Another Kick in the Butt

I have written before about this stupid bankruptcy decision we made several months ago. Things just keep getting worse. This has to be one of the worst decisions we ever made! What is happening now is that the car I drive is leased. The lease will be up in a few months, and, according to our lawyer, we are "allowed" to lease a car without going through getting permission from the Trustee. We cannot purchase a car without first getting the okay from the Trustee. We have been getting some fliers and correspondence in the mail about turning in our lease and getting something else. It would be a few months early, but whatever. We thought that maybe we could turn our car in and lease another for a much smaller monthly payment. Anything we can do to help our budget, we are willing to do. So, off we went to the car dealership. We do the little dance you have to do with car salesmen, and then we tell him that our credit stinks and that we are in an active bankruptcy. The salesman didn't really seem shocked or anything and he said, "Well, we work with a lot of folks who have bad credit, so I will talk to our sales manager and see what we can do." I thought, "Gee, for once, things might work out well for us." I thought wrong. The salesman came back (very quickly, I might add) and said that no bank would touch us and that we should just keep the car and turn it in when the lease is up. I can totally understand the car dealership's position, but for us, things won't be any different a few months from now. We will still have the active bankruptcy, and we will still be turning the car in. I am now assuming that when the lease is up, we won't be in any better position to lease another one. It all feels so awful. We are failures! No matter what we try to do, we get bad news, bad results. It feels like we are lepers. Thankfully, my 1974 Ford pick-up truck is running pretty well and my husband's car is in good condition. We will use the truck until it can't be used anymore, and after that, who knows? This is all so humiliating!

Thinking of Filing for Bankruptcy? DON'T!

If you are currently considering filing for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, my simple advice to you is this: DO NOT DO IT! Without going into the stupid, gory details of my own ridiculous situation, let me tell you a few things I have learned.

1. Do not trust lawyers. They may think their intentions are good and noble. "I love helping people like you get out of situations like this!" That is good, old-fashioned bull crap. The lawyer is there for one reason, and that is to make money.


2. Do not trust the initial calculations for the "repayment plan." It looks very "do-able" in the beginning, but, as in our case a $1200.00 per month payment plan has now been tinkered with by the lawyer and the trustee so much that the monthly payment is $6000.00. We will now be living below the poverty level for a family of six, but we will not qualify for any school lunch or other assistance.

3. Do not believe for one minute that anyone (your lawyer, the trustee, the judge etc.) is on your side.

4. Do not expect that anything will be done quickly or easily. Everything ends up in turmoil.

5. Do not expect that you and your spouse will ever be the same after this. It is an enormous strain, especially if one spouse has incurred most of the debt.

6. Try to do everything you do with cash only.

7. Pray every during every available minute that a miracle will happen for you.

If there is any possible way for you to avoid filing for bankruptcy (either Chapter 13 or 7) please, please consider it! Bankruptcy sucks and it is ruining what should have been a wonderful life.