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Tatertot · Joined: 15 Sep 2007 Posts: 27

Maybe someone here has been through this. Worth asking I suppose.

I have a lot of debt, not going to be able to pay off the way it's going these days. I used up all my reserves trying to stay afloat the last couple of years. Surprised I lasted this long to be honest. Going to lose the home in a few months, no doubt.

I'm looking at starting over as a company driver. Is it in my best interest to file bankruptcy beforehand? With the bankruptcy law change a few years ago, am I looking at a mandatory repayment plan of some sort?

I sure wish I stayed as a company driver years ago.

GTR SILVER · Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 456 Location: new jersey

..........the people you should be speaking with are an accountant and lawyer..............BOL 2 ya...!!!! :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink:

GMAN · Joined: 13 Feb 2005 Posts: 9393 Location: Tennessee

It is my understanding that if you file bankruptcy, you will need to initially file chapter 11, which is a repayment program. It is up to the court and trustee to decide whether you qualify for a chapter 7 or discharge. With the new bankruptcy laws, it is difficult for most people to qualify for a discharge. They use a formula to determine the amount you need to repay. You really need to consult with a bankruptcy attorney who can best advise you as to your options. Perhaps something could be worked out so that you won't need to file bankruptcy. Good luck to you.

person · Joined: 05 Jun 2006 Posts: 255

check out if you get to keep X amount of equity that's in your house upon bankruptsy, or something like that. I know there were laws like that places.

Tatertot · Joined: 15 Sep 2007 Posts: 27

Alright thx. I'll try and find an affordable lawyer and see what to do next.

GMAN · Joined: 13 Feb 2005 Posts: 9393 Location: Tennessee

I believe attorney fees are set or approved by the court if you file chapter 11. With the new laws, you may not need any up front money. I would suggest you try to work something out with your creditors before filing for bankruptcy. There are consumer credit agencies in most major cities. They might help you to work something out without bankruptcy.

TDS · Joined: 12 Aug 2007 Posts: 23 Location: AZ

GMAN wrote: I believe attorney fees are set or approved by the court if you file chapter 11. With the new laws, you may not need any up front money. I would suggest you try to work something out with your creditors before filing for bankruptcy. There are consumer credit agencies in most major cities. They might help you to work something out without bankruptcy.

Check out this site...... http://www.daveramsey.com/

MedicineMan · Joined: 27 Dec 2007 Posts: 52

Unless you tied your houe to your busines they in most cases can not take it unless you havn't mad the payments. ALmost everywhere your house comes under protected prperty but it could be different where you are.
Bankruptcy is what people do to get collection agencies to stop calling. If you can handle them then just don't pay the bills and let them get a judgement against you. In TX I know a judgement is good for 1 years and then it falls off. Bankruptcy is 7 to 10 years so as long as you don't own too much property that isn't a protected asset then I'd just let them get the judgement. Your credit will be clear in 10 years and you won't be branded with the Bankruptcy on your credit report.
here is a link to a site with a bankruptcy means test to see which you qualify for and it has lots of good info

http://www.legalconsumer.com/bankruptcy/bankruptcy-means-test.php

Twilight Flyer · Joined: 13 Nov 2002 Posts: 5533

Bankruptcy clears in 10 years, too. Anything negative on the report does, including judgements.

Something to keep in mind. In many cases, if there are a lot of judgements, that can be seen as worse or at least as bad as a bankruptcy. A Chapter 11, where the person is requesting the opportunity to pay off bills, actually shows they were at least being responsible. Letting judgements go into write-offs, shows differently.

Either way, the OP needs to contact a bankruptcy lawer. Contemplating bankruptcy is a huge, huge decision.

MedicineMan · Joined: 27 Dec 2007 Posts: 52

yes yes yes. This HAS to be decided upon with qualified individuals helping you.

Just to let you know. I had an asphalt company and lost it a few years ago. Ended up in debt to the tune of about $500k. EVERYONE aid I couldn't manage the debt but being stuborn like I am I said "we'll see about that" I spent the last thre years paying that debt off, Making $140k a year betwen my wife and I and not having enough money to by clothes, fix the house etc. Nothing quite as nasty as eating beans and rice for weeks on end let me tell ya. I've been selling of my car collection, tools, basically anything I could whenever anything came up that we couldn't afford. Last year I sold my expensive farm in WI and moved to TX and bought a place for 1/4 the price and paid ff more things and lowered my monthly commitments quite a bit. Unfortunatly I underestimated the pay rates and employment in this area. I took a local job and they couldn't keep there equipment running long enough to get a decent check.
Right now I'm right back in the same boat haven fallen off the payment plans and with no way to get back on. Prtty much everything ha gone to collection so I really feel for ya bud. We were looking into bankruptcy and between a bankruptcy attorney and the attorney my wife works for we have come to our decision but these were all the options we had to consider. You need to consider them all and you need to talk to someone who knows the laws in your state as to what can happen to your assets.

Good luck

LightsChromeHorsepower · Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 68

I would suggest obtaining the following professional counsel;

1. A good accountant who can help you properly analyze your financial position.

2. An attorney who can provide the assistance needed for a bankruptcy IF that turns out to be what you need to do.

3. A credit counsellor who can help negotiate with the people you owe money to, if the lawyer cannot do so.

4. A real estate agent who can give you an idea of where you stand with your home's value versus what you owe on it and what your options are.

My best advice is to be proactive. You might be able to help yourself a bunch by negotiating with your mortgage lender to allow you make a short sale on the house. I think most creditors would rather work out some sort of arrangement, you may just have to pester them a bit.

I wish you the best. It's a really tough time that we are all in right now, lot's of people are in your shoes and lots more will be before it ends.

tracer · Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 197 Location: Guelph, ON, Canada

Tatertot wrote: Maybe someone here has been through this. Worth asking I suppose.

Bankruptsy is not worth it. You'll be blacklisted for 7 or 10 years, depending on your state/province. It's much better to use a lawyer to negotiate some kind of deal with this people where they agree not to hassle you if you pay the agreed amount on time. Eg: you take 20% of your income and divide it between all the companies you're indebted to (in proportion). And naturally you stop borrowing and live on cash...

If you do decide to go with bankruptsy, one way to reestablish credit is to get a secured credit card like a MasterCard from Capital One. You give them 500 or 1000 dollars and your credit line is equal to the amount of the deposit. If you pay on time, in 1-2 years your credit score will improve to the point where you'll be able to get a real non-secured card.

I wrote a electronic booklet about how to improve your credit. It was intended for Canadians and but I think it'll be of use to U.S. residents as well. If you wish, I can send you a free copy, as one trucker to another. I wrote it based on my own experience.

Tatertot · Joined: 15 Sep 2007 Posts: 27

I'll elaborate more on why I'm considering bankruptcy.

Was a company driver for 5 years, bought my own truck in 2000. Built up a good size buffer rather quickly, around $40,000 in 4 months. Saved up a bit more, bought a house for my family in 2001.

Fast forward to 2006. I'm starting to get water in my oil shortly after each oil delivery, and the oil company has to come out and prime the system with each delivery. Underground oil tank, anyone who has/had one can relate. We got a test for it before I bought the house, was fine. I decide to have it taken out, and get an above ground tank. Well, they discover the tank had some small holes in it, water was getting in, and oil leaked into the ground. About a $25,000 cost to dig, clean up, refill with dirt, EPA considerations, etc. Company that did initial tank testing was out of business for a few years at that point.

Wife went to the hospital over 1 weekend with chest pains. They kept her 3 days, did a cardiocath, found nothing, but billed me $40k. Was on OOIDA's insurance at the time for $400/mo, and they told me it had to be pre-existing(??) and refused to pay.

Around this time, or shortly before, fuel is fluctuating between $2.50-$3 per gallon. Re-fi'd the house a couple of times to help out. Credit cards were getting maxed out over time. Not from extravagant living, just trying to keep up. We live pretty simple lives, don't spend much. Price of everything associated with the job has increased. Labor rates went from $60 to $100 an hour over here, fuel prices are up 3-fold, and freight was really slow this winter. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. I did what I could to stay afloat to this point.

All said and done, I have about $60k in credit card debt(all have charged off now), $225k mortgage, $5k in miscellaneous debts, and about $35-40k due in taxes coming up which I won't be able to pay.

Appreciate the advice here very much. Will talk to the lawyer next week and see what he says. I know he'll want $1500-2000 to file, but not much I can do about that. Credit is already toast, it'll take me many years to repay everything even if they fore go interest.

I might just take you up on that offer tracer, let me see how this goes first, thx.

no_worries · Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 843

I doubt you need to resort to BK. The credit cards can be worked with, especially if they're already in a charge-off situation. Given the current climate, I imagine they'll be happy to get anything they can from you. Unless there's a huge discrepancy between the value of your house and the mortgage balance, you'll be out from under the bulk of that when you're out of the house, however that may occur. I assume that tax bill includes significant back taxes? You would have had to earn a good amount to incur that amount of tax in one year. Regardless, the IRS is easy to work with setting up a plan and even making an offer-in-compromise. Talk to the pros, but I doubt they'll recommend BK based on those numbers. Unless it's a bankruptcy attorney...you might want to start with a CPA.

Darin Younce · Joined: 24 Aug 2007 Posts: 342

Tatertot. If I were you I would contact the different places you owe and try to work out a plan. I was raised in the finance business and worked over 20 years in the business. We delt with bankruptcy quite a bit. We would take just about anything as payment to keep a customer from filing . Most of the time the customers paid as they promised and would later thank us for talking them out of filing. I have not kept up with the current credit reporting but the 10 year record sounds about right on paper, but let me tell you, you still have a record even beyond 10 years , believe me ,credit companies will know , plus the actual companies you filed on will always have your record and can hold off for a long time before thay actually report it . Anyway try to work it out with each company and you might just find that it is actually cheaper to do so .

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