kickmeagain
New Member
After a bit of reading we found a ton of info, but couldn't find any reference to our situation, so hopefully someone can shed some light.
My fiancee and i have been together since teenagers (1976, but never tied the knot... work) and over the years we have managed to get ourselves into deep financial trouble. Now in our mid 40's we have decided we can't continue to pay off our debts via minimum payments any longer, we're simply out of money and only one source of income that will hopefully feed us and keep us in our house.
My fiance works full-time, and i have been laid-off since beginning of 2009. All our savings are gone as we have continued to pay on our bills, minimum payments, ontime, until now. My unemployment is almost expired and i have not had any luck finding another job, so we both decided bankruptcy was our only option.
Here's what we owe:
House (165k) - We have a joint mortgage on our house that is in both of our names that we are wanting to keep and continue paying on it. We have to get a realtor to fill out a form estimating the value. The County Assessors estimated value isn't what they want.
Cars (15.5k) - She owes 10.5k on an 07 camry in her name that she needs to keep for work, so wanting to continue paying on it, but will give it up if she has too. I have 2 older vehicles, both 99's in my name that are paid off, and i owe 5k on an 04 hd motorcycle that i am wanting to keep and pay off, but will give them up if i have too.
We believe because they are 'secured' we can keep them... Just not 100% sure.
Credit Cards (42k) - She has 3 credit cards in her name totalling 40k, and i have 1 credit card totalling 2k thats in my name only. One of her credit cards has my name attached to it because a very long time ago i was added as an authorized user. We tried many times over the past few years to remove my name from it but the creditors won't do it... I assume two birds are better then one.
Today we both went to file bankruptcy ch7 and my fiance was the only one that filed because the 40k in credit card debt was under her name, and when i realized that i only had 7k in debt i thought it might be a mistake for me to file, atleast right now. So i still had to pay for the consoltation, but told the attorney i wanted to wait and try to get my name off of the card one more time.
Sorry for the long story, just trying to be as clear as possible.
Questions/concerns now are...
1) How can i get my name off of the credit card, so i don't have to claim ch7?
update - I called the cc and they told me that i was a secondary user, not an authorized user, so i requested a 'Request to Accept Sole Responsibility for Account' application that my fiance would have to fill out, both sign it and fax it back to the corporate office, and it should take about 3 days according to the suppervisor i talked to... This raises a new question (1a)
1a) If this goes thru and approved by the cc corp office, will they still try and come after me being my fiance already started the ch7 process?
2) If i can't get my name removed, and i still don't file ch7, can the creditor on 1 of my fiances card come after me for the entire amount on the card?
3) According to the attorney, if i filed today i would also be filing against the same 17.5k on the 1 card in my fiances name, and the 1 card with 2k in my name. Can they do that if my fiance is already filing against the 17.5k?
4) If i don't claim ch7 and the creditor comes after me for the 17.5k would i just need to file then, or just file now and be done with it?
Note: Between the 2 of us we would owe the attorneys about $3200.00
5) Would the creditors be able to put any type of lien against the house or the financed vehicles?
Don't get me wrong but my fiance and i have both worked consistantly over the past 25+ years and never claimed unempolyment, or requested any other assistance until now. We will never have a pension, and hopefully do not lose our IRA's/401k's. We unfortunately accummulated this debt together and truely feel we have no other options.
Any input appreciated... And, Thanks for your time.
My fiancee and i have been together since teenagers (1976, but never tied the knot... work) and over the years we have managed to get ourselves into deep financial trouble. Now in our mid 40's we have decided we can't continue to pay off our debts via minimum payments any longer, we're simply out of money and only one source of income that will hopefully feed us and keep us in our house.
My fiance works full-time, and i have been laid-off since beginning of 2009. All our savings are gone as we have continued to pay on our bills, minimum payments, ontime, until now. My unemployment is almost expired and i have not had any luck finding another job, so we both decided bankruptcy was our only option.
Here's what we owe:
House (165k) - We have a joint mortgage on our house that is in both of our names that we are wanting to keep and continue paying on it. We have to get a realtor to fill out a form estimating the value. The County Assessors estimated value isn't what they want.
Cars (15.5k) - She owes 10.5k on an 07 camry in her name that she needs to keep for work, so wanting to continue paying on it, but will give it up if she has too. I have 2 older vehicles, both 99's in my name that are paid off, and i owe 5k on an 04 hd motorcycle that i am wanting to keep and pay off, but will give them up if i have too.
We believe because they are 'secured' we can keep them... Just not 100% sure.
Credit Cards (42k) - She has 3 credit cards in her name totalling 40k, and i have 1 credit card totalling 2k thats in my name only. One of her credit cards has my name attached to it because a very long time ago i was added as an authorized user. We tried many times over the past few years to remove my name from it but the creditors won't do it... I assume two birds are better then one.
Today we both went to file bankruptcy ch7 and my fiance was the only one that filed because the 40k in credit card debt was under her name, and when i realized that i only had 7k in debt i thought it might be a mistake for me to file, atleast right now. So i still had to pay for the consoltation, but told the attorney i wanted to wait and try to get my name off of the card one more time.
Sorry for the long story, just trying to be as clear as possible.
Questions/concerns now are...
1) How can i get my name off of the credit card, so i don't have to claim ch7?
update - I called the cc and they told me that i was a secondary user, not an authorized user, so i requested a 'Request to Accept Sole Responsibility for Account' application that my fiance would have to fill out, both sign it and fax it back to the corporate office, and it should take about 3 days according to the suppervisor i talked to... This raises a new question (1a)
1a) If this goes thru and approved by the cc corp office, will they still try and come after me being my fiance already started the ch7 process?
2) If i can't get my name removed, and i still don't file ch7, can the creditor on 1 of my fiances card come after me for the entire amount on the card?
3) According to the attorney, if i filed today i would also be filing against the same 17.5k on the 1 card in my fiances name, and the 1 card with 2k in my name. Can they do that if my fiance is already filing against the 17.5k?
4) If i don't claim ch7 and the creditor comes after me for the 17.5k would i just need to file then, or just file now and be done with it?
Note: Between the 2 of us we would owe the attorneys about $3200.00
5) Would the creditors be able to put any type of lien against the house or the financed vehicles?
Don't get me wrong but my fiance and i have both worked consistantly over the past 25+ years and never claimed unempolyment, or requested any other assistance until now. We will never have a pension, and hopefully do not lose our IRA's/401k's. We unfortunately accummulated this debt together and truely feel we have no other options.
Any input appreciated... And, Thanks for your time.
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