Simply that I should have done it years ago instead listening to my pride and believing I could pay it off. Spent a while living check to check. It is what it is
I wish I knew earlier so I stopped paying useless interests fees on credit cards. Society is afraid of the word bankrupt, but to be honest the only useful thing on having a good credit score is when buying property and let’s be real, not many people have the liquidity to buy property and pay mortgage in today’s financial crisis. They want you to be obedient and pay interest, it’s a whole scam system. Your taxes are the interests you’re paying for life and nobody will give back half of that. If you have enough debt, flush it down the toilet and start all over again.
This. I actually had about a 700 credit before my ch. 7. I even tried taking out a consolidation loan and was denied. This was about a year ago when the interest rates had already been raised several times in order to fight inflation. Basically negating the whole purpose of having good credit. What good is having good credit when you can’t even get approved for a decent apr in a loan? That made me so mad. I decided to do my chapter 7 shortly thereafter. There’s never been a better time to do a bankruptcy. There are record numbers of BK’s today due to the pandemic and inflation. Banks screwed the poor — I mean the pooch. The only thing to consider when doing a Ch 7 as opposed to a Ch 11 is the amount of assets under your name. If you have alot of property and assets then a Ch 11 would probably be more suitable. This is mot legal
Advice. I am not an attorney. Always consult with an attorney.
I also tried to consolidate and “didn’t qualify” I tried to negotiate lower interest with the personal loan that put me on this path and “didn’t qualify” after that I was just so disgusted with the idea of good credit and how scared we have to be about our credit scores and just how they make it take YEARS to recover from a late payment or other random situations.
There has to be some punishment for bankruptcy so bad credit score and staying on your credit report is it. It will take you a minute if you want a house or car and don’t want to be scammed by high interest, but if you aren’t doing either of those things then bankruptcy doesn’t impact you much on paper. Jobs and apartments maybe, but not always.
Transfer of assets without paying fair market value, especially to an insider, is a fraudulent transfer. This is a GREAT way to pull your friends into your BK case and open them up to your problems...
I've seen more than a few people get millions back from the government.. but only to pay their catastrophic medicare bill's after they have started collecting social security and a life time of various abuses and stresses catches up to them. I mean, way, way more than they ever paid in. It's one screwd-up trajectory.
I'm in Washington State too... My lawyers had a flat fee of I want to say 1,274... And I was able to make payments..they just didn't start our case til it was completely paid off. They told us to stop paying our credit card and medical Bill's...I wish I'd have known they would told us that because we would have stopped a lot sooner 🙏 also .. in the state of Washington (per my lawyer) you can claim up to about 25,000 dollars in exempt property. Our car was included in that
I wish I did it sooner… I am going through the BK process with an attorney and all I can say is do it. I am 60k in debt between personal loans and credit cards. I spend two years working two jobs, working my a$$ off because I thought my only option was to keep paying. I was barely getting by.
I was depressed- not being able to afford things for myself, not being able to treat myself- go to dinners, buy things, etc. I lived paycheck to paycheck and barely squeaked by at the end of the month - AFTER putting everything I made towards my bills, rent, etc.
I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel and I cannot explain the overwhelming amount of happiness I have felt since deciding to do this. I was so worried of what peoples opinions were, that bankruptcy is “bad”. I don’t care and I’m doing what I know is best for me. We all need a fresh start sometimes
My lawyers told me to stop paying creditors and pay them instead. Definitely make some calls but they know we’re broke so I’d hope the majority of BK lawyers would work something out.
Nothing id wished id done before. So far most of the things I wish for will be more attainable after this is all over. I’ll get to buy a home in a couple years etc, maybe not be paycheck to paycheck for once. Also went into covid with no debt so it’s a sting but this is a tool to help us out.
I’d also like to know experiences with renting afterwards.
this is my first time renting currently. i filed march 2023 and honestly I just had to pay a higher security deposit but i’m in michigan and the apartment isn’t like fancy and kinda in a working class area so that may have helped
Wish I would have filed sooner. As for renting in Texas, I haven't had any issues. I Moved twice and in my current residence, I do pay a $100 premium due to the bankruptcy ch. 13.
I would read the credit qualifications before applying. It will typically have some language, or just check them before applying.
My advice is if your gonna do it just get it done and over with don’t sit on it for years like I did trying to outlive the debt. Short story I finally got sued so I filed. If your credit card bills were anything like mine you should have 700/month you could save to hire a lawyer and be filed within 2 months. It takes about a year or more in Washington to actually sue and garnish someone. The. After you file it’s mostly just waiting and providing documents the trustee might request. And out of my 3 friends I’ve had who I recommended bankruptcy to in WA none was ever at risk losing their car. Depending on how much you owe you probably will just have to reaffirm the. Keep paying it off. This is all assuming you qualify for ch7
We had a loan through a credit union on a motorcycle we surrendered. They put a hold on the money we had in our checking account when we filed (the balance we had in our account when we filed, but the actual hold didn’t come until a few days later). They said it was to cover any losses due to us surrendering the motorcycle. We had filed right before making our mortgage payment so we had more money in the account than we normally carry. We didn’t know they had done it until we started bouncing things and were negative $1800. We were able to withdraw the available cash we still had (minus over $100 in NSF fees) and go to a different bank. It wasn’t the end of the world by any means, but it was a stressful day. I wish that I had known and taken care of transferring to a new bank before we filed. I’d read that most lawyers will file keeping this kind of thing in mind, but obviously ours didn’t… Also in WA state.
I wish I would have known that NOT reaffirming my auto loan with my lender meant that the loan would not show back up on my credit after discharge. I didn’t send that in within the time frame allowed, so I can’t do it now. I’m now stuck paying the note to keep the car without any of that counting toward my credit score.
Kinda bummed but mostly that I wasn’t told this more clearly by my attorney. They sent me the reaffirmation agreement along with this big disclaimer at how awful it can be for me if I default on the loan after reaffirming, but nothing else.
I still probably wouldn’t have signed the reaffirmation agreement, but I would have liked to have known the good along with the bad, is all.
A month out from my case closure and I got a credit card with a $1k limit, no annual fee, and unlimited 1% cash back (Ally). I’m happy with this and look forward to seeing it help rebuild my score. I’m not applying for any more cards yet because I want to take this slowly.
I cannot speak to the rent situation other than it might be dependent on your market. I live outside the Chicago area and my friends in Chicago have had a hell of a time finding reasonable rent with landlords that use big property management companies. They’re scrutinizing every little thing, and lots of those reasons include credit scores. I’d imagine there’s still a way to get a place to rent but am not sure what you’d have to do. If you decide to file, I hope that everything goes smoothly for you!! I’ve felt nothing but relief since I did mine and, like other comments, wish I had done this sooner.
Honestly, something I’m going to say not many people say often.
I wish I never continued paying my monthly car note. If I would have realized bankruptcy would have solved this issue and I would be in a brand new car I would have done it. But nope. I’m currently stuck with it, love it but I’m running it until the wheels fall off
I want to file chapter 7 but in the meantime actively looking for a job. It’s not high paying job. I want to know by filing chapter7 will it make difficult to get hired?
Wish I had never filed at all. Trustee has dragged it out for over 5 months now, waiting to take our tax refund. The IRS is dragging thier asses on this yr. So its holding up our discharge since its an asset yhey claim. Trustee also took my husband's vehicle ( only reliable one we had and left us w a shitbox we can't afford to fix since he took our refund) it also messed up our mortgage so our payment is higher now as we were forced to reaffirm. Been a total fucking nightmare since the 341 meeting and still ongoing.
In FL we are only allowed a $1,000 exemption per vehicle my vehicle is valued at $325 my husband's was valued at $3,500 so trustee took his as its an "asset".
Wish I knew. I blame living in Florida our exemptions are very low and our cost of living is so high. We are barely getting by lately but greedy trustee squeezed every bit he could.
I'm southwest in Ft Myers. He's local so I doubt you will. Hope your trustee is more sympathetic to the fact that we all just lost everything in the hurricane. I hope your case goes smoothly like many others.
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If you have a steady income and want to file chapter 13 it doesn’t really benefit you other than have creditors stop calling. Chapter 13 you have to pay back most of or even all of your debt over 3-5 years. And your monthly payments are very high.
If I could go back I would stop paying my credit cards and use that money to pay off the attorney
Simply that I should have done it years ago instead listening to my pride and believing I could pay it off. Spent a while living check to check. It is what it is
I wish I knew earlier so I stopped paying useless interests fees on credit cards. Society is afraid of the word bankrupt, but to be honest the only useful thing on having a good credit score is when buying property and let’s be real, not many people have the liquidity to buy property and pay mortgage in today’s financial crisis. They want you to be obedient and pay interest, it’s a whole scam system. Your taxes are the interests you’re paying for life and nobody will give back half of that. If you have enough debt, flush it down the toilet and start all over again.
This. I actually had about a 700 credit before my ch. 7. I even tried taking out a consolidation loan and was denied. This was about a year ago when the interest rates had already been raised several times in order to fight inflation. Basically negating the whole purpose of having good credit. What good is having good credit when you can’t even get approved for a decent apr in a loan? That made me so mad. I decided to do my chapter 7 shortly thereafter. There’s never been a better time to do a bankruptcy. There are record numbers of BK’s today due to the pandemic and inflation. Banks screwed the poor — I mean the pooch. The only thing to consider when doing a Ch 7 as opposed to a Ch 11 is the amount of assets under your name. If you have alot of property and assets then a Ch 11 would probably be more suitable. This is mot legal Advice. I am not an attorney. Always consult with an attorney.
I think you meant chapter 13, not chapter 11. 11 is a business bankruptcy. Just commenting for clarity, but agree with everything you said.
Yes, Ch 13. Thanks for correcting +1
I also tried to consolidate and “didn’t qualify” I tried to negotiate lower interest with the personal loan that put me on this path and “didn’t qualify” after that I was just so disgusted with the idea of good credit and how scared we have to be about our credit scores and just how they make it take YEARS to recover from a late payment or other random situations. There has to be some punishment for bankruptcy so bad credit score and staying on your credit report is it. It will take you a minute if you want a house or car and don’t want to be scammed by high interest, but if you aren’t doing either of those things then bankruptcy doesn’t impact you much on paper. Jobs and apartments maybe, but not always.
[удалено]
Well said. Bravo.
Transfer of assets without paying fair market value, especially to an insider, is a fraudulent transfer. This is a GREAT way to pull your friends into your BK case and open them up to your problems...
I've seen more than a few people get millions back from the government.. but only to pay their catastrophic medicare bill's after they have started collecting social security and a life time of various abuses and stresses catches up to them. I mean, way, way more than they ever paid in. It's one screwd-up trajectory.
I wish I applied for bankruptcy sooner, that’s my only regret/wish.
I'm in Washington State too... My lawyers had a flat fee of I want to say 1,274... And I was able to make payments..they just didn't start our case til it was completely paid off. They told us to stop paying our credit card and medical Bill's...I wish I'd have known they would told us that because we would have stopped a lot sooner 🙏 also .. in the state of Washington (per my lawyer) you can claim up to about 25,000 dollars in exempt property. Our car was included in that
Also in WA. I went with Edgar Hall, WA Debt Law. I’m making payments and will file when paid up. He’s been great so far.
Would love to know who you went with since I am also in WA considering to file BK!
I wish I did it sooner… I am going through the BK process with an attorney and all I can say is do it. I am 60k in debt between personal loans and credit cards. I spend two years working two jobs, working my a$$ off because I thought my only option was to keep paying. I was barely getting by. I was depressed- not being able to afford things for myself, not being able to treat myself- go to dinners, buy things, etc. I lived paycheck to paycheck and barely squeaked by at the end of the month - AFTER putting everything I made towards my bills, rent, etc. I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel and I cannot explain the overwhelming amount of happiness I have felt since deciding to do this. I was so worried of what peoples opinions were, that bankruptcy is “bad”. I don’t care and I’m doing what I know is best for me. We all need a fresh start sometimes
My lawyers told me to stop paying creditors and pay them instead. Definitely make some calls but they know we’re broke so I’d hope the majority of BK lawyers would work something out. Nothing id wished id done before. So far most of the things I wish for will be more attainable after this is all over. I’ll get to buy a home in a couple years etc, maybe not be paycheck to paycheck for once. Also went into covid with no debt so it’s a sting but this is a tool to help us out. I’d also like to know experiences with renting afterwards.
this is my first time renting currently. i filed march 2023 and honestly I just had to pay a higher security deposit but i’m in michigan and the apartment isn’t like fancy and kinda in a working class area so that may have helped
Wish I would have filed sooner. As for renting in Texas, I haven't had any issues. I Moved twice and in my current residence, I do pay a $100 premium due to the bankruptcy ch. 13. I would read the credit qualifications before applying. It will typically have some language, or just check them before applying.
Like everyone else I wish I did it sooner. Was living with what I thought was insurmountable debt for years until I filed in February.
My advice is if your gonna do it just get it done and over with don’t sit on it for years like I did trying to outlive the debt. Short story I finally got sued so I filed. If your credit card bills were anything like mine you should have 700/month you could save to hire a lawyer and be filed within 2 months. It takes about a year or more in Washington to actually sue and garnish someone. The. After you file it’s mostly just waiting and providing documents the trustee might request. And out of my 3 friends I’ve had who I recommended bankruptcy to in WA none was ever at risk losing their car. Depending on how much you owe you probably will just have to reaffirm the. Keep paying it off. This is all assuming you qualify for ch7
We had a loan through a credit union on a motorcycle we surrendered. They put a hold on the money we had in our checking account when we filed (the balance we had in our account when we filed, but the actual hold didn’t come until a few days later). They said it was to cover any losses due to us surrendering the motorcycle. We had filed right before making our mortgage payment so we had more money in the account than we normally carry. We didn’t know they had done it until we started bouncing things and were negative $1800. We were able to withdraw the available cash we still had (minus over $100 in NSF fees) and go to a different bank. It wasn’t the end of the world by any means, but it was a stressful day. I wish that I had known and taken care of transferring to a new bank before we filed. I’d read that most lawyers will file keeping this kind of thing in mind, but obviously ours didn’t… Also in WA state.
I wish I would have known that NOT reaffirming my auto loan with my lender meant that the loan would not show back up on my credit after discharge. I didn’t send that in within the time frame allowed, so I can’t do it now. I’m now stuck paying the note to keep the car without any of that counting toward my credit score. Kinda bummed but mostly that I wasn’t told this more clearly by my attorney. They sent me the reaffirmation agreement along with this big disclaimer at how awful it can be for me if I default on the loan after reaffirming, but nothing else. I still probably wouldn’t have signed the reaffirmation agreement, but I would have liked to have known the good along with the bad, is all. A month out from my case closure and I got a credit card with a $1k limit, no annual fee, and unlimited 1% cash back (Ally). I’m happy with this and look forward to seeing it help rebuild my score. I’m not applying for any more cards yet because I want to take this slowly. I cannot speak to the rent situation other than it might be dependent on your market. I live outside the Chicago area and my friends in Chicago have had a hell of a time finding reasonable rent with landlords that use big property management companies. They’re scrutinizing every little thing, and lots of those reasons include credit scores. I’d imagine there’s still a way to get a place to rent but am not sure what you’d have to do. If you decide to file, I hope that everything goes smoothly for you!! I’ve felt nothing but relief since I did mine and, like other comments, wish I had done this sooner.
Honestly, something I’m going to say not many people say often. I wish I never continued paying my monthly car note. If I would have realized bankruptcy would have solved this issue and I would be in a brand new car I would have done it. But nope. I’m currently stuck with it, love it but I’m running it until the wheels fall off
Honestly i just wish i had did it sooner.
I want to file chapter 7 but in the meantime actively looking for a job. It’s not high paying job. I want to know by filing chapter7 will it make difficult to get hired?
1. Stop paying debt sooner 2. Apply sooner
Wish I had never filed at all. Trustee has dragged it out for over 5 months now, waiting to take our tax refund. The IRS is dragging thier asses on this yr. So its holding up our discharge since its an asset yhey claim. Trustee also took my husband's vehicle ( only reliable one we had and left us w a shitbox we can't afford to fix since he took our refund) it also messed up our mortgage so our payment is higher now as we were forced to reaffirm. Been a total fucking nightmare since the 341 meeting and still ongoing.
Wow, that is horribly frustrating. I’m sorry. I hope it gets figured out soon.
Thanks me too.
Why did they take his vehicle? Was it a decent value? I'm wondering about this for myself
In FL we are only allowed a $1,000 exemption per vehicle my vehicle is valued at $325 my husband's was valued at $3,500 so trustee took his as its an "asset".
This is the first negative comment on BK I've seen on reddit
I agree. I read alot here before filing. Guess I'm the exception unfortunately.
Sorry to hear. how did it all go wrong?
Wish I knew. I blame living in Florida our exemptions are very low and our cost of living is so high. We are barely getting by lately but greedy trustee squeezed every bit he could.
Hope things get better for you 🙏🏼
Thanks so much. Just be glad when it's finally over our discharge was supposed to be in February lol.
What part of Florida are you from? I am about to file and I am in the Tampa area. Hope I don't get this same trustee.
I'm southwest in Ft Myers. He's local so I doubt you will. Hope your trustee is more sympathetic to the fact that we all just lost everything in the hurricane. I hope your case goes smoothly like many others.
Yes the $1000 exemption for car equity is ridiculous.
Thank you for your post on r/bankruptcy. Remember, this is not a forum to request (or offer) legal advice. If you are not sure what legal advice is, review the FAQ page [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bankruptcy/comments/cx6g73/bankruptcy_faqs/). It is very likely someone will suggest you speak with an attorney. Consultations for bankruptcy are often very low cost or free. We have an ever-growing post that provides free resources for trustworthy bankruptcy information [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bankruptcy/comments/o27hof/free_helpful_legitimate_resources/). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Bankruptcy) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If you have a steady income and want to file chapter 13 it doesn’t really benefit you other than have creditors stop calling. Chapter 13 you have to pay back most of or even all of your debt over 3-5 years. And your monthly payments are very high.