removed as a requirement, but that can take several months and it's not guarantee that they will remove the requirement.

After the bankruptcy I will petition and use the bankruptcy as a "see what I had to do because of this requirement" kind of thing. May have a better chance of getting it removed then.

 

[Joined2krist]

I'm praying you get a better job, God bless you

 

[nanookadenord]

I'm praying you get a better job, God bless you

That will happen about July 2021 after a year of school that starts July 2020. Till then I am stuck where I am as I don't have any other skills.

 

[Joined2krist]

That will happen about July 2021 after a year of school that starts July 2020. Till then I am stuck where I am as I don't have any other skills.

"I assure you that if you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this hill, 'Go from here to there and it will go. You could do anything" Matt 17:20

 

[nanookadenord]

"I assure you that if you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this hill, 'Go from here to there and it will go. You could do anything" Matt 17:20

I still need skills that I don't have. I cannot get a job that have certain skill sets and not have those skills as part of my ability.

In other words, I cannot go be a cardiothoracic surgeon if I haven't first become a doctor and then went to school even longer to be a surgeon and then been a surgeon for years before becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon.

I'm sorry, no amount of faith will make that happen without the proper training and years that I don't have.

 

[Joined2krist]

I still need skills that I don't have. I cannot get a job that have certain skill sets and not have those skills as part of my ability.

In other words, I cannot go be a cardiothoracic surgeon if I haven't first become a doctor and then went to school even longer to be a surgeon and then been a surgeon for years before becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon.

I'm sorry, no amount of faith will make that happen without the proper training and years that I don't have.

There's absolutely nothing impossible for God to do. He can give you a good job even while you're studying, you'll be amazed at what He can do with the knowledge or skill you already have no matter how little it is for now.

 

[nanookadenord]

There's absolutely nothing impossible for God to do. He can give you a good job even while you're studying, you'll be amazed at what He can do with the knowledge or skill you already have no matter how little it is for now.

I will go through the bankruptcy and keep the job that I have and work part-time through school at this job. Then I will go into a new job.

The bankruptcy will be a clean slate for me!

 

[nanookadenord]

There's absolutely nothing impossible for God to do. He can give you a good job even while you're studying, you'll be amazed at what He can do with the knowledge or skill you already have no matter how little it is for now.

Let me apologize. I am sorry!

While I know there is nothing that God cannot do, I do not believe as you do in regards to the things that He does. I got myself into this mess, and I expect God to let me get myself out of it.

I will stay in the job that I am in and file the bankruptcy, go back to school in July 2020 and then make more money through that. It will be a significant income increase.

 

[Andrew77]

I will go through the bankruptcy and keep the job that I have and work part-time through school at this job. Then I will go into a new job.

The bankruptcy will be a clean slate for me!

I'm not trying to talk you out of it, but I've heard this line before "bankruptcy will be a clean slate for me".

I've heard that from people. Let me just explain to you, that it is most certainly not a clean slate.

If you get a new job, and you have to move to a new location, or someone dies, or something happens in the family that forces you to move....

You will have an exceptionally hard time finding a new place to live. That bankruptcy will be on your record for 7 full years. During that time, they will see "this person dodges their responsibilities".

People that know nothing about you, will judge your character based on that bankruptcy.

Employers who could offer you a fantastic job, will see that you have a bankruptcy, and deny you employment. Your bankruptcy will haunt you for almost a decade, and pop up in strange ways. 6 full years from now, when you have good money, good job, and everything else is good.... you will do something simple, like try to buy a phone, and have them decline you because you have a bankruptcy on your record.

Again, like I said before, I am not trying to talk you out of it. If you have to, then you have to. But understand that it will not be this euphoric clean slate. It won't. Every person that I have met that went through bankruptcy, regrets it.

And additional warning.

Bankruptcy does not change your bills, or how you live, or what income you have. I personally, learned this the hard way. If you do not change something in the equation of your life that created the debt, then you will end up right back in debt.

And listen, this time the lenders will be even more ruthless to you, than they were before. Why? Because they know for certain that you can't file bankruptcy for at least 7 years. So they will do everything they can to get you back in debt, and working to pay them.

This is why people who file bankruptcy often file again. Almost 30% of all bankruptcies, are repeat filers. They filed bankruptcy, went back into debt, and filed bankruptcy again.

You need to think about that. Clean slate doesn't matter if you keep living how you have, that ended up in debt, because you'll end up right back where you are now.

Again, I'm saying this as someone that did it. Don't do that. It sucks to look back a year or more, and realize you are no better off than you were before.

 

[nanookadenord]

I'm not trying to talk you out of it, but I've heard this line before "bankruptcy will be a clean slate for me".

Again, I'm saying this as someone that did it. Don't do that. It sucks to look back a year or more, and realize you are no better off than you were before.

I fully intend not to file for bankruptcy again! I just got in over my head and have learned a lesson.

The reason why I have no choice is that I am over $500 in the hole each month. That is just the credit cards. Add in necessities and it's more. The credit counselor whom I talked to said that bankruptcy is my only option because I cannot magically come up with enough money to pay my bills. I only have two other days to work another job. That isn't going to get me over $500 a month. Plus, those two days are dedicated to my children whom I only get to see on those two days. So, working another job is out of the question.

I really have no choice at this point. I haven't gone delinquent on my bills yet, but now that my tax refund money has dried up those delinquent bills are going to add up.

 

[Andrew77]

I fully intend not to file for bankruptcy again! I just got in over my head and have learned a lesson.

The reason why I have no choice is that I am over $500 in the hole each month. That is just the credit cards. Add in necessities and it's more. The credit counselor whom I talked to said that bankruptcy is my only option because I cannot magically come up with enough money to pay my bills. I only have two other days to work another job. That isn't going to get me over $500 a month. Plus, those two days are dedicated to my children whom I only get to see on those two days. So, working another job is out of the question.

I really have no choice at this point. I haven't gone delinquent on my bills yet, but now that my tax refund money has dried up those delinquent bills are going to add up.

I guess I was confused on your prior statement. You said you didn't earn enough money to pay your basic necessities. No amount of bankruptcy is going to fix that.

If you are earning $1,000 a month, and your basic necessities are $1100, Bankruptcy does nothing to fix that.

If you are saying you are paying your credit card bills first, and then you don't have enough to pay your necessities? Why were you doing that? Always pay necessities before anything else.

If you don't have enough to pay all your credit cards..... don't pay them. Pick the smallest card, and start paying every spare dollar on that one card. Forget the rest.

Yeah, not paying your credit cards will damage your credit, but it will be far less damaging than bankruptcy, and bankruptcy will cost you money.

When you pay off the smallest credit card, close the account, and cut up the card.

Then pay the next smallest card, until it is done and do the same thing.

If you are telling me that all of your debt is just credit cards, better to do this, than blow up your world with a bankruptcy. If you simply don't pay your credit card debt, eventually you can settle the debts with the credit card companies. Bankruptcy, you just have to wait 7 years with destroyed credit.

Again, do whatever you want, but never pay your credit cards first, and then your basic necessities. Bankruptcy is far more damaging than simply not paying some cards that you can't afford.

There is one last thing you need to know.

Too many people think that if they sign the papers, that's it and they will never be bothered again.

It's not true. Legally it's true. Legally they are not allowed to chase you for debt that was cleared from bankruptcy. But the reality is, people do it all the time. They track you down, and say you still owe money, and you'll have to prove that you don't own the money.

So you need to keep perfect records, and you need to keep those records for the rest of your life.

 

[nanookadenord]

If you are telling me that all of your debt is just credit cards, better to do this, than blow up your world with a bankruptcy. If you simply don't pay your credit card debt, eventually you can settle the debts with the credit card companies.

Not quite that easy. They will likely ask for more than I can afford combined. So then they'll bring me to court and a judgement will be filed. Then it gets taken out of my check. I only have so much in each check after the $392 is taken out for the kids between child support and health insurance. Plus taxes. I get $816 a month for everything else. Please tell me, where do I have room to pay an extra $200, or $250, etc?

I have done much research on this and I have talked to a credit counselor and they say my best option is bankruptcy. I will go with their recommendation.

 

[mmksparbud]

I have been trying to pay the attorney fees for this for the past year and now am trying to pay the $335 filing fee! I had no choice but to file bankruptcy, after my husband died my income was cut in half and many, many medical bills.
I didn't want to do this, but God allowed the Jews to wipe out their debts every 7 years--so I figure He has no problem with wiping mine out once in my lifetime!

 

[Sabertooth]

God allowed the Jews to wipe out their debts every 7 years--so I figure He has no problem with wiping mine out once in my lifetime!

It was every 50 years...

Jubilee!

 

[nanookadenord]

It was every 50 years...

Jubilee!​

• "At the end of every seven-year period you shall have a relaxation of debts, which shall be observed as follows. Every creditor shall relax his claim on what he has loaned his neighbor; he must not press his neighbor, his kinsman, because a relaxation in honor of the Holy One has been proclaimed." (Deuteronomy 15)

 

[mmksparbud]

It was every 50 years...

Jubilee!

Deu 15:1 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
Deu 15:2 And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD'S release.



Lev 25:8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
Lev 25:9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
Lev 25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

 

[Andrew77]

Not quite that easy. They will likely ask for more than I can afford combined. So then they'll bring me to court and a judgement will be filed. Then it gets taken out of my check. I only have so much in each check after the $392 is taken out for the kids between child support and health insurance. Plus taxes. I get $816 a month for everything else. Please tell me, where do I have room to pay an extra $200, or $250, etc?

I have done much research on this and I have talked to a credit counselor and they say my best option is bankruptcy. I will go with their recommendation.

I guess I don't understand what you mean when you say "they will likely ask for more than I can afford combined".

I'm saying... don't pay them period. Simply don't pay them. I don't care what they ask for. They'll ask for thousands. I don't care. You pay them zero.

If you don't have it... don't pay them. I don't care what they ask for.

You don't have the money to pay them... so don't pay them.

What are they going to do? Force you into bankruptcy? Well you are already considering bankruptcy, so that's not a threat.

So until they force you into bankruptcy, don't pay them a penny. When they call, hang up. When they call again, block their number. When they call from a different number, block that number.

Don't pay any of them a penny, until you have a penny to pay them. I don't care what they ask you for. Ignore them.