Bankruptcy

[Thumper]

Im going to post here and on background checks.

My husband and I had to file bankruptcy.

We went from big house, custom jeep, hot rod, company car, 80k for the work years 2000-2001.

When we moved to Reno there were no jobs. Hubby didnt find one untill we had lived here for 7 months. I had spotty employment...Just trying to find something, anything.

Anyways...We went from 80k a year to 11k, with the same bills and tremendous late fees.

So we filed for Bankruptcy December 2002 (Sorry hawkman, I noticed my blunder...it will however be two years or so when I finally apply for STLPD). My precious jeep was repo'd on my birthday, yeah that was real nice.
You know what happened on my birthday of 2000? MY husband was laid off without warning.

Will bankruptcy automatically DQ me?

T

[hawkman]

Not nessesarly, just depends on the criteria that the department has in policy. With it being a couple years ago, I don't forsee anything being used against you assuming all is good since the bankruptcy with being on time with current creditors.

[Thumper]

Phew..LOL
Depending on paydays we may run a little late on cable/power.
And because my husband allmost allways gets his larger paycheck the second week of the month rent is allways late.
They get thier money...but its allways late.
C'mon, what normal working human can actually pay on the 1st?
If we paid them on the first we would be out grocery and cable/power money.

Thanks

T

[txinvestigator1]

Originally posted by Thumper
C'mon, what normal working human can actually pay on the 1st?
T

Thumper, this does not speak to you directly, but we are a nation of excess. Living Paycheck to paycheck in order to have the greatest and latest.

My family fell into that also. Although we do save money, (college, retirement, etc) we have it set up as forced savings. We were doing the same, pay the water bill late so because the electric bill was overdue, etc. :eek:

We are working on a plan now to stop this. We make good money, but we just keep upping our spending. We are afraid to cut back because of how we will appear to "the joneses" :rolleyes:

We made a spreadsheet in Excel and did an actual yearly projected budget. We included the monthly bills, and then took the yearly things like car registration, inspection, etc, divided by 12 and put that into each months budget. Then we took all of the things we buy in a year, but are not regular, like clothing, haircuts, office supplies (home office) dry cleaning, zoo zoos and whim whams, TKD testing fees (over $100.00 quarterly for both my daughter and I) doctor visits, medicine, etc., added them up for the year and divided by 12, then put that figure in each months budget.

Then we kept a sheet of paper on the fridge with spaces for every day of the week, and for three months we tracked all of the here and there spending; cokes, lunches, magazines, etc. OMG!! That was a fortune!! lol

Anyway, we were able to create a livable budget, but twerent easy.

The spreadsheet is pretty exhaustive and I would be glad to email the template to anyone.

[Stump]

I noticed that a lot of extra cash was going to the whole Eating Out pit of dispair. Since I just bought the house, I couldn't afford to do that. Now I bring lunch, sleep through my lunch, or work out in our exercise room. I buy the "bigpacks" of meat, chicken, etc.
It is difficult to get back on your feet, I would imagine. Have you thought about calling some of these companies to get on a different pay cycle? Gas/electric companies, phone companies, and credit card companies are usually happy to adjust (yes, I said happy) their payment with you. They'd rather get their money than to chase you down every month.

Anyway, that wasn't the question.. LOL.. They look at credit reports pretty seriously, and especially if there is a flad (ie bankruptcy). There needs to be a lot of time between application and bankruptcy...

[Darin]

Bankruptcy usually isn't an automatic DQ'er but most agencies look very closely and seriously at a credit report. If you talk with someone at the agency before they run the credit report and explain your situation so they have a heads up may help.

I had credit trouble back in 95. I lost my job and fell behind in some bills. I went to my credit union where I had my truck loan and explained the situation to them and it was no help at all. The guy I talked to asked me if I was even looking for a job! The department store credit card companies didn't work with me either. So I kept my truck payment current since it was my biggest payment and let the CC sit. One credit card sent my account to a collection agency so I have a R9 on my credit report. The agency I applied for accepted my explanation and I had to write a letter to them explaining the situation again. This agency was very strict on credit reports and an unsatisfactory credit rating was a DQ'er.

[Thumper]

Yeah the only thing kicking our *** now is the medical bills. For whatever reason the insurance company has not paid my medical bills for my knee injury (this is a long story), and now we have three doctors..going hey pay me now..now now now now now! So Im doing my best getting my hubbys lazy butt to call the insurance peeps to pay for our bills..

We stay on a pretty good budget all things considered.

That eating out pit is dangerous.

But since we hardly ever see each other we only eat out once or twice a week at our fav pizza place that totals up to 6 bux for both of us.

We are just finally paying off furniture that we put on layaway.

Thats our forced savings for the big items we need.

I just realized about the bankruptcy thing and how that might effect me. Since they want upstanding individuals. But I think working at a casino for a year might help me out.


T

[Darin]

Agencies are generally more lenient towards late medical bills than late Sears bills.

[EricTheBald]

I called on of my friends and he said that in general a person is looked at as a totality. He said that if he were looking at a situation like yours he would be mostly interested in how you have handled your situation SINCE the big change in income. He also suggests that the way to address it is, when the subject comes up, you try to focus on what you have done to adjust, because how you deal with trouble says more about you than how you deal with good times.

[Thumper]

WOW Eric thank you so much!
Thats a really good point, that they are more interested in how Im handling it.

Thanks again!

One of the ways Im handling it is not making any major purchases, out side of items on layaway of which we are picking up 2k in furniture that we have had on layaway since the begining of summer.

Cant get any credit, but layaway relaly teaches you how to save up for something you want/need.

Thanks again Eric!

T

[Island_Girl]

We used to be really really frivolous with our spending (I think we touched on this around Christmas..heehee) and I added up all the "unnecessaries" in my register....we were spending hundreds a month on crap....crap I tell ya!!!! Once I came up with $1700 in unnecessary expenses. Urgh! Talk about turning your stomache.

I told Batman that I never want to move up with our pay increases. Some people may make $18K/yearly and only qualify for a $60k home and as they move up in their careers (making a better wage) it's very easy to increase their spending too. We are considering buying a home and when I found out what we qualified for.....I just about sh!t my knickers. There's no way in hell that I would buy a home that expensive and have to be slave to the payments. The other thing.....we bought a brand new car back in 95....all I can say is, I won't do that again. We bought it for $18k and with all the interest and such.....I should've just bought a trailer. At least I'd have a place to sleep. Our "used" cars are completely paid for and they look great. No big deal. I do wish that someone gave me more guidance on finance growing up. Anyway, that's my two.



TX: I'd love the template. Please send it to me.