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Hello everyone, its been awhile since I posted and things have truly gone south for us here. We recently moved after my husband didn't renew his contract with the military. We are now living off his unemployment and my freelance work. I mean, we are doing ok, but had to rethink our finances and priorities. To make a long story short, we got both our cars repoed (purchase little inexpensive cars free and clear instead) they were both in my husband's name, we have a rental house that we hate and the tenant is always behind paying rent on, we don't have credit card debt, but we do have a few collections. The banks that repoed our cars only sold them at auction for abotu $4000 each and we owed like $17000 on each, so we in the hole with them a lot, the mortgage for the rental house is behind, my husband got a couple collections on his credit and is behind on the payment for a personal loan...nothing major though. However, we are thinking that our only out from this mess would be to file BANKRUPTCY???? Everything is on HIS credit, not mine, so technically, he would be filing it. I'm not the bread winner so I am worried about this cause once he get a new job (which I know he will, he is in a good field) we want to actually purchase a home of our own. The house we got right now, its holding a mortgage of about $47000, but it is only worth like $55000. We don't mind parting ways with this house, especially because we didnt purchase it to keep it as a rental but to help out my husband's mom (the original owner) who was having issues paying the note on it because of a variable APR.
I guess my questions is: How long after a bankruptcy is discharged can one start rebuilding credit and is it really as hard as people say it is? We made poor financial choices in the past, but we really are on track now...just want to make the best choice. And how do I get a good bankruptcy lawyer and how much do they usually cost? Help please...
13 from 1/04 to 12/06 and my FICOS in 07 were 694, 709 and 719, that was 2 years ago. They have to have improved since then with the passage of time and paying everything on time(I need to check them again as a matter of fact)
i found my atty thru an atty referral network down in lower manhattan the fee was $35 i'm glad i took that route it was worth it
always check your fico scores on myfico/12.com as opposed to myfico.com because it gives you the 12 negative reason codes why you're scores aren't as high as they could be
and i also obtained info at a bankruptcy seminar and learned which secured credit cards are reputable both during and post bankruptcy
Thank you so much for your testimony. The attorney we seen is asking us $2000 for doing the bankruptcy. I for some reason think this fee is kind of steep. We are thinking about doing chapter 7 though...does that make a difference when it comes to credit score?
I wonder if here in Philadelphia they have something similar to the atty referral network that you have in Lower Manhattan.
Thanks for the info, you been very helpful...
and i find this site very helpful--www.lifeafterbankruptcy.com sign up you get newsletters and valuable info(no BS, the real thing) about bankruptcy as well as free seminars in your area. they play a huge video of the leader of the site stephen snyder who had a bankruptcy about 16 years ago and gives a lot of valuable info about his experiences, i personally found it to be very helpful and informative
yes, my atty suggested a chapter 13 because my debts were too high and doing a 7 would have meant fine tooth combing my credit card statements. my atty said a 13 looks better on your credit because it's a payback system(you have to have steady employment) and i believe it goes off your record in 7 years as opposed to 10 years for the 7. the 7 is the liquidation bankruptcy where i believe you liquidate everything you have in assets down to something like $2400 whereas in a 13 you don't give anything up. i do remember that my atty turned my 403 B retirement plan into an asset on the petition(and I could not contribute anything for almost 3 years) but still no one could touch it. now i'm contributing again
it was amazing when i went to court for the confirmation hearing 7 months after the creditors meeting how many cases before me were dismissed
for an atty referral service you should be able to find it in the yellow pages under lawyers or attorneys. i'm sure there's bound to be something in the phila civic center area where all the local, state and federal courts are
that you may find helpful is that the amount you pay back in a chapter 13 will generally be based on 10% of what you owe, or whatever your creditors would have gotten in a chapter 7, whichever is the greater of the 2.
What about just walking away from everything? If the cars were repo'd, why would you still be making payments on them? Save your money for beans and rice.
What about just walking away from everything? If the cars were repo'd, why would you still be making payments on them? Save your money for beans and rice.
You know, we have seriously given this thought and keep coming up thinking that Chp. 7 would probably be the best route to go. Does anyone have any experiences with this kind of bankruptcy? I mean, is it much different than Chp. 13 and does it mess up your credit for a long long time...We really would like to buy a house a year or so after the bankruptcy is discharged.
stays on your credit report for 10 years as opposed to a 13 which stays on for 7 years from the time you file, not discharged. A 13 may look better because you are using your job to pay back a portion of the debt instead of liquidating everything down to $2400. Keep in mind that I recently called my bank and they told me you have to maintain at least 2 years of perfect credit before they will consider you for such a loan
i think my 13 cost $1800 plus a filing fee plus the referral fee when i filed in 2004
Ok, now I have another question for you... Once the bankruptcy is done, lets say Chp. 7. What happens to a credit report? What does it look like? I mean, do everything drop off the report and says something along the lines of "Bankrupt Chp. 7" or do all the old late payments, collections, etc. keep showing up on the report still?
[quote=rlrl;7391093]A 13 may look better because you are using your job to pay back a portion of the debt instead of liquidating everything down to $2400. [quote]
Ok, so what do you mean by liquidating the debt to $2400? I mean, the only asset we have right now is a house that is being rented to a "relative". What she pays monthly doesn't even cover the whole mortgage note. We got the house with a "gift of equity" since it was going from my mother in law to my husband, so to avoid PMI the mortgage on it right now is about $47000 and the house can easily appraise for about $55000 or $60000.
We really don't mind parting ways with this house, I mean, we didn't want to be landlords in the first place, but got stucked with this crap because of circumstances. We only have one car right now and its worth like $1500, lol. The other ones were repoed and we really don't have much else left, except for the crappy furniture and appliances we own. We renting, unemployed and pretty much living on a very strict and tight budget. I really have no idea what they could liquidate except for the house. How would that work, I wonder?
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I did a chapter
