She is probably living the life now that she is free again!

I don't know if SAR1954 is still on this forum but congratulations on finishing off those payments and being free again. I like when I hear a good news story. I wonder how it's going now?

Very interested story and I agree with what WANDERER said. I have been lucky that I have never been in that dire of a situation, but I would utilize every other plan before considering bankruptcy.

It's nice to hear a different side of bankruptcy. I think a lot of people just jump into it because they think it is the easy way out. It really messes with your credit. I'm really glad to hear that you have things right on track.

I agree that this way of paying off debt is what some people need. I had a friend that did this about ten years ago because of job and family situations. It has taken him a while, but he now has a great job and a house. There is no way that he would have been able to do any of this on his own.

While the attorneys do make money on BK's, I would not undertake such an action on my own. There are many things to be conscious of and likely many of us are unaware. Remember for whatever reason ... we got ourselves into the financial strain. For me, I found using a cold hard business approach was necessary to dig out from under the debt.

While I'm sure that some rules and laws have changed concerning 7 and 13 in the past 3 years, one thing has not. Attorney fees. Thank you for your personal story and a reminder that the attorney fees will not help a person with debt issues, but only add to it.

Discharged, completely finished!!

The end of December 2012 marked my final payment. Celebration time! I am done with my Ch. 13 BK (one year early), now is just the wait time for the ?Direct Pay? payment to stop being taken from my paycheck and for the discharge. I more anxious for ordered direct pay payment to stop. From what I have learned it can take 30-90 days to complete. Either way I am fine, I no longer have to send in anymore payments to the Trustee. I am so glad to be done with this!! This forum has been very educating for me and I have appreciated all the shared knowledge and experiences! Over the course of the past few months, based on the advice of those on this forum, I have saved on both of my car loans 15% interest rate on each by going to my local credit union.

To: Wanderer

Thank you for your feedback. To get to the point I have gotten to has definitely taken determination, hard work, and willingness to give some things up I really didn’t want to, as my BK payment I have always thought was factored kind of high, so trying to manage that and all the other day to day stuff, and somehow managing to pay more so I can finish early has been challenging, but I have done it and I am doing it. Also, I had heard once getting out of BK your put back into the pool of the “real credit world’ so-to-speak. During my BK I have somehow managed to land prime accounts like a major credit card through U.S. Bank, also I have worked with all major credit bureaus constantly to ensure my accounts are reporting correctly. So, in doing that I have done a lot of clean up to my credit report (I would say my average FICO score right now is 649, not the best but not the worst). My BK won’t discharge till 2015, so hopefully once my BK does discharge I can do more clean on up on accounts on my bureaus, maintain my good credit status and at that point my credit won’t take a hard nose dive. Thanks again for your feedback and insight!

Congratulations on your insight. Also, your working very hard to pay off your obligations early. It takes "dogged determination" to do it. Your story helps others to have faith and to look at what can be done if we "hunker down" and just do it.

I took a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in 2001 and it has taken over ten years to regain my standing in the credit world. Only today (and my sticking to paying on time with little outstanding debt) have pre-approved offers come from prime cards. Living in the world of sub-prime with very small credit lines was a challenge. Shedding the sub-prime cards is hard as my "average account age" and the "total age of accounts" reflects my closings (score hits). Yes, for awhile anyway but when you are climbing out of the cellar the mountain looks very high.

Today, I see scores at the 800's level and that only took place last summer when the BK 7 fell off. It is interesting to note that within FICO Scoring they place us at one of ten (I believe or thirteen levels - can't remember and it is top secret) levels with one being a BK. Then when it falls off we change levels and rejoin the credit healthy group (scores drop again so I was told). In my case they went up about 75 to 100 FICO points depending on the credit bureau. It is also interesting to note that inquiries hit me harder at the 800 level than the 690 level. One inquiry on Equifax dropped me from 805 to 794 with only one other inquiry on my record. Unreal!!!

Anyway.. you are doing great...work! Keep it up. You will regain your credit standing.

Wanderer

My chapter 13 plan was set for 5 years, I have worked my tail off to pay it off a year sooner than expected. I will be done in 3-4 months from now, and if I can help it sooner than that. This experience has taught me a great deal about my finances and credit. My monthly BK payment is higher than my mortgage payment. Over the course of the 4 years I have paid near $42K into my bankruptcy plan; and about 7K was attorney fees, and there is a monthly fee that gets paid to the Trustee. Along the way I purchased a home; I had to get permission for this from the court. That cost me about 5K of the 7K in attorney fees in order to get the approval I needed. Not to mention that it was such a struggle and headache in getting the Trustee to sign off on my purchase. It took me 6 months to close, after filing several motions that kept getting pushed back before getting my approval order from the judge. Nonetheless, its not hard for the attorneys to tack on more fees to your plan. Looking back at the entire picture, by now I would have been way out of debt (less my student loans) and with NO BK on my report, now the BK will fall off 7 years from the petition date, I dont have that long to go before that happens.

I truly wish I just would have said to myself, okay I am not going to pay this stuff off overnight, but let me take my bills head on, (came up with a good repayment plan) a couple at a time if that’s what I had to do to pay them off. I realize now I could have very well done this on my own and not turned to someone else to make the payments for me. I recommend to anyone that if you are considering a Ch. 13, really analyze your debt and income before making the decision (talk to a financial adviser if you can). Don’t rely on the attorney’s opinion they make it seem like it’s the right decision most of time because they want paid. They honestly are not looking out for your best interest and whether or not you are successful with you payment plan and finish is no concern of theirs.