“Dear Steve,
My husband lost his 77K per year job. Although he has found another job, we are 50K less in income. I am able to make payments on credit cards but always incur late fees as well as the balance is going no where. We filed bankrupty in 1998. I have called credit card companies but they do not seem willing to help. Our total credit debt is approximately 30K. We have two cars but only one car payment. We do not have an owned home and are renting. Our home recently short saled in another town.
Karen”
The Answer:
Dear Karen,
It sounds like even though you had a life built on a certain level of income, it went away and while the income is gone, the debt based on it isn’t.
In your situation you have two possible solutions that may help you. First, there is a debt management plan from a credit counseling agency. If you could afford at least the minimum payments on your credit cards then the credit counseling approach might make sense. But unfortunately it doesn’t sound like it is affordable.
That leaves you with trying to clear up and satisfy your lingering debt, including any liability from the short sale, with your current income. I would guess that would be next to impossible with the way things stand now.
While you’ve been through bankruptcy before, enough time has passed that you could possibly go bankrupt again. And bankruptcy would be the only legal way you could get your debt eliminated or adjusted to fit within your new reality. If you want to, you can click here to find a local bankruptcy attorney.
Please update me on your progress by posting updates here in the comments section of your question. I’m very interested in how this works out for you.
If you have a credit or debt question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.