Large cash purchases before bankruptcy

[Anonymous]

---

@dave024 wrote:
I do appreciate all advice positive and negaitive in helping me understand my situation. I do find everyone's comments helpful and am carefully considering everything you all have said.
It is a new spot for me as I sit here with $0 in my bank account and $0 in available credit. I am looking to start saving money and I will be looking to use credit cards responsibly now and in the future. I can't change what I did in the past and am looking to improve my situation moving forward.
I would prefer using a credit card for purchases over a debit card if given that option for various standard reasons. Not that I am purchasing that much of anything anyway. I could use the slightest bit of credit for "emergency" situations. I do have 15 years of solid credit history with borrowing and paying back money as expected. Had a bit of a rough few months this year that set me back financially a lot, and I am trying to move past that.

---

But you do have a very large sum of many under the bed from cash advances knowing all along you were going to stiff the creditor.

The title of the thread "Large Cash Purchases".

Just curious, just how much have you charged up between cash advances, loans and purchases?

[dave024]

Nope, no stash of money under my bed from cash advances. All that money is gone. I was addicted to heroin for a while this year. Luckily I can talk about that in the past tense. I am sure I am like most people that have gotten clean from using that in that I no longer have any stashes of money. When you are seriously addicted it's easy to make bad decisions to avoid the pain of withdrawal. 

This thread was created regarding spending the money I am making in something that is not absolutely essential for myself. Not that large of a purchase but probably the equivalent of a bit more than one month's after tax income. 

Edit: Oh yea, you asked for totals. $65k in credit cards plus $10k on a car. Income is $29k a year. Though probably a bit less this year as I missed almost a month of work due to the above reason. 

[Anonymous]

Well I am sorry that you have gone through tough times with addiction and I truly hope you are recovering and completely recover. I lost a family member due to addiction. 

I'm sorry that I was beating up on you but it appeared you were doing this on purpose and I felt it was wrong and exremely destructive. I hope you are currently not purposely running up credit products then not paying them because you plan on filing bankruptcy.

I wish you continued success with your recovery.

[dave024]

---

No problem, and thanks for the kind words. As I mentioned before I am happy for all comments positive and negative and I can certainly understand how this situation looks. At this point I am certainly trying to make the best of everything moving forward. It unfortunately pretty much took me getting into the situatuon I am in now for me to finally get away from all that stuff. But luckily I am just dealing with this and not anything worse. 

I have always paid every bill on time until recently. As my debt increased I was starting to struggle more and more making payments and I was borrowing from family more to pay my debts. Eventually a month or so ago someone stole from me and left my bank account over drafted a couple hundred dollars and a roommate was quite short on the rent which left a bit more for me to pay. That was when I stopped paying my cards as that was beyond what I could even get help with from family. Since I was just barely paying the minimums before now that everything is 30-60 days past due there isn't a way for me to bring everything current. I would love it if I were to get a huge windfall or an income increase very soon, but if that doesn't happen then it looks like bankruptcy is my option. 

I am sure I will be popping in with more questions, especially with how to handle the creditors as they go further in their collection attempts. 

[holmesnmanny]

---

@dave024 wrote:

---

No problem, and thanks for the kind words. As I mentioned before I am happy for all comments positive and negative and I can certainly understand how this situation looks. At this point I am certainly trying to make the best of everything moving forward. It unfortunately pretty much took me getting into the situatuon I am in now for me to finally get away from all that stuff. But luckily I am just dealing with this and not anything worse. 

I have always paid every bill on time until recently. As my debt increased I was starting to struggle more and more making payments and I was borrowing from family more to pay my debts. Eventually a month or so ago someone stole from me and left my bank account over drafted a couple hundred dollars and a roommate was quite short on the rent which left a bit more for me to pay. That was when I stopped paying my cards as that was beyond what I could even get help with from family. Since I was just barely paying the minimums before now that everything is 30-60 days past due there isn't a way for me to bring everything current. I would love it if I were to get a huge windfall or an income increase very soon, but if that doesn't happen then it looks like bankruptcy is my option. 

I am sure I will be popping in with more questions, especially with how to handle the creditors as they go further in their collection attempts. 

---

Since you atleast appear to be taking the constructive criticism I am going to offer more of my advice.

I really can't believe with 29k of income you have so much credit card debt. It really is amazing that they continued giving you credit. Not sure if you took a big pay cut recently which is why you're only making 29k a year but still.

Take that new credit card and sock drawer it. Stop paying the rest of your cards. Stop using any credit cards. Wait until 6 months after your last cash advance and file for BK7. If you have no major assets besides the car, you can do it yourself with a NOLO book. Just read the crap out of it. Be sure you know what's going on inside it and decide if you can do it yourself. If not, then get an attorney and consider it with the money to pay one. The reason you sock drawer that card is that you don't have to include debt credit cards in your bankruptcy that have no balance. If you're really lucky and that credit card company doesn't find out about your bankruptcy you might be able to get through the bankruptcy with that card still open and it will help your reestablish your credit after discharge. If they somehow find out and it can happen if you use the card then they will close it. But that credit card will be a big boost to your score if it makes it through the bk. 

[dave024]

Thanks holmesnmanny. That sounds similar to what I am thinking.

It is surprising I had so much credit. I have not had any recent pay cuts and I have been honest on all my credit card applications. I think the reason my limits were so high was that I just had a solid credit history with most accounts open for 15 years amd several new ones opened a couple years ago. I've always had a bit of debt, but for a couple years I kept everything at 0% interest and was rapidly paying it down. I haven't really had much activity as far as new accounts in the past 18 months as my debt was increasing, but I did have one personal loan that was kind of refinanced to give me a bit of cash to help with my debts (one of the shadier companies I borrowed from to be honest).

I'd be very hesitant to do this case without a lawyer. I am the kind of person that's very interested in courts and the legal system, and I'd probably be interested in being a lawyer myself. I'm a bit nervous with my recent history how things will look, and I think a lawyer would best handle it. As Sebastian503 said, "As of today, I would not want to be sitting in your position having to answer pointed questions from a Bankruptcy Court Trustee "considering" an approval of your Bk application." It seems like a lawyer could save me quite a bit of money in the long run if they help make sure all my unsecured debts are discharged. I'll definitely do my research ahead of time so I can understand all the details of the process. Sounds like I have a bit of time to prepare.

[Blackswizz750]

Sorry you are going through your ordeal. With large purchases, if its not rent, critical medical payments, or tuition, the courts may scrutinize it. If you have a lawyer for this, please follow their instuctions as the BK Trustee can dismiss your case due to runing up debts if you file right after. They have ways of finding out. Just be careful ot there.