We went to the attorneys office on Thursday and signed the final paperwork and filed for bankruptcy. We did not see the attorney but worked with his assistant. We went over all the paperwork we submitted to make sure everything was correct. It was.
Seeing everything we owe in total on paper with interest and fees is very overwhelming. I knew we owed a lot but it is not a number I like seeing. If I wasn’t filing for bankruptcy and had no idea about debt settlement-I would really be freaking out. Everything went smooth though, they file electronically and we will get a court date in the mail within a week and 1/2.
When we got halfway through the paperwork, we got to the part about keeping our car (reaffirming it). My husband and I have discussed it but never actually said “this is what we are doing“. So we were in disagreement because I DO NOT want to keep the car and he does. I see his point but I see mine. I also know what situation we are in and it would help us out keeping the car because obviously we need one right now-with him working we really need two.
Once we sign that paper-there is no backing out. We keep the car and promise to pay the $13k we owe on it. It will not be included in bankruptcy. The problem is-it is a car payment every month. We are wiping out all of our debt and I do not want to owe anyone anything every again. If we have a chance to wipe it all out-why keep $13K on a car that is not worth it? I sure as heck don’t plan on filing bankruptcy ever again.
But again, our hands are tied now and the obvious choice is to keep the car and just work very hard to pay it off. We did not have to sign the paper yet-we do that later. So if things change and for some reason we come into money and can get out of keeping it-I will definitely give the car back.
Other than that-our filing was simple. We have no assets-nothing. I also learned something new. Since we did not have assets and there is no homestead exemption involved-we are each exempt $6k. Which simply means they can not take our income tax refund that deposited yesterday(yay) and if we did buy a little car cash under 6k-there will be no problem.
Last update: My husband started training yesterday at his new job. He went in again today. He is working all weekend so he doesn’t have to train all next week during the day. He will probably need to go just a few days depending on how it goes this weekend-I hope not though. It will really complicate things with me and work and the kids with school if he does. But we will figure it out somehow. Then it is off to overnights. It is going to be hard but I know it is not forever and this is what we need to do. It will be such a huge help having 2 steady incomes coming in…huge!
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Tags: Bankruptcy, Debt, Homestead exemption, Income tax, Money
So it took from Jan.26th to Feb 21st to get all the paper work done? Are you filing chapter 7? I can see both ways on the car, but you can buy a good used car for under $6000, I’m with about getting rid of the $13000 car.
Hi Lara,
Yes,we are filing Chapter 7. We went to the lawyer Jan 26th to submit all the paperwork. We officially filed Thursday Feb 19th.
No it really doesn’t take that long just to file-we had a few things that held us up.
You are suppose to bring in the last 3 years of tax returns so I brought in 05,06,07 because my husband did not receive his 1099 yet to file 08. They wanted 08. So we had to wait until he got his 1099 and we did taxes to officially have all the paperwork needed. On top of that they gave us time to complete the credit counseling course and give themselves time to go over all the paperwork and do what they had to do on their end to make sure nothing is left out. Then of course, getting an appointment to get back in was a mission. They were booked solid! I guess it is good for their business but sad to see. That just means more and more people are filing bankruptcy.
They also did say that at the beginning of the year it is usually busy anyway-never this busy though.
Once we went in and officially filed, they had all of our information and paperwork entered in some sort of database that we had to read over and make sure there were no errors. And all the paperwork we needed to sign was ready.
The car thing, well I am calling Honda and going over my options. Why not? In a Chapter 13 case, if you keep the car you only pay what it is worth-no more. I don’t know why Chapter 7 doesn’t do that. I am going to see what the car is worth and try. If not-I need to make a decision…fast.