My Personal Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Story

My Personal Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Story

I filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy a few months ago. I have been documenting the experience to share with the people who will find themselves in need of this information in the next few years. It's not a topic for casual conversation for most people, and the web is rife with e-books, courses, services and other junk.

I'm not an attorney, and I won't offer any advice, and don't intend this narrative to persuade you to take any particular action or opinion. This is just my experience, and of course my own particular perspective will shade it.

The story begins in 2005, when a business failure coincided with family illness and other non-financial problems. We struggled to cover our bills by selling personal possessions - furniture, TVs, a timeshare, tools, sporting goods and more. Finally, in early 2006, my husband found a job. By then we were more than 6 months behind on our credit card account payments, and struggling to get the mortgage and car payments paid no more than a month late. Relatives were giving us food, and I had become depressed to the point of thinking and talking about suicide.

Depression

The financial situation was complicated and worsened by my depression. I felt unworthy; incapable of making a decision, frustrated by my inability to find work while at the same time conflicted about actually having to give up self-employment and find a job again. And this, my friends, was the problem. Without some element of faith that I could feel better, I was hopeless and self-defeating. Until I found the means to believe in myself again, I was unable to move away from failure.

Happily, I did find a way out of my depression, and the answer was within myself. If you are feeling like I was, there is an answer, inside you, and your mission will be to find the way to connect with it. This article is not intended to help you find that answer. The path is different for everybody, and it may lie in religion, renewing physical activity, meditation, intellectual pursuits, or a combination of some of these, or something else entirely. You'll know it when you find it, and if you listen, it's probably already calling to you.

Exploring Credit Counseling/Credit Management Options

Two weeks prior to my husband's return to work, I started believing that we'd find a solution to our situation. Up to this point I had been screening caller IDs, allowing the answering machine to take all calls from bill collectors. I began talking to some of the bill collectors to see if there was any way I could negotiate my way out of this situation, but it was really serious. I was beginning to get court notices that we were being sued by some of the credit card companies. Just when we had a paycheck to rely on, we faced the possibility of garnishments!

So, I wrote down the toll-free numbers of various credit help organizations I saw advertised, and made some calls. I decided to work with a debt management company, who would act as intermediary with all my creditors and attempt to set up payment arrangements that I could afford. I had to go through my income and budget with the counselor, and provide details of all debts.

This exercise forced me to get organized and stop avoiding the facts and details of the situation. I created charts and lists of my debts and their respective collection agencies, and faced the bottom line. I was appalled that what might have started as about ,000 of unsecured debt had now climbed up to over ,000, due to all the interest and late charges! Unfortunately it wasn't finished compounding.

During the month in which the credit management company was involved, the calls decreased but didn't stop. It turned out that there were a few of my accounts that would not work with them, and they were not attorneys and couldn't resolve the 2 lawsuits.

The monthly payment, even though it was not comprehensive and didn't cover all our outstanding debts, was more than we could come up with in a month, at that point. We came to realize that it was time to look into filing bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy, the Last Resort

I decided to look in the phonebook for a local bankruptcy attorney. That was highly confusing, and I wasted a good bit of time making calls, leaving messages, and learning that it was corporate bankruptcy they did, not personal. I finally went online and clicked on a Google ad for Total Bankruptcy. This site offered to connect you with a bankruptcy attorney for your area, if you fill out required info. I decided to try it and divulged all my detailed personal financial data.

I received back an email reply that a particular attorney would call me during the time window I had selected, the next morning. He actually called me back within an hour of my completing the inquiry, and cordially offered to wait and call again later, or talk now if I had time. Since this was fresh in my mind, I liked the momentum, and asked him all the questions I could think of. He was very direct and detailed and I felt very comfortable, so I decided to work with him then on the spot. He was from a city over 50 miles from my home, but he assured me that we could do everything by email and fax, and if I wanted to meet him, we could arrange to meet halfway. The Federal Bankruptcy Court location was halfway between us, so it was quite workable.

Because of certain property that we wanted to keep, and because we believed we could afford to keep our house and vehicle, we elected to file chapter 13, in which we would have to make monthly payments based on a means test and our assets and debts. This is all I can really say about that without getting into the kind of info a lawyer knows, so I'll leave it at that.

In order for my attorney to draft the Bankruptcy Petition, I had to provide details of my possessions, debts, income, etc. For details on that process, I write more about it here: http://www.happy-after-bankruptcy.com/steps-to-filing-bankruptcy.htm
The draft of the petition was 40 pages long, and he sent it to me in a .pdf file via email about 2 weeks after I gave him all of the information.

Old Law - New Law

Now, I can't really speak about the old law versus the new law when it comes to the October 2005 Bankruptcy Reform Act, except for one thing. There is now a requirement for credit counseling from a service approved by the US Dept. of Justice. http://www.usdoj.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa/ccde/index.htm
This link can take you to all the approved services.

The credit counseling was the biggest waste of .95 that I have ever spent, and a waste of 2 hours of my time, as well. I essentially had to input all of the same info I provided to my lawyer (see above) into slow-loading on-line forms, then I had to participate in a phone conversation with a "credit counselor", who just repeated the information we'd submitted. There was no value whatsoever added to my understanding of my finances, credit, or anything else. Enough about that.

Blessed Quiet

As soon as we made the decision to file, I gave all my creditors the attorney's name and contact info, and they stopped calling! It was wonderful. The mortgage company and the auto lease company required a case number, but that was provided within days of filing the petition. All contact stopped.

This is where a word of caution is in order. There were 2 accounts we needed to keep paying, and they stopped sending us bills. They also disabled our on-line bill payment access. So, all of a sudden, we had no routine method of making payment. Without any contact it was easy to let a couple of months slip by, and as I was mailing checks, they were preparing a "Motion for Relief from Stay". My attorney said this was common, but I wish I had known about it and avoided it.

Plan Payments

Part of my Chapter 13 filing included a plan to pay off the amounts I was liable for, after the means test had been addressed. I had to make monthly payments to the Bankruptcy Court Trustee, using certified funds. These payments actually started prior to any hearings or court appearances. They were calculated based on my income, and would continue for 36 months, or until all amounts due under the plan were satisfied.

Going to Court

A part of the process of filing bankruptcy involves going to the Federal Bankruptcy Court location - at least once in most cases. The first required appearance for me took place 5 weeks after we officially filed. It was called the Section 341 Meeting of Creditors. This served 2 purposes: the Bankruptcy Trustee took a number of statements from us after checking our photo ID, and these statements were sworn to and notarized, and our conversation was recorded. Also, this was an opportunity for our creditors to appear in person to make claims against us. In our case, no one else showed up. We arrived early and were first to meet with the Trustee. It was over in about 20 minutes.

Roughly a month after the Section 341 Meeting, the hearing took place to confirm our Debtor's Chapter 13 Plan - which was essentially the payback arrangement. Our lawyer stated that we didn't have to both be there - it would look better to the court if one of us did attend, but neither of us were required. I decided to attend, and this time I had to wait for my case to be called on the docket. I had time to observe hear the discussions related to the cases before mine.

What an eye-opening experience. There were people who had multiple criminal charges and/or civil lawsuits filed against them, complicating their bankruptcy filing. There were people (not present) who hadn't been in touch with their lawyer for months, and the lawyer was representing them blind. There were people with injuries and health problems that were seriously complicating their financial situation. When my name was called, my lawyer told the judge that I was current in my Chapter 13 Plan payments, all was in order, and my plan was approved. It took about a minute.

This 40-minute period in court, waiting my turn, served me very well in emphasizing that I could be so much worse off than I am! I spent most of my drive home really counting my blessings.

Right now I am working on moving forward to get back on my financial "feet". Looking back over the past year, I'm relieved to know that there is a system in place for dealing with my debts, and that I can face the future feeling like I have a fresh start. I will continue to document my experience on my site, and invite you to read my articles, as my future unfolds.

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Doorstep Loan Companies - How to Find a Reputable Doorstep Lender

Doorstep Loan Companies - How to Find a Reputable Doorstep Lender

Doorstep loan companies offer a very useful service for people who live on a tight budget and need a little extra help now an again. However, it is important to take care over which companies you use for this type of lending. There are very few large and reputable doorstep loan companies because it is such a specialist area and on a national scale it requires a huge network of collection agents. This absence of large lenders has resulted in there being many small local operators who provide doorstep loans, and these unlicensed lenders, or loan sharks, are where the danger lies.

When people experience credit problems they are unable to get credit from the main high street lenders, and this is when people turn to unregulated lenders in desperation. These people lend money at sometimes truly extortionate rates of interest, with APR percentages well into the thousands, and even 150,000% not being unheard of. The other side of these interest rates with loan sharks is that failure to pay frequently results in bullying, intimidation and assault.

This is why it is vitally important to avoid the temptation to use unregulated loan sharks and instead use the services of reputable doorstep loan companies. The good news is that honest, legal and reputable companies do exist and the services they provide are transparent and straightforward. Rather than face intimidation and threats, you will deal with a friendly helpful agent who will get to know you and be able to offer advice on the size of loan that you can safely take on.

Even the most reputable doorstep loan companies will need to charge you a higher rate of interest than a standard high street lender, but this is a million miles from the rip-off prices of a loan shark, or even the huge APR on most payday loans over christmas presents, a doorstep loan is a far better option because you can pay if back in very small installments over a much longer period.

The most important thing to remember is to avoid small or individual doorstep lenders and stick to large and very well established companies that you know for sure you can trust to be up front and fair. You should look for recommendations on the doorstep loan companies with the best long term reputations.

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I Am Desperate! I Can Not Afford Presents - I Need a Christmas Loan!

I Am Desperate! I Can Not Afford Presents - I Need a Christmas Loan!

Many people can hardly make ends meet and when holidays like Christmas come they despair because they can not purchase presents for their children, the ingredients for preparing that special dinner and other things. It is unbelievable how many people get depressed on these holidays due to this problem. Fortunately, there are Christmas loans available that can provide you with all the funding that you need and easy repayments.

What is wonderful about these loans is that they provide a financial solution for any kind of situation. Whether you are looking for a small amount to purchase presents and have a comfy familiar celebration at home or you need bigger amounts for taking your whole family on vacations to an exotic place with warmer weather, there is a category of these loans that can adjust to your needs and budget.

Fast Cash Christmas Loans

These fast cash loans are specially designed for Christmas seasons and just like cash advance loans provide small amounts for a specific period of time. However, the great news is that during the Christmas season, these loans feature significantly lower interest rates that can easily be as low as half the rate charged by credit cards or other fast unsecured personal loans. Therefore, not only you obtain fast approval, you also get cheap financing at the same time.

But most importantly, these loans require no credit verification. Yes! No credit checks at all are needed for approval. Therefore, those who have bad credit have nothing to worry about as their Christmas loan will be approved regardless of their credit history. Also, these loans can be obtained by those who have not built a credit history yet, thus constituting an excellent opportunity to start building credit for future higher amount loan requests.

Holiday Christmas Loans

These loans are meant for those who need higher loan amounts and thus cannot benefit from fast cash loans. They provide significantly higher loan amounts that can range from a couple of thousands to ten thousands or even more. Though there are some secured loan offers with special terms on Christmas, most of these loans feature unsecured terms and thus no collateral is required to get approved for one of them.

These loans do require credit verification which implies that your credit score and history will be assessed when it comes to analyzing whether you qualify or not. However, the good news is that there are also bad credit Christmas loans available for those who do not qualify for regular ones and these loans feature very advantageous terms compared to regular bad credit loans. Apparently, during the Christmas season, even the financial industry likes to give presents away.

Where To Apply?

As usual with these short term offers, it is advisable to resort to the net to find your desired loan. The reason is simple: online you will be able to obtain many more loan quotes than by visiting local lending institution and this will help you make sure you get the best terms available for you. Just do a quick search on your favorite search engine and start requesting loan quotes from different lenders till you find the one that best suits your needs.

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Michigan Inmate Search

Michigan Inmate Search

In the Michigan Department of Corrections website you will be able to search about Michigan inmates through the Offender Tracking Information System or OTIS. The OTIS will be able to generate information about inmates who are or were incarcerated, on parole, or probation under the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections. It also holds information on offenders who have transferred in and out of Michigan under the Michigan State compact and those offenders who have escaped their sentence.

There are certain limitations to the OTIS. These are:

· It does not contain information that is regarded as confidential by the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.

· It does not contain any information on a person who has been arrested and convicted but not yet sentenced.

· It does not contain information on inmates who are in county jails or city lockups.

· It does not contain information on offenders sentenced to jail. In Michigan, jails are under the counties supervision while prisons are run by the MDOC.

· It does not contain pictures of inmates who were released prior to the taking of electronic photographs.

· It only contains information on inmates who have been under the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections for the last three years. The Michigan Legislature only requires the MDOC to keep information about inmates on OTIS up until three years after his or her discharge.
Information on inmates is removed from the OTIS database if:

· The conviction has been set aside.

· Information has been expunged by sentencing court.

· Information has been expunged by operation of law.

· Three years have gone by after the inmate's release from the custody of the MDOC.

If you want more information on a particular inmate, there are other websites that can give this to you. By paying a certain amount, you will not be limited to a Michigan inmate search but will be able to search for inmates all over the country.

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Cost For Bankruptcy - File Cheap Chapter 7 Without a Lawyer, and Make Bankruptcy Affordable

Cost For Bankruptcy - File Cheap Chapter 7 Without a Lawyer, and Make Bankruptcy Affordable

A recent post on the internet propagated one increasingly common myth - a blatant falsehood, many will probably say - about filing for bankruptcy, namely, that debtors can no longer even file cheap chapter 7 bankruptcy without a lawyer, let alone any type of bankruptcy. As the writer of this piece put it in the caption of his write-up, article reproduced in Verizon.com titled, "Sorry You Can No Longer File Bankruptcy Without a Lawyer."

In these bad economic times when consumers show growing sensitivity about cost for bankruptcy, this is a common notion, or at least a close variation of it, which one hears increasingly among mainstream bankruptcy law practitioners these days. Apparently, there is a growing feeling among the bankruptcy lawyers and the swelling army of unemployed Americans who inquire about the bankruptcy process, that only largely by having bankruptcy without a lawyer, could a debtor file cheap chapter 7 bankruptcy. Usually, the mainstream bankruptcy lawyers' argument about the supposed inability of the debtor to file bankruptcy without lawyer, is made along the same line argued by the writer in the above stated article, namely, that since the new "reform" bankruptcy or BAPCPA law implemented in October 2005, "the climate has drastically changed" in respect to the law and the procedures for filing bankruptcy, and that they have gotten so "complex" now that it is almost too difficulty, if not impossible, for a debtor to file chapter 7 bankruptcy without lawyer. Or for him or her to file Chapter 13, or any bankruptcy of any kind.

BUT IS THE NEW LAW REALLY THAT COMPLEX?

This view could not be more false or erroneous, however. In fact, nothing - absolutely NOTHING - could be farther from the truth in the entire current administration of the bankruptcy system! Actually, what is really TRUE, is that objective experts and knowledgeable persons from all spectra in the bankruptcy industry, including lawyers, court trustees and judges, who specialize in bankruptcy, have it quite amply on the record that most personal bankruptcies are really simple. So much so, in fact, they say, that such work really don't need the services of a lawyer to handle since they are generally very elementary and largely clerical in nature, and so generally easy and simple to undertake. Most of such experts say that at least, with respect to Chapter 7, if not Chapter 13, debtors can easily file Chapter 7 bankruptcy without lawyer.

They generally cite two basic reasons upon which they rest their basis for saying this: (1) that an overwhelming majority of personal bankruptcy cases are so-called "no asset" or "minimum asset" cases - meaning, cases in which the owing debtors literally have or own absolutely NOTHING that the creditors can claim or attach, let alone any money for paying the lawyer's hefty fees, and so have no basis to hire lawyers since they lack any worthy property or asset for a lawyer to protect from the creditors if they filed for bankruptcy; and (2) the FACT that bankruptcy, they say (contrary to the layman's common belief that bankruptcy is a complicated procedure), is really a relatively simple matter which often involves the mere completion of simple routine forms and submitting them to the local bankruptcy court.

Janice Kosel, Professor of law at Golden State University, San Francisco, and a recognized author and expert on personal bankruptcy issues, explains:

"Do you need a lawyer in order to file a Chapter 13 (bankruptcy) repayment plan? No. [Even] Filing a Chapter 13 plan is often easier than preparing your income tax return. If you can do that, you can probably handle your... [bankruptcy] yourself...There is no requirement (under the law) that you have to have a lawyer (in order to file for bankruptcy)...You can choose to represent yourself."

Stephen Elias, California Attorney, prominent author and specialist in bankruptcy law, most recently summed it up this way:
"There is seldom a good reason to use an attorney in a consumer Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. The procedures are almost exclusively administrative - that is, there is no appearance before a judge...The forms are all (with very few exceptions) pre-printed in plain English....[But, in spite of that fact], What's tragic is that people actually think they have to have attorney representation [to be able to do it]."

BUT LARGE NUMBERS OF DEBTORS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN FILING PRO SE, ALREADY, EVEN WITH THE RESTRICTIVE 2005 LAW

But, in all of this, there's probably one piece of evidence which remains as the strongest proof, the clearest demonstration, and most incontrovertible, of the utter fallacy of the claim that bankruptcy is "complex" and beyond the capability of the average debtor to comprehend or to undertake. And that is this: THE CHEER STATISTICS!

Independent survey studies by this writer and others, as well as bankruptcy court statistics, show that in several parts of the United States, but more particularly in urban jurisdictions like New York, Arizona and Los Angeles, both before as well as AFTER the draconian 2005 "reform" law, a significant number of the debtors who file bankruptcy, particularly Chapter 7, still file Chapter 7 bankruptcy without lawyer. Such debtors are referred to as pro se filers, meaning, without the use of a lawyer! And, while their numbers may have been larger in the years before the BAPCPA law was implemented, that number remains significantly high even today and is now growing incrementally in the current condition of national economic recession.

For example, in the Central District of California, San Fernando Valley Division, the reported proportion of debtors who had filed for bankruptcy without use of attorneys just before the 2005 law went into effect, was well OVER 50%, but then as of June 2006 even AFTER the restrictive 2005 law had gone into effect, it was about 27%. (That figure should obviously have gotten much higher today than that by the end of 2008 and thereafter, a time when a severe economic down turn and high unemployment rate hit the nation!).

After the passage of the 2005 law, there was an immediate dramatic fall off in the number of bankruptcy filings. But today, debtors, being increasingly overburden by their debt because of the current economic recession, and increasingly concerned about cost for bankruptcy, are now beginning, once again, to go back to the earlier ways in bankruptcy filing, which means they're doing doing the bankruptcy themselves without lawyers. And given the severe economic down turn and high unemployment rate that has since hit the nation by the end of 2008, and the fact that by the end of 2008, the official statistics for total bankruptcy filing had, once again, topped over 1,000,000 filers for the 2008 year, clearly the American debtors are beginning once again to troop to the bankruptcy courts for relief, with lawyers or without lawyers, notwithstanding the obstacles and discouragements earlier placed on their path by the new 2005 law!

LISTEN TO THIS FIRST-HAND 'expert':

"When I found myself with no other choice than bankruptcy, I did what most people do, I found a lawyer. Within a few weeks I became disenchanted with the lawyer's service I was getting and realized that I could probably do this on my own", wrote SANDRA D. WEISNER of Ohio, a recent bankruptcy filer.

"After much research, I finally found this book...guide explains all the details of filing a bankruptcy on your own.... when to use a lawyer and when to file on your own, to step by step form guidelines.... The book is written without the "legalese" that lawyers use to confound and keep us in the dark. Also, there are great resources for finding the forms needed online and getting the additional information I needed to file for bankruptcy. I've saved myself considerable time, aggravation and money. I would recommend this guide to anyone. You can do it yourself." This statement by SANDRA D. WEISNER, a recent bankruptcy filer in Ohio, had been made by her after she used a competent self-legal manual to do her own bankruptcy (quite easily and successfully, she explained), and honestly wrote about it, for the record, on Amazon.com.

What more is there to say, really? What more solid proof or objective evidence that is simply beyond debate, is there, really, that regular, average American debtors can, and DO, readily file successful bankruptcy, particularly file chapter 7 bankruptcy, without a lawyer? They've been doing so ALREADY for decades now. They're ALREADY doing so right now, as we speak! And this writer (and many other objective students of the American bankruptcy system) KNOW that fact to be so all too well, first hand, from a preponderance of studies!

NEED FOLLOW-UP INFORMATION?

Wish to join the growing army of financially hard-pressed bankruptcy seekers across America today who are successfully filing cheap chapter 7 bankruptcy without a lawyer, often probably using the other assistance of cheap "non attorney" tools and aids in getting it done? Visit this site: http://WWW.Afford-Bankruptcy.Com/proSeBankruptcyTrend.html

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