Anyone declare bankruptcy recently?

[mhuck123]

I deal with this everyday in Real Estate and was an underwriter for a long time so I can tell you exactly what it will do to your credit.

1. Credit crap for 7 years? NO- with a BK you can buy a new home the next day with 30% down (not reasonable but it is a fact) and within 2 years you will qualify for less than 10% down with re-established credit if buying a home

2. A debt consolidation company will be better, NO NO NO NO-I was taught to treat all debt cons. as a BK period. So why pay extra to them if you can do it yourself.

3. A BK only makes sense if it is Chapter 7, if you cannot qualify then settle your debt with the original creditor. If they refuse hang up and call back. It can take as much as 30 attempts but you will get it done, after all that is all you are paying a cons. company to do.

4. It happens to everyone, I am going to file in March after my business racked up 250,000 that I can't pay if I want to eat so I understand fully your situation. Shit happens. Our income dropped 70%!

5. Don't let any idiot tell you that a BK is a bad thing, there is a reason that we have the option. If you honestly tried but got rear ended (as in the current) economy that is the EXACT reason for it.

Hope that helps!!!

If you have specifc questions you can PM me but keep in mind I am federally obligated to tell you I am not an attorney and cannot give legal advise. (Sorry, licensing requires that but I can give an opinion based on previous experience!)

[blazeplacid]

the hard part is trying to stay out of debt

try only paying cash for stuff now

eat out once a week or every other week

take your lunch to work

car pool

dont spend your money on crap, like random trips to the gas station

[Andrew2944r]

What was the majority of the $15,000 debt from?

[polen21]

Consolidating your loans would be easier and wont have as much of an impact on your credit as bankruptcy.

[clouduz]

yea i wouldn't do bankruptcy yet, look at all your options and use that as a last resort. If you haven't i would call all you debitors and ask for a lower interest rate for a time being so you can catchup. I know what you mean about having money saved and then having it go. Just had to pay a 324 ticket yesterday. :*(

[Andrew2944r]

You would be better off trying to take a home personal loan for the amount owed and pay off the insane $15000 + interest rate your getting hosed for.

[IH8PunkRok]

my mom and sister both work in a bank. i hear about this a lot.

ima tell you this. the best thing you can do is work your ass off and send ALL extra money their way.

i dont care who says what about bankruptcy being not so bad

it is.

sell your stuff if you ned to, get a second job. it is your problem and is up to you to fix it, not the government, not some firm, if i was in the situation id work my ass off until i made the debt go away.

my opinion, its repectable and a good thing to do, much better than a cop out

and next time dont let your debt run away

[melonhead]

Definitely look into a debt consolidation agency before you even consider declaring bankruptcy. Look for a Primerica agent in your area. I work tech support for a dsl company and got my life insurance license on the side. Selling life insurance wasn't for me but I still have my license. Primerica is not really a debt consolidation agency but they are more like a one stop shop. They do home loans, personal loans, life insurance, investments, college savings, etc.

You can go to an agent and they'll want to sell you life insurance. They'll also sit down with you and go over all your financial stuff and get you on a payment plan. They can tell you which debt to pay off first based on the amount you owe and the interest rate. If that is not an option, they sometimes will give you a personal loan to pay off all your debt and you can pay them a monthly payment at a lower interest rate. Obviously everyone's situation is different but this is what I've seen sitting on a few meetings with my mentor.

http://www.primerica.com/public/

[tejcurrent]

Let me first say that you may be able to fix the problem without outside help- I would sit down and figure out where (out of what you owe) the most money is going- interest/principle. If it's going towards a high interest debt, pay that first then focus on the lower interest debt.

Debt consolidation can be a good help. My in-laws dug themselves out that way. I had around 12k in credit card debt from being without work, I refinanced one of the vehicles and paid off one credit card. The amount you can save in interest if you can get a good rate is amazing- went from 2-3 years of $500/month payments on ONE card to pay it off down to $500 till the end of the year to pay off that card and my wifes car. To break it down, for a $6k credit card bill I could add it to the vehicle and save almost $3k in interest this year.

I also sold my boat, a bunch of car audio stuff, and while I'm "upgrading" my system right now I still sold more than I'm buying. I did a lot of things to save money like not eating out etc, etc. and it's helped a lot. I can see it being embarrassing but everyone has their ups and downs- I made some bad investments that if they had been even a year sooner would've panned out great.

I really wouldn't declare bankruptcy if you can help it- struggling to me is better than ruining an excellent credit score.

Funny because as soon as all my debt is clear this year my student loans will come due

[alvitae]

My unprofessional opinion would look at all options both bankruptcy and the debt consolidation stuff. Watch out for agencies though. I've heard that some are a bit shifty and it costs you. No one should be embarrassed about this kind of thing as we all have ups and downs all through life.

If anything blame the damn government. They built our financial institution to mess us up. Ever wonder why finances isn't required in school like it should be?

On a somewhat related note I remember several years ago my cousin went bankrupt. Almost immediately his wife had a new suv and he had a new sports car and credit cards. He said it was because they know you can't go bankrupt again. /shrug, I don't know though things may have changed.