Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I filed chapter 7 in 2017, and it was the best financial decision I could have made at the time for my situation. I recovered quickly, built a house in 2021 (conventional loan), and have no debt currently beside my mortgage.

I have zero regrets with filing and hate that there are so many myths and shame with doing it.

You can get a mortgage four years after filing bankruptcy??

You can get one within 2-4 years. The terms may not be the best, but it’s possible. You can generally get an FHA loan on the early end but I see PP noted that their loan is conventional.

That they got a mortgage and have no debt 6 years later (aside from the mortgage) is a really great story. That’s how bankruptcy should work out. But if you live above your means and continue to do so, you’re going to end up right back where you started without the ability to file again for years.

I am the bankruptcy pp, and full disclosure-- three months after my bankruptcy was discharged, I had an unexpected death in my family, and I inherited a decent amount of money. The money I received was exempted from repayment toward the bankruptcy, so I used it to get back on my feet, pay cash for a car, build the house, and stay out of debt. My situation is unusual, so op will need to figure out a path forward that keeps her nose clean should she file.

That is good to share because you got a significant leg up. But it doesn’t still sound like you lived beyond your means post-bankruptcy? OP isn’t able to afford their life without using credit cards. If she doesn’t take swift action to secure more income or more to a lower cost area, she’ll be back in serious debt within a year. And then what happens to her?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I filed chapter 7 in 2017, and it was the best financial decision I could have made at the time for my situation. I recovered quickly, built a house in 2021 (conventional loan), and have no debt currently beside my mortgage.

I have zero regrets with filing and hate that there are so many myths and shame with doing it.

You can get a mortgage four years after filing bankruptcy??

You can get one within 2-4 years. The terms may not be the best, but it’s possible. You can generally get an FHA loan on the early end but I see PP noted that their loan is conventional.

That they got a mortgage and have no debt 6 years later (aside from the mortgage) is a really great story. That’s how bankruptcy should work out. But if you live above your means and continue to do so, you’re going to end up right back where you started without the ability to file again for years.

I am the bankruptcy pp, and full disclosure-- three months after my bankruptcy was discharged, I had an unexpected death in my family, and I inherited a decent amount of money. The money I received was exempted from repayment toward the bankruptcy, so I used it to get back on my feet, pay cash for a car, build the house, and stay out of debt. My situation is unusual, so op will need to figure out a path forward that keeps her nose clean should she file.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents did this when I was young it was tough. Your credit is shot for seven years so you will not be able to rent, buy a home, etc. you will need someone (a family member) to co-sign for you in anything like that, car rental, cc, etc.

Bankruptcy Judge will not look at your cc debt and say ok, this is gone. They will ask why should we erase this and how do we know you will not just run it up again? Also they might take assets ie one of your cars, let’s say, to pay off your creditors. And to be clear it doesn’t sound like you have a plan to live within your means so what exactly do you plan on changing?

Look instead for a legit non profit credit counselor unless you have some crazy predatory loans that the judge might take pity on.

I guess my understanding is that I won’t have access to credit cards after this until a certain time period? I don’t know how how else to explain it but we’re definitely not living beyond our means. I’m in education and my spouse makes even less. We live in this area because it’s where we have family and neither one of us would make nearly the same salary elsewhere.

I’m not judging you, op, when I say you are living above your means, I’m saying you spend more than you earn and you don’t have a plan to change that. The bankruptcy judge cannot give you a raise. They will seek a fair way to repay some percentage of your debts, even if that means taking some of your assets. A good, non profit financial counselor will help you make a plan to refinance and lower interest rate payments but you also need to bring down your expenses and/or increase income somehow.

It sounds like you will be the primary breadwinner indefinitely. Can you make a plan this summer to change jobs to increase your salary? What about switching to a district that pays better like pg county or Howard county as some of my teacher friends have done? Can your spouse stay home to save childcare expenses as it may outpace their salary in this region? Don’t know what your best plan is but you can find one!

Fwiw I believe most teachers here are underpaid and we are all shooting ourselves in the foot by not paying them enough to be able to live reasonably in our schools districts.

Anonymous wrote:My parents did this when I was young it was tough. Your credit is shot for seven years so you will not be able to rent, buy a home, etc. you will need someone (a family member) to co-sign for you in anything like that, car rental, cc, etc.

Bankruptcy Judge will not look at your cc debt and say ok, this is gone. They will ask why should we erase this and how do we know you will not just run it up again? Also they might take assets ie one of your cars, let’s say, to pay off your creditors. And to be clear it doesn’t sound like you have a plan to live within your means so what exactly do you plan on changing?

Look instead for a legit non profit credit counselor unless you have some crazy predatory loans that the judge might take pity on.

This is so inaccurate. Op, please don't take guidance from someone who is conveying what happened to their parents moons ago. Bankruptcy does initially impact you, but it does not take seven years to recover. I found the process far less painful than constant calls from creditors and living paycheck-to-paycheck. All of my cc debt was discharged. The only debt I had to repay were some of the back taxes. The bankruptcy proceeding does not take place in a traditional court room. I went to the location in Greenbelt, which was very causal and fast. One lady who was seen before me was GRILLED by the court, but that's because she was on her 4-5th bankruptcy, and she had other sketchy behavior going on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I filed chapter 7 in 2017, and it was the best financial decision I could have made at the time for my situation. I recovered quickly, built a house in 2021 (conventional loan), and have no debt currently beside my mortgage.

I have zero regrets with filing and hate that there are so many myths and shame with doing it.

You can get a mortgage four years after filing bankruptcy??

Yes, and with zero issues. I could have gotten one sooner, two years, via FHA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents did this when I was young it was tough. Your credit is shot for seven years so you will not be able to rent, buy a home, etc. you will need someone (a family member) to co-sign for you in anything like that, car rental, cc, etc.

Bankruptcy Judge will not look at your cc debt and say ok, this is gone. They will ask why should we erase this and how do we know you will not just run it up again? Also they might take assets ie one of your cars, let’s say, to pay off your creditors. And to be clear it doesn’t sound like you have a plan to live within your means so what exactly do you plan on changing?

Look instead for a legit non profit credit counselor unless you have some crazy predatory loans that the judge might take pity on.

I guess my understanding is that I won’t have access to credit cards after this until a certain time period? I don’t know how how else to explain it but we’re definitely not living beyond our means. I’m in education and my spouse makes even less. We live in this area because it’s where we have family and neither one of us would make nearly the same salary elsewhere.

If you’re not living beyond your means than how will you afford your lifestyle after the bankruptcy? You don’t have enough income to support you/your family.

Part of the consideration of moving should be cost of living. Even with a lower wage, if your cost of living drops a lot, then you have more breathing room.

Aside from the bankruptcy, you/your partner have to make some immediate changes. Move in with family, move to lower cost part of your state (eg Culpeper Va or Westminster MD), one or both of you need side jobs (you like many teachers could tutor, work as waitstaff a few nights a week), one or both of you needs to find a job that makes more money. This area is getting more expensive, not less.