Filed Ch 7 in 2009. Managed to rebuild my credit, was doing fine then divorce a few years ago. That did a number on my finances and I just didn't deal with it, now almost everything is a mess.
I don't actually have that much bad debt overall, but it's more than I can repay with my limited income. Plus all of the unsecured debt has been charged off/in collections and I'm afraid I could get sued soon.
Unsecured CC: about $4,000
Medical collections: $5,000
Divorce Attorneys who sent me to collections: $4,000
HOA: $1,000
Student loan in default:$5,000
Auto: 9,000 (I'm current with perfect payment history but the car is only worth $5,00 and has 115,000 miles)
I also have a mortgage with a small amount of equity and I'm current. I did fall behind last year for a few months and I was slow paying them for a while but got caught up with my tax refund this year.
A few concerns: my mortgage, what will happen to it? I want to keep the house. I'm also concerned because I have a co-signor and I don't want the BK to affect them. How will the mortgage report once I file?
Car: I was thinking of not reaffirming, but still paying until a major repair comes up and then surrendering. I figure I should have a good six months or more before anything like that should happen. The payment is $250 and I can handle it. The interest is horrible of course. Will that plan work? I would rather keep paying for a while to buy time as I rebuild my credit before trying to get a new auto loan post-BK. Plus the car runs fine now, just did some work on it. I have a horrible commute and I just don't want to spend money on a new car right now when the old one I have is okay for now. It will be included in the BK no matter what so does it matter when I default, so long as I don't reaffirm?
HOA: can that be dealt with in Ch 7? The amount was sent to an attorney, so that means it is in collections I guess. I did pay them $500 with my tax refund but that's all I can do for now and it just keeps adding up. I can't get current with the HOA until I satisfy the amount with the attorney. No lien has been filed as far as I know.
The other attorney amounts are from my divorce lawyers. They can be included, right?
I know the student loan will not go away. It was just sent somewhere (collections?) and I don't know who has it.
I have a few credit cards with $0 balances and in good standing. I think I'm also listed as an authorized user on some old, good standing, $0 balance cc. Mostly store charge cards I think. How will those be affected? I imagine they help my credit right now, although I'm not sure my score could get any worse. 549 at the moment.
Any reason not to file BK? Even if could scrape up enough to settle most of this, the derogatory history would remain for nearly as long as a BK, right?
Thanks in advance for your help!
BK DC 10/18/18
