all these deadbeats who don’t pay bill and file bankruptcy are sore losers. Let these sore losers be punished when bankruptcy is abolished and they be sent to jail for not paying their bills. then the economy will improve, since there will be more financial discipline. I’m tired of all these losers who don’t work and sit home yet have cell phones, broadband, cars, etc etc and then say they are bankrupt
I filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in December of 2002. When can my husband & I file chapter 7 jointly? I know you have to wait 8 years between filings, but what about if you file jointly as opposed to single. We live in Michigan and have been hit very hard by the down-turn in the economy here.
Even with the new, tougher bankruptcy laws; my husband & I financially qualify to file. My question is how long do we have to wait to file jointly (after I filed personally in December of 2002)?
Yogi: Never judge a person until you walk a mile in their shoes. I assumed I would receive a few insensitive answers, yours is the first.
My husband died last month and I lost his Social Security Disability. I am going to lose the house. My pay was cut last year by 10 percent due to the economy. I owe twice as much as the house is worth. Lender won’t modify the loan enough to help (plus I have a second Mortgage). I can’t short sale…. I want to talk to an attorney about whether it would be best to file bankruptcy or go into foreclosure. Both have long term ramifications and I don’t want any surprises. I need to talk to an attorney, but how do I find one and what kind?
I personally own 4 properties. Each of these are in my name. I have a private loan set up from a hard money lender on each of these properties. one of them is my main residence. The others are rented out. I use the money from the renters to pay the lender. He is a nice guy, and will let the loan ride out as long as I need to. I’ve been working with him for years. I’ve borrowed on each of these homes about half of their value. But through the years, the prices/equity has been cut down, so now there is probably only about 10K profit on each house.
On top of these 4 houses, I have 3 homes that are currently in my name as well, but I am working on remodeling/reselling. My dilemma is complex. I have two other business partners. My dad, and my husband. We’ve never had problems working together, its just we’ve run into problems in the finance dept. Currently, we have a business account for the three of us. We only have enough money for our business to run for one more month. Currently, our bills run about 9K a month. We’re waiting for a house to sell, its valued at 80 but we’re trying to take ANYTHING that will keep us going…so maybe around 60/etc….I dont even know exactly what we’ll take for it, or if it’ll even sell b/c of the economy. We’re trying to pull a loan on it instead to keep things going. But the problem with that, is that we have to use the money we’re going to pull on a loan to remodel another property (we’ll call property #2). We already pulled an 80K loan on property #2 for 80K but its coming in two draws. We spent the first draw on business expenses to keep the business running, and as soon as we spend 20K on the house #2 (its a big time fixer in the napa, ca vacation community) we can get the second draw of 40K, of which, we will have to spend maybe 30K on the house.
All and all, this is the worst case scenario we’ve ever been in. We even have a small rinky dink house #3 tied into the loan of house #2 to protect the investors. House #3 is only worth about 20K….thats why we didnt mind backing it against the other one.
On top of worrying if we’re going to have enough money to survive financially, once we get the napa vacation house (#2) on the market, we dont even know if it will sell at a low/fair market price. We just want to get rid of the house and get rid of the loan and hope to keep business going with the bills.
Also where it gets weird, and concerning the bankruptcy talk….there is an attorney who I owe some money to. At first he was kind, we got along great, and he saw a lot of potential in myself, the business that I do. A few years ago I was needing money so he lent me 20K at 80% interest. I knew that where I placed the money would help me to continue working, and would be worth it in the long run. It was….its just, I havent paid him back yet, so he’s already made about 20K off of the loan, and im continuing to pay him 1,200 per month of interest. He tacked on an old attorney bill from his other firm, but at one point he said he discounted it, but now he’s charging me again. All and all, and please, without judgement of me or him, nothing has been written on paper, and I know there is that saying that a verbal contract is as good as the paper its written on. So all an all. He’s screwing me in several ways. He practically ‘but kindly’ demands that I send several leads to him, to where he’ll make 50-100 on residential properties that are sent his way by ME.
The positions for goes as follows:
My dad has been in charge of the finances and working with the attorney.
My husband has been doing the computer work and finding leads
I have the bank account in my name, go to court, and use MY name on EVERYTHING. Everything that we do between the three of us is open for all 3 of us to see on paper. There is no money laundering or anything strange between us. We are all best friends.
I am just REALLY REALLY freaking stressed. Mainly because I am so young, and worry about my future. If I were to file bankruptcy couldnt I put the houses in a trust or my sisters name and bankrupty off the attorney? I know its ridiculous but we dont even know how much we owe him. It could be 50K or it could be 100K.
If the business fails, what precautions can I take before hand??? I may only have a month or two before it hits the fan….I was thinking of opening a second bank account at another bank, it case we go broke with the one, and get into check systems, at least i’d have another account, b/c once you go into it you cant open another account. Im so scared. And not that I want to make this a focal point of my storyline, but my dad has a 400K life insurance policy. He said that if something ‘happened to him’ and he died, we would get it. Im worried about our business, my ‘name’ in general, losing my family, my future….im stressed and need advice. On ANYTHING. Im young and fragile righ
I personally own 4 properties. Each of these are in my name. I have a private loan set up from a hard money lender on each of these properties. one of them is my main residence. The others are rented out. I use the money from the renters to pay the lender. He is a nice guy, and will let the loan ride out as long as I need to. I’ve been working with him for years. I’ve borrowed on each of these homes about half of their value. But through the years, the prices/equity has been cut down, so now there is probably only about 10K profit on each house.
On top of these 4 houses, I have 3 homes that are currently in my name as well, but I am working on remodeling/reselling. My dilemma is complex. I have two other business partners. My dad, and my husband. We’ve never had problems working together, its just we’ve run into problems in the finance dept. Currently, we have a business account for the three of us. We only have enough money for our business to run for one more month. Currently, our bills run about 9K a month. We’re waiting for a house to sell, its valued at 80 but we’re trying to take ANYTHING that will keep us going…so maybe around 60/etc….I dont even know exactly what we’ll take for it, or if it’ll even sell b/c of the economy. We’re trying to pull a loan on it instead to keep things going. But the problem with that, is that we have to use the money we’re going to pull on a loan to remodel another property (we’ll call property #2). We already pulled an 80K loan on property #2 for 80K but its coming in two draws. We spent the first draw on business expenses to keep the business running, and as soon as we spend 20K on the house #2 (its a big time fixer in the napa, ca vacation community) we can get the second draw of 40K, of which, we will have to spend maybe 30K on the house.
All and all, this is the worst case scenario we’ve ever been in. We even have a small rinky dink house #3 tied into the loan of house #2 to protect the investors. House #3 is only worth about 20K….thats why we didnt mind backing it against the other one.
On top of worrying if we’re going to have enough money to survive financially, once we get the napa vacation house (#2) on the market, we dont even know if it will sell at a low/fair market price. We just want to get rid of the house and get rid of the loan and hope to keep business going with the bills.
Also where it gets weird, and concerning the bankruptcy talk….there is an attorney who I owe some money to. At first he was kind, we got along great, and he saw a lot of potential in myself, the business that I do. A few years ago I was needing money so he lent me 20K at 80% interest. I knew that where I placed the money would help me to continue working, and would be worth it in the long run. It was….its just, I havent paid him back yet, so he’s already made about 20K off of the loan, and im continuing to pay him 1,200 per month of interest. He tacked on an old attorney bill from his other firm, but at one point he said he discounted it, but now he’s charging me again. All and all, and please, without judgement of me or him, nothing has been written on paper, and I know there is that saying that a verbal contract is as good as the paper its written on. So all an all. He’s screwing me in several ways. He practically ‘but kindly’ demands that I send several leads to him, to where he’ll make 50-100 on residential properties that are sent his way by ME.
The positions for goes as follows:
My dad has been in charge of the finances and working with the attorney.
My husband has been doing the computer work and finding leads
I have the bank account in my name, go to court, and use MY name on EVERYTHING. Everything that we do between the three of us is open for all 3 of us to see on paper. There is no money laundering or anything strange between us. We are all best friends.
I am just REALLY REALLY freaking stressed. Mainly because I am so young, and worry about my future. If I were to file bankruptcy couldnt I put the houses in a trust or my sisters name and bankrupty off the attorney? I know its ridiculous but we dont even know how much we owe him. It could be 50K or it could be 100K.
If the business fails, what precautions can I take before hand??? I may only have a month or two before it hits the fan….I was thinking of opening a second bank account at another bank, it case we go broke with the one, and get into check systems, at least i’d have another account, b/c once you go into it you cant open another account. Im so scared. And not that I want to make this a focal point of my storyline, but my dad has a 400K life insurance policy. He said that if something ‘happened to him’ and he died, we would get it. Im worried about our business, my ‘name’ in general, losing my family, my future….im stressed and need advice. On ANYTHING. Im young and fragile righ
I personally own 4 properties. Each of these are in my name. I have a private loan set up from a hard money lender on each of these properties. one of them is my main residence. The others are rented out. I use the money from the renters to pay the lender. He is a nice guy, and will let the loan ride out as long as I need to. I’ve been working with him for years. I’ve borrowed on each of these homes about half of their value. But through the years, the prices/equity has been cut down, so now there is probably only about 10K profit on each house.
On top of these 4 houses, I have 3 homes that are currently in my name as well, but I am working on remodeling/reselling. My dilemma is complex. I have two other business partners. My dad, and my husband. We’ve never had problems working together, its just we’ve run into problems in the finance dept. Currently, we have a business account for the three of us. We only have enough money for our business to run for one more month. Currently, our bills run about 9K a month. We’re waiting for a house to sell, its valued at 80 but we’re trying to take ANYTHING that will keep us going…so maybe around 60/etc….I dont even know exactly what we’ll take for it, or if it’ll even sell b/c of the economy. We’re trying to pull a loan on it instead to keep things going. But the problem with that, is that we have to use the money we’re going to pull on a loan to remodel another property (we’ll call property #2). We already pulled an 80K loan on property #2 for 80K but its coming in two draws. We spent the first draw on business expenses to keep the business running, and as soon as we spend 20K on the house #2 (its a big time fixer in the napa, ca vacation community) we can get the second draw of 40K, of which, we will have to spend maybe 30K on the house.
All and all, this is the worst case scenario we’ve ever been in. We even have a small rinky dink house #3 tied into the loan of house #2 to protect the investors. House #3 is only worth about 20K….thats why we didnt mind backing it against the other one.
On top of worrying if we’re going to have enough money to survive financially, once we get the napa vacation house (#2) on the market, we dont even know if it will sell at a low/fair market price. We just want to get rid of the house and get rid of the loan and hope to keep business going with the bills.
Also where it gets weird, and concerning the bankruptcy talk….there is an attorney who I owe some money to. At first he was kind, we got along great, and he saw a lot of potential in myself, the business that I do. A few years ago I was needing money so he lent me 20K at 80% interest. I knew that where I placed the money would help me to continue working, and would be worth it in the long run. It was….its just, I havent paid him back yet, so he’s already made about 20K off of the loan, and im continuing to pay him 1,200 per month of interest. He tacked on an old attorney bill from his other firm, but at one point he said he discounted it, but now he’s charging me again. All and all, and please, without judgement of me or him, nothing has been written on paper, and I know there is that saying that a verbal contract is as good as the paper its written on. So all an all. He’s screwing me in several ways. He practically ‘but kindly’ demands that I send several leads to him, to where he’ll make 50-100 on residential properties that are sent his way by ME.
The positions for goes as follows:
My dad has been in charge of the finances and working with the attorney.
My husband has been doing the computer work and finding leads
I have the bank account in my name, go to court, and use MY name on EVERYTHING. Everything that we do between the three of us is open for all 3 of us to see on paper. There is no money laundering or anything strange between us. We are all best friends.
I am just REALLY REALLY freaking stressed. Mainly because I am so young, and worry about my future. If I were to file bankruptcy couldnt I put the houses in a trust or my sisters name and bankrupty off the attorney? I know its ridiculous but we dont even know how much we owe him. It could be 50K or it could be 100K.
If the business fails, what precautions can I take before hand??? I may only have a month or two before it hits the fan….I was thinking of opening a second bank account at another bank, it case we go broke with the one, and get into check systems, at least i’d have another account, b/c once you go into it you cant open another account. Im so scared. And not that I want to make this a focal point of my storyline, but my dad has a 400K life insurance policy. He said that if something ‘happened to him’ and he died, we would get it. Im worried about our business, my ‘name’ in general, losing my family, my future….im stressed and need advice. On ANYTHING. Im young and fragile righ
I personally own 4 properties. Each of these are in my name. I have a private loan set up from a hard money lender on each of these properties. one of them is my main residence. The others are rented out. I use the money from the renters to pay the lender. He is a nice guy, and will let the loan ride out as long as I need to. I’ve been working with him for years. I’ve borrowed on each of these homes about half of their value. But through the years, the prices/equity has been cut down, so now there is probably only about 10K profit on each house.
On top of these 4 houses, I have 3 homes that are currently in my name as well, but I am working on remodeling/reselling. My dilemma is complex. I have two other business partners. My dad, and my husband. We’ve never had problems working together, its just we’ve run into problems in the finance dept. Currently, we have a business account for the three of us. We only have enough money for our business to run for one more month. Currently, our bills run about 9K a month. We’re waiting for a house to sell, its valued at 80 but we’re trying to take ANYTHING that will keep us going…so maybe around 60/etc….I dont even know exactly what we’ll take for it, or if it’ll even sell b/c of the economy. We’re trying to pull a loan on it instead to keep things going. But the problem with that, is that we have to use the money we’re going to pull on a loan to remodel another property (we’ll call property #2). We already pulled an 80K loan on property #2 for 80K but its coming in two draws. We spent the first draw on business expenses to keep the business running, and as soon as we spend 20K on the house #2 (its a big time fixer in the napa, ca vacation community) we can get the second draw of 40K, of which, we will have to spend maybe 30K on the house.
All and all, this is the worst case scenario we’ve ever been in. We even have a small rinky dink house #3 tied into the loan of house #2 to protect the investors. House #3 is only worth about 20K….thats why we didnt mind backing it against the other one.
On top of worrying if we’re going to have enough money to survive financially, once we get the napa vacation house (#2) on the market, we dont even know if it will sell at a low/fair market price. We just want to get rid of the house and get rid of the loan and hope to keep business going with the bills.
Also where it gets weird, and concerning the bankruptcy talk….there is an attorney who I owe some money to. At first he was kind, we got along great, and he saw a lot of potential in myself, the business that I do. A few years ago I was needing money so he lent me 20K at 80% interest. I knew that where I placed the money would help me to continue working, and would be worth it in the long run. It was….its just, I havent paid him back yet, so he’s already made about 20K off of the loan, and im continuing to pay him 1,200 per month of interest. He tacked on an old attorney bill from his other firm, but at one point he said he discounted it, but now he’s charging me again. All and all, and please, without judgement of me or him, nothing has been written on paper, and I know there is that saying that a verbal contract is as good as the paper its written on. So all an all. He’s screwing me in several ways. He practically ‘but kindly’ demands that I send several leads to him, to where he’ll make 50-100 on residential properties that are sent his way by ME.
The positions for goes as follows:
My dad has been in charge of the finances and working with the attorney.
My husband has been doing the computer work and finding leads
I have the bank account in my name, go to court, and use MY name on EVERYTHING. Everything that we do between the three of us is open for all 3 of us to see on paper. There is no money laundering or anything strange between us. We are all best friends.
I am just REALLY REALLY freaking stressed. Mainly because I am so young, and worry about my future. If I were to file bankruptcy couldnt I put the houses in a trust or my sisters name and bankrupty off the attorney? I know its ridiculous but we dont even know how much we owe him. It could be 50K or it could be 100K.
If the business fails, what precautions can I take before hand??? I may only have a month or two before it hits the fan….I was thinking of opening a second bank account at another bank, it case we go broke with the one, and get into check systems, at least i’d have another account, b/c once you go into it you cant open another account. Im so scared. And not that I want to make this a focal point of my storyline, but my dad has a 400K life insurance policy. He said that if something ‘happened to him’ and he died, we would get it. Im worried about our business, my ‘name’ in general, losing my family, my future….im stressed and need advice. On ANYTHING. Im young and fragile righ
What is the best type of attorney to contact about student loan debt? Bankruptcy lawyers seem to cringe/avoid this because student loans are currently exempt from bankruptcy.
Is there any in the US that take this stuff serious and can help broke former students?
I mean there has to be some attorneys that now have experience in these matters since the economy is now becoming flooded with unemployed new attorneys.
I mean obviously it does but I was thinking about how medical bills is one of the top reasons for bankruptcy in America, and wouldn’t adding this universal health care bill prevent and avoid individual bankruptcy thus cause the economy to improve a bit?
we have lived in our home for 30 years but do to medical problems, a death in the family, and the recent economy we finally had to give up and file bankruptcy. we need to rent a home and don’t know how to go about it with bad credit my husband has been at his job for more than 25 yrs. we need help any suggestions
So I have about k or so in debt, most of it is CC.
Im broke, have a wife and two kids… in this economy /hour is the best I can do for a job…
Realistically there is no way that I can pay these people off.
Im afraid that if I file, I may be forced to sell my boat.
We all live on a sailboat, its worth -k probably. I own it with no payments.
I live on it because its cheap (0/mo)
If I am forced to sell it, I will have to move into an apartment, which will cost me about 0/mo. and when you take home 00/mo….. thats not really an option.
We also have two cars, neither is worth more than 00.
Thats all I have, a 40yr old boat, and a couple of 20 year old cars. If I file bankruptcy, will I be able to keep my home (boat) and my cars?
also, if it matters, I live in Oregon.
Ok,I’m 25 and I just got a 04 Pontiac Grand Prix with 112,109 miles on it,for ,000 but got slammed with a 21% interest rate. I tried before hand to get a lender/bank/credit union going in but No one would fiance me because I have 540 credit score. I had to take the deal because the truck I had was a gas hog and was falling apart and I need a way to get to work, so I sold that to get the down payment for the Pontiac.Here the issue,I have had it for 3 months and I have no problem paying the car note(1-a month) but when the economy shot 2 year ago and my job gave pick slips to me and hundred of people,unfortunately I had lost my home and voluntary returned a 02 Monte Carlo to the bank.As you may know now I have a for-closer and an repossession on my credit which is the reason for the low score. I currently have had a job now for the past two years so I making it even tho it get ruff at times with other things like college and apartment bills. I cant find any lender on the net to refinance a car with that many miles and it doest help that my credit score is so low. I was told that since I’m still young I should file bankruptcy to clear my dept and start over now. The only issue I have is I want to keep the car I just got but is there a way in the bankruptcy that I can keep the car and get the lender/bank to lower the interest rate so I can keep it?Or do I have to give it back or keep it out of the filing altogether? I’m a perfect example of bad thing happening to good people because I held a job all life and payed bills on time but you know what the say "sh** happens" Please provide me with some good meaningful advice .on what the best possible decision Thanks!!!
I mean it undoes the entire point of shopping around and selecting a particular lender. The first time this happened to me was when I had to chose a bank for my student loans and then I was notified 3 months later that the debt was sold. Since then I’ve come to realize that this is standard practice.
Before you leap to the defense of financial institutions think about this: companies that originated home loans (with very poor standards of verification) then sold those loans to other companies so they didn’t have to be the ones waiting to collect the debt were what sent the economy into its latest collapse.
Really, think how odd it would be if consumers could sell their obligations to someone else (for .50 on the ) and then after buying hundreds of obligations and living high on the hog that person could go bankrupt taking out hundreds of debts with him.
My most important concern though is there is no point in shopping around for and making a contract with a particular lender, since they can sell it at anytime. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts, if I had the power I would limit this ability.
Dear Sir Jam, you are factually incorrect. First, this question has nothing to do with delinquent accounts, this says a lot more about you and your issues. Second, debts are sold frequently, in fact almost all home loans are originated by one lender and then resold instantly to another (note paragraph two). Some people are unaware how often their debts are sold because sometimes their payments are handled by a debt servicing company, the one that sends you those little payment books, but they can work for a series of lenders with your one debt. I find it worth while to talk philosophically about our financial system because we have law makers who can change it if enough people ask.
I owed the IRS over 0K from back when I was framing houses from 1995 to 2006. Over 100 of my workers (filled as subcontractors) did not have a social security number and now I am responsible for their taxes so-to-speak. I called an out of state tax attorney from a television commercial and for K he got the debt (liability) reduced down to 9K. That was back in ‘06-’07.
As of today, I have lost everything, not to the IRS, but to the fallen economy. I have nothing for the IRS to levy. Seriously…not a single thing I own is worth anything at all.
While seeking investors to fund my new business manufacturing remote control lawn mowers, the first two backed out due to this IRS mess I am in. I have to get this debt cleared if I stand a chance at an investor putting up his reputation for my company.
Can I file bankruptcy on my debt with the IRS in this situation. What are some things I will encounter along the way. I have never filed bankruptcy before. How much could it cost? How long could it take?
My Father had been in the hospital for about a year dying from lung cancer and was in severe pain. He had told me that in the end he didn’t want to be resuscitated if he passed and had a DNR (Do not resuscitate) on file but when I got a call in the middle of the night stating he had a heart attack I raced to the hospital to find they had put him on a ventilator to keep him alive which I was happy he was but when I asked why they did that when he had a DNR order in place they said he did not so it was up to me, since I had his power of attorney, to honor his wish but it tore me apart and I couldn’t do it right away. So I called the family to let them know they should get to the hospital and explained what I needed to do and they agreed that I needed to honor his wishes but they could not get to the hospital right away so I ended up keeping him on the ventilator for another day until they arrived so I sat by his side without sleeping until the next evening when they arrived and I left the room to ask the nurse to remove the life support. He lasted another two days on his own and I stayed by his side without sleep until he passed away.
It’s been a little over a month now and all I can think of every minute of every day is that I killed my Father! I know it’s what he wanted but that doesn’t make it any easier and it’s affecting my work since instead of actually working I sit and think while just staring at my computer screen, I don’t eat lunch but instead go out to my car and sleep for an hour, my doctor put me on antidepressants (Cymbalta) which gave me some of the worst migraine type pain but on the top of my head.
I just don’t know what do do to get passed this and I think I’m going to lose my job which will cause me to lose everything else that matters to me since I’m teetering on foreclosure and bankruptcy due to this messed up economy already.
Has anyone out there been through something like this and how did you get through it?
Plz help!!!
With the economy etc., I went through a horrible time – my marriage ended, my house foreclosed and I filed bankruptcy. That was 2 years ago. I’ve met a great person and there is a huge possibility of a very real relationship with her. I feel it important to be up front but I don’t want to lose her. Should this be a deal breaker? Tell her sooner or later or is it none of her business?
I’ll make this quick. Do to some circumstances my wife and I fell behind on our mortgage. Our lender is countrywide. We have a 100% financed sub-prime loan with an 80/20 ARM and prepayment penalty. (A piece of trash loan I know, we know better now) Also there is another Lender…Franklin Credit which makes up the 20…We filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and have been making payments for two years now…due to the economy and a few unfortunate illnesses we were not able to stay current on our chapter 13 payments…so there was a motion filed by our trustee to close the bankruptcy unless we could become current by a certain time…..
When we contacted our lawyer he told us that we had three options…
1.bring the payments current(9,000.00) of course we don’t have that…
2.Let the bankruptcy go and hang on until foreclosure on our house starts then try to start another chapter 13….
3.Modify our current bankruptcy and pay them a fee to file this motion…go get chastised by a judge…and make our payments higher.
Oh I guess there were four options…4.convert to chapter 7….
At the time the bankruptcy was initiated there were no problems in making the payments….but then the bottom fell out…I am in transportation….my overtime was cut to 0….my wife has had a significant reduction in hours and I had a surgery that kept me out of work for two months…all of this has led to the fall behind…..
Ok so I have two questions relating to this situation…..
1. Can/Should I try to refinance the loans during the bankruptcy…The mortgage payments are made through the trustee….but we still get statements from countrywide….our current statement is 3000.00 a month UNBELIEVABLE…..If we can’t refinance there is no way we can afford this ridiculous arm after the bankruptcy…
2.Will president Obamas new plan help us during bankruptcy…we don’t know what to do…stay here pumping money into bk13 that was primarily done to save our home that we may not be able to keep after the bk….or convert to chapter 7…let it all go…uproot our family and start over…or possibly get some help from Obamas new plan.
We need guidance…we are good people with good jobs…good family…and good morals…we were admittantly irresponsible in money management…we own our part and we have drastically changed our lifestyle….but we were also taken advantage of as first time homebuyers so we want them to own thier part as well….
Please anyone who can give advice on my situtaion would be greatly appreciated…please don’t soilicit us…we are in trouble…our family is in trouble as many others…we need good soild,honest advice to get back on track…..Thank You.
seems likes everyone is on some sort of welfare or government program due to the economy.
surely it cant last forever.
I had a civil complaint filed against me and my partner a while back. I retained a lawyer for ,000 but when the bill arrived from the following month for another ,000 I was pretty much in over my head. Economy was going down, bills rising, customers cutting spending, etc.
So I told the law firm I was broke and probably going to file bankruptcy. He said that would "stay" the suit and he quickly moved to be dismissed with the court as my attorney… since I could no longer pay.
I got a letter that said I had to respond in 30 days to proceed pro se, but I misread it and thought it said they would consider me pro se if I didn’t hire a lawyer in 30 days. So I basically defaulted on the suit. That was last October.
Now it looks like I may not need to file bankruptcy. We cut expenses, got food stamps, medicaid and I am working my way back up slowly but surely.
This lawsuit is meritless. It was a client who wanted to return k of computer equipment 3 months after purchase because he want out of business. He is a former attorney and is just trying to cause us pain. I can’t afford to fight it. I cant afford even a consultant.
I am not sure what I should do as my former partner has a lawyer and they want me to give depositions, etc to help him.
What should I do???
I have a little over ,000 in credit card debt between my husband and myself on six different cards. Of those cards all of them are above 20% interest rates. The highest balance is 00. 8 ½ years ago I had to file for bankruptcy before I married my husband because of a car I was duped (very long story and this was the only thing I filed) into signing for, thus I cannot file bankruptcy. We also have 00 in hospital bills we have accumulated in the last year we are paying on sporadically when I can make payments. They were 00. I am about to have a baby in July, which means I will be on maternity leave for two months with a reduced income. We are having problems making payments on our bills now because we are overwhelmed. Prior to, financially we were doing ok, but we had some unexpected expenses come up and we previously had gotten lots of overtime at both our jobs which has been cut due to the economy. I just obtained 00 from a family member I do not have to pay back and I am having a hard time deciding where to put this money towards. A few of the doctor bills have threatened to send us to collections even though I am making payments when I can. I figure credit cards are best to put the money towards because of fees, credit report problems and interest. I have only been about 10 days late on one of the 6 cards and maybe 16 days late on another one, thus none of them show up late on my credit report. I manage to make payments, but barely. Late fees have been racking up though because I may pay a week late here and there on those two. Here are my primary questions after hearing my story…
1) Should I try to negotiate lowering my debt on the credit cards and doctor bills so I can get them paid off although I am not really showing up late on my credit report? Will they work with me if I am going to pay off the balance? I figure it is pointless to negotiate interest rates if my point is to pay it off…
2) Should I pay off the highest balance of 00, which also happens to have the highest interest rate and then put the rest towards doctor bills or the next higher interest rate card, which the balance is more than what will be left over? Or, should I put the left over money towards paying off the lower credit card amounts and the 00?
3) I have read that if I negotiate lowering my pay off amount with credit card companies then it will affect my credit and this is what I am worried about primarily. Has anyone had any experience with this?
Thank you ahead of time!!