Whew! You all were busy today! Thanks for all the comments. I'll try to answer some questions as well as try to explain my thoughts.
First, let me say i used to be a Paralegal working on bankruptcies and please, please, PLEASE file as a VERY last resort. It is not something you can take back and will affect pretty much every aspect of your life and, depending on age, your children's' lives as well (college loans, etc.) As for jobs, whether they check for bankruptcy or not depends on your occupation. My brother is a forensic chemist and is currently trying to get a job with a prominent police department. They are even checking bankruptcy, criminal records, etc. on my parents and my husband and I!!
Thank you. I know the tone of my posts is probably a little flippant - but I'm at the point where if I don't laugh, I'll cry.
To be honest, I don't think I have any other resorts to seek. And after reading advice/comments here and somewhere else, I'm beginning to think bankruptcy isn't going to help me anyway.
A lot of shows can be viewed online a day or two after their air-date. I always miss a show that I like and watch it the next day on the channels website. Just an idea to maybe make it easier for you to cancel cable. Netflix is another option, however I don't really find much on there that I like, my kids watch it on a regular basis though.
Good luck with whatever you decide, either way you go you will have a long road ahead of you.
Thanks! I've just talked to my husband (for all that were wondering who the "we" is
) and he's looking into options for us.
I'm a little confused. It looks like most of your bills are monthly and won't be discharged in a bancruptcy..I don't understand how a mortgage and 2nd mortgage work in those situations..would you lose your house and then need to find a rental? It looks like the only real dischargeable things are 4 very small CC unless I'm reading something wrong. You say 'we'. Is that you and a spouse or child?
You bring up a good point - and I'm starting to realize that you may be onto something. There is not enough cash flow to pay the monthly expenses period. With the CCCS lady we went through the "budget" (based on information I got from bills, statements, and my bank). Even if I quit paying CC's, I'm still about $1500 short on all regular expenses (house, utilities, gas, groceries, medicines, etc). There simply isn't enough to go around.
What we really don't know is how much her income is. Is the difference in bills $50/month or $500/month?
Do you have any 401ks? Just wondering what your assets are. Can you sell your house and use that money to pay off debt and buy something smaller or rent for a while? Although your mortgages are very low. Here in No VA, you could barely rent anything for what you're paying in both mortgages. I'm a problem solver by nature and wouldn't give up til I found a way to pay, but that's just me.
My income is 1/3 of what it was previously and I'll say that we are now well below the poverty limit.
I do have a 401k and another retirement account. I do not plan to touch those since they would only provide a temporary (i.e. a month or two) solution and would essentially rob me of any security in the future. I'm not willing to risk that.
I think her credit card payments are a minimum of almost $500 a month. I am no expert on CC minimum payments but I would think you would have a lot of debt to have your minimum payments be that high.
Yes, the amounts posted are the minimums. I have more CC debt than I would like, obviously and until I lost my job, I was able to make the payments...and try to make some headway in paying them off. That was my goal.
What field would your permanent job be in if you found one in your desired field? I have never declared bankruptcy so I'm only going to address the part about finding a good job. If its a field in which you will be dealing with alot of money (banker, accountant etc) or a field that you have access to information that some not-so-u-and-up people would want to buy (security, government contracting, police etc) then it will be difficult. Most of these kind of positions look at bankruptcy records and credit reports.
I'd rather not post my field - suffice to say it is highly technical but not one that has ever checked my credit for a job.
Seems the summer was a bit slow for the job search but it is now picking up a bit. There's a chance for an interview for three jobs hopefully soon, and I'm waiting to hear from some others.
Keep in mind also bankruptcy costs money to hire a lawyer. Bankruptcy is used to protect other assets from creditors. What asset will you be trying to protect / save your house?
Can you make the monthly house payments without the other CC debt? You can put your credit cards into forbearance (just stop paying them until you get back on your feet) while you look for another job or additional work.
You need to cut cable and drop your phone / internet down to the minimum.
I would not file Bankruptcy until a creditor forces you to do so, ie sues you and then tries to collect via wage garnishments.
I'm beginning to see this last statment may be where I am headed. The only asset I'm trying to save is my house - selling and renting would not be a viable option in this market. My plan was to try to pay just the house payment but really, that's a stretch for us to do and still have gas, groceries, medications, and insurance.
OH! Those are minimums...DOH...that's what I get for reading it so early..I thought those amounts were total due...yes $500 month minimums on CC would be scary.
LOL! They're still less than my mortgage!
In all seriousness, the economy has hit us hard and we have had other situations that have made our CC debt skyrocket over the past 5 years or so. I was managing it until I lost my job.
But at the end of the day, I have $0 available for food, clothes, gas, etc. I don't think I can go on like this for much longer.
