Each of us lives only now, in this brief instant. The rest has been lived already. So make the most thoughtful choices you can today that will lead to a better future.
Steve's Thought of the Day
Stop drifting and hoping a magic solution will appear. Instead, you can participate in rescuing yourself. Find peace by pursuing facts through trusted advisers and research rather than the blind trust of salespeople trying to sell you something by almost any means necessary.
Steve's Thought of the Day
Make decisions to deal with your debt with logic and facts, not assumptions, and worry about what other people will think. People who judge you will soon be forgotten. Nobody thinks about anyone that much.
Steve's Thought of the Day
The world is nothing but constant change. Your life is only a perception. Choose a way out of debt based on facts, not assumptions. Do what is best for your future because those that judge you will not feed you.
Steve's Thought of the Day
Do you have a greater responsibility to repair your financial past or your financial present and future? Make good choices that allow you to tackle your debt and immediately start building your emergency fund and saving for retirement. Tomorrow will be here before you know it. Lost time is a sin.
Steve's Thought of the Day
There is no sense in wasting a perfectly good financial mistake. Instead, learn from it and do better moving forward. The past is gone. Turn and face the future now.
Steve's Thought of the Day
Those who judge you for past financial mistakes are not your friends. So don't make choices about your future out of fear of what they may think. Instead, make choices based on truth, fact, and what is best for you moving forward from today.
Steve's Thought of the Day
Don't believe everything you think. Challenge your assumptions about getting out of debt. Do what is best for you, not others.
Steve's Thought of the Day
Is it less moral to file bankruptcy or to not take action that leaves you old, broke, hungry, and dependent on others?
Steve's Thought of the Day
If bankruptcy is so bad, why did our Founding Fathers specifically include it in the U.S. Constitution as protection for financial difficulties?
Steve's Thought of the Day
Maybe it is time to read what the Bible really says about bankruptcy instead of listening to the assumptions of others. Throw out your misperceptions and you'll be fine. (And who is stopping you from throwing them out?) - Marcus Aurelius
Stop listening to people that say bankruptcy is a last resort. It is neither first nor last. It is a tool like credit counseling, debt settlement, and others. For the best result, you need to use the right tool for the job.
Steve's Thought of the Day
People that tell you to avoid bankruptcy want to sell you something else are repeating something they heard or do not know what they are talking about. Get the facts and then make your own decision. Don't let an unskilled script-reading commissioned salesperson make life decisions for you.
Steve's Thought of the Day
Debt problems are like fingerprints. No two are alike. A one-size-fits-all solution will give you a one-size-fits-all result. You deserve better.
Steve's Thought of the Day
You are not your debt. Your value, self-esteem, and existence should not be defined by the money troubles you may be facing right now. Debt problems are solved with proper action, not guilt, self-hatred, and disgust.
Steve's Thought of the Day
Debt is nothing more than math wrapped in emotion. The math is easy, the emotional part leads us to do impulsive things. Not the right thing.
Steve's Thought of the Day
What type of money personality do you have? It is important to know. Take my online test now and discover how you unconsciously deal with money, credit, and debt.
Steve's Thought of the Day
How much retirement savings are you willing to throw away by dealing with your old debt instead of preparing for your financial future? Find how much you will lose by making the wrong choice. Use my online debt repayment calculator now.
Steve's Thought of the Day
Does it make more sense to ask for life-altering debt advice from an unskilled and untrained commissioned salesperson in a call center or an experienced debt coach like Damon Day that provides a customized solution for money troubles?
Steve's Thought of the Day
Throw out your misperceptions and you'll be fine. (And who is stopping you from throwing them out?) - Marcus Aurelius
I Need to File Bankruptcy Again on My Medical Debt. – Chris
Before May of 2009 I NEVER had anything late, no credit cards, no car payment no utilities late! But on May 2, 2009 my son was a passenger in a horrible car accident where I had to stay in the hospital with my son for over 53 days and EVERYTHING fell behind in July, 2009 since then, it seems like I CAN’T catch anything up and now I have 60 days behind on my car twice. And we have over $300,000.00 in medical debt that I CANNOT pay. I was layed off my job from August, 2009 until September of 2010, and was paying COBRA health insurance for my son until August of this year, when I moved to another state to get a job. I have a bankruptcy chapter 7 on me from 2004.
My question is can I even file bankruptcy, and if I can which one would it be chapter 7 or 13 since my discharge was 2005? And I am filing for divorce shortly and my income is going to considerably drob even more then. I am just at a loss. We have NO health insurance, we have NO savings, we went through all of that. I just don’t know what to do…. And I cashed out my 401K to put down some money on a home to purchase in a land contract that I have to buy myself in 7 years so I need cleaned up credit by then…. HELP?????!!!!!!!!
Chris
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4 thoughts on “I Need to File Bankruptcy Again on My Medical Debt. – Chris”
Hi chris – first of all, I want to say that I am very sorry to hear about your son’s injury in an auto accident that obviously left you and your family shattered and in horrible debt. the key here is the fact that sometime in early 2005, your debts were dishcharged in a chapter 7 bankruptcy and whether it was your fault or not, you have amassed new debt. You are not alone in this – many people have this same problem, including myself. the real problem here, is that you are no longer under the protection of the bankruptcy court because you cannot file again for almost 2 years from now. You can, however, look into filing a chapter 13 bankruptcy, but you may not be allowed to do it. not that legally you cannot do it, because you can, but chapter 13 is a repayment plan. in chapter 13 debt is usually reduced to 20% of what you owe and all interest is taken away and you must pay it back for 3 or 5 years. HOWEVER, in order to be approved for a chapter 13 bankruptcy, you have to have sufficiant income to not only live, but to cover repayment of your debt for up to 5 years. Your debt is quite huge, and being that I do not know what your level of income is, you would deifnately have to do what Steve always reccomends: you must sit down face to face with a bankruptcy attorney (or two or three) to find out what exactly you can do, short of going to a museum and asking them if they have any spare roman armor suits with shields, because you might have to fight creditors off for a long time to come. I fyou don’t have sufficiant income to satisfy paying back that huge debt and to live at the same time, your chapter 13 will be denied. You must also understand that is is VERY expensive to hire a lwayer for a chapter 13 and, as you already know, anything can happen in that five year period of being on a tight budget – a car accident, the roof caving in, the furnace/airconditioning breaking – anything. If you don’t have sufficiant income to file a chapter 13 then you are unfortunatley going to be in for a very long and bumpy ride for the next couple of years until you can once again legally file a chapter 7. Your hospital debt will no doubt eventually be written off by the hospital and sold to a collection agency which will most likely be a law firm and you can best believe that they will hound you for it and eventually sue. not to mention other creditors that will sue and will obtain judgements against you. you might not at this point have any other options but to accept what will happen to you and then wait out the two years, re-file for chapter 7 and have all judgements and possibly garnishments reversed. if you do follow this advice and seek the advice of a bankruptcy attorney, you must ask not only what can be the consequenses of getting sued in your particular state, but also what legal measures you can take now, before you get sued to hide or transfer assets. You can best be assured that if creditors do get a judgement against you, they will seize and freeze your bank accounts. But the very first step you must take with this tremendous amount of debet, which is not going to go away, is you must seek the advice of a good attorney about what you can and can’t legally do and what you can expect to happen and if you indeed can file a chapter 13 or not. As Steve would say, i wish you the best of luck in this coming 2 years and hopefully you can find a solution to get through this very horrible time in your life.
Hi chris – first of all, I want to say that I am very sorry to hear about your son’s injury in an auto accident that obviously left you and your family shattered and in horrible debt. the key here is the fact that sometime in early 2005, your debts were dishcharged in a chapter 7 bankruptcy and whether it was your fault or not, you have amassed new debt. You are not alone in this – many people have this same problem, including myself. the real problem here, is that you are no longer under the protection of the bankruptcy court because you cannot file again for almost 2 years from now. You can, however, look into filing a chapter 13 bankruptcy, but you may not be allowed to do it. not that legally you cannot do it, because you can, but chapter 13 is a repayment plan. in chapter 13 debt is usually reduced to 20% of what you owe and all interest is taken away and you must pay it back for 3 or 5 years. HOWEVER, in order to be approved for a chapter 13 bankruptcy, you have to have sufficiant income to not only live, but to cover repayment of your debt for up to 5 years. Your debt is quite huge, and being that I do not know what your level of income is, you would deifnately have to do what Steve always reccomends: you must sit down face to face with a bankruptcy attorney (or two or three) to find out what exactly you can do, short of going to a museum and asking them if they have any spare roman armor suits with shields, because you might have to fight creditors off for a long time to come. I fyou don’t have sufficiant income to satisfy paying back that huge debt and to live at the same time, your chapter 13 will be denied. You must also understand that is is VERY expensive to hire a lwayer for a chapter 13 and, as you already know, anything can happen in that five year period of being on a tight budget – a car accident, the roof caving in, the furnace/airconditioning breaking – anything. If you don’t have sufficiant income to file a chapter 13 then you are unfortunatley going to be in for a very long and bumpy ride for the next couple of years until you can once again legally file a chapter 7. Your hospital debt will no doubt eventually be written off by the hospital and sold to a collection agency which will most likely be a law firm and you can best believe that they will hound you for it and eventually sue. not to mention other creditors that will sue and will obtain judgements against you. you might not at this point have any other options but to accept what will happen to you and then wait out the two years, re-file for chapter 7 and have all judgements and possibly garnishments reversed. if you do follow this advice and seek the advice of a bankruptcy attorney, you must ask not only what can be the consequenses of getting sued in your particular state, but also what legal measures you can take now, before you get sued to hide or transfer assets. You can best be assured that if creditors do get a judgement against you, they will seize and freeze your bank accounts. But the very first step you must take with this tremendous amount of debet, which is not going to go away, is you must seek the advice of a good attorney about what you can and can’t legally do and what you can expect to happen and if you indeed can file a chapter 13 or not. As Steve would say, i wish you the best of luck in this coming 2 years and hopefully you can find a solution to get through this very horrible time in your life.
I am sorry for what you have had to go through as a parent, I cannot even imagine that type of struggle.
As to a bankruptcy, you can file a chapter 7 only every 8 years – from filing date of the old case to filing date of a new case. So it appears you will be eligible sometime in 2012.
But if you need bankruptcy protection now, you can file a chapter 13 and propose a low monthly payment. Then when 8 years has passed from the old chapter 7 case, you dismiss your chapter 13 case and file a new chapter 7.
It is important that you don’t try to convert your 13 to 7, this will not work. You need to file a new chapter 7 case in 2012.
I am sorry for what you have had to go through as a parent, I cannot even imagine that type of struggle.
As to a bankruptcy, you can file a chapter 7 only every 8 years – from filing date of the old case to filing date of a new case. So it appears you will be eligible sometime in 2012.
But if you need bankruptcy protection now, you can file a chapter 13 and propose a low monthly payment. Then when 8 years has passed from the old chapter 7 case, you dismiss your chapter 13 case and file a new chapter 7.
It is important that you don’t try to convert your 13 to 7, this will not work. You need to file a new chapter 7 case in 2012.
Hi chris – first of all, I want to say that I am very sorry to hear about your son’s injury in an auto accident that obviously left you and your family shattered and in horrible debt. the key here is the fact that sometime in early 2005, your debts were dishcharged in a chapter 7 bankruptcy and whether it was your fault or not, you have amassed new debt. You are not alone in this – many people have this same problem, including myself. the real problem here, is that you are no longer under the protection of the bankruptcy court because you cannot file again for almost 2 years from now. You can, however, look into filing a chapter 13 bankruptcy, but you may not be allowed to do it. not that legally you cannot do it, because you can, but chapter 13 is a repayment plan. in chapter 13 debt is usually reduced to 20% of what you owe and all interest is taken away and you must pay it back for 3 or 5 years. HOWEVER, in order to be approved for a chapter 13 bankruptcy, you have to have sufficiant income to not only live, but to cover repayment of your debt for up to 5 years. Your debt is quite huge, and being that I do not know what your level of income is, you would deifnately have to do what Steve always reccomends: you must sit down face to face with a bankruptcy attorney (or two or three) to find out what exactly you can do, short of going to a museum and asking them if they have any spare roman armor suits with shields, because you might have to fight creditors off for a long time to come. I fyou don’t have sufficiant income to satisfy paying back that huge debt and to live at the same time, your chapter 13 will be denied. You must also understand that is is VERY expensive to hire a lwayer for a chapter 13 and, as you already know, anything can happen in that five year period of being on a tight budget – a car accident, the roof caving in, the furnace/airconditioning breaking – anything. If you don’t have sufficiant income to file a chapter 13 then you are unfortunatley going to be in for a very long and bumpy ride for the next couple of years until you can once again legally file a chapter 7. Your hospital debt will no doubt eventually be written off by the hospital and sold to a collection agency which will most likely be a law firm and you can best believe that they will hound you for it and eventually sue. not to mention other creditors that will sue and will obtain judgements against you. you might not at this point have any other options but to accept what will happen to you and then wait out the two years, re-file for chapter 7 and have all judgements and possibly garnishments reversed. if you do follow this advice and seek the advice of a bankruptcy attorney, you must ask not only what can be the consequenses of getting sued in your particular state, but also what legal measures you can take now, before you get sued to hide or transfer assets. You can best be assured that if creditors do get a judgement against you, they will seize and freeze your bank accounts. But the very first step you must take with this tremendous amount of debet, which is not going to go away, is you must seek the advice of a good attorney about what you can and can’t legally do and what you can expect to happen and if you indeed can file a chapter 13 or not. As Steve would say, i wish you the best of luck in this coming 2 years and hopefully you can find a solution to get through this very horrible time in your life.
Hi chris – first of all, I want to say that I am very sorry to hear about your son’s injury in an auto accident that obviously left you and your family shattered and in horrible debt. the key here is the fact that sometime in early 2005, your debts were dishcharged in a chapter 7 bankruptcy and whether it was your fault or not, you have amassed new debt. You are not alone in this – many people have this same problem, including myself. the real problem here, is that you are no longer under the protection of the bankruptcy court because you cannot file again for almost 2 years from now. You can, however, look into filing a chapter 13 bankruptcy, but you may not be allowed to do it. not that legally you cannot do it, because you can, but chapter 13 is a repayment plan. in chapter 13 debt is usually reduced to 20% of what you owe and all interest is taken away and you must pay it back for 3 or 5 years. HOWEVER, in order to be approved for a chapter 13 bankruptcy, you have to have sufficiant income to not only live, but to cover repayment of your debt for up to 5 years. Your debt is quite huge, and being that I do not know what your level of income is, you would deifnately have to do what Steve always reccomends: you must sit down face to face with a bankruptcy attorney (or two or three) to find out what exactly you can do, short of going to a museum and asking them if they have any spare roman armor suits with shields, because you might have to fight creditors off for a long time to come. I fyou don’t have sufficiant income to satisfy paying back that huge debt and to live at the same time, your chapter 13 will be denied. You must also understand that is is VERY expensive to hire a lwayer for a chapter 13 and, as you already know, anything can happen in that five year period of being on a tight budget – a car accident, the roof caving in, the furnace/airconditioning breaking – anything. If you don’t have sufficiant income to file a chapter 13 then you are unfortunatley going to be in for a very long and bumpy ride for the next couple of years until you can once again legally file a chapter 7. Your hospital debt will no doubt eventually be written off by the hospital and sold to a collection agency which will most likely be a law firm and you can best believe that they will hound you for it and eventually sue. not to mention other creditors that will sue and will obtain judgements against you. you might not at this point have any other options but to accept what will happen to you and then wait out the two years, re-file for chapter 7 and have all judgements and possibly garnishments reversed. if you do follow this advice and seek the advice of a bankruptcy attorney, you must ask not only what can be the consequenses of getting sued in your particular state, but also what legal measures you can take now, before you get sued to hide or transfer assets. You can best be assured that if creditors do get a judgement against you, they will seize and freeze your bank accounts. But the very first step you must take with this tremendous amount of debet, which is not going to go away, is you must seek the advice of a good attorney about what you can and can’t legally do and what you can expect to happen and if you indeed can file a chapter 13 or not. As Steve would say, i wish you the best of luck in this coming 2 years and hopefully you can find a solution to get through this very horrible time in your life.
Chris,
I am sorry for what you have had to go through as a parent, I cannot even imagine that type of struggle.
As to a bankruptcy, you can file a chapter 7 only every 8 years – from filing date of the old case to filing date of a new case. So it appears you will be eligible sometime in 2012.
But if you need bankruptcy protection now, you can file a chapter 13 and propose a low monthly payment. Then when 8 years has passed from the old chapter 7 case, you dismiss your chapter 13 case and file a new chapter 7.
It is important that you don’t try to convert your 13 to 7, this will not work. You need to file a new chapter 7 case in 2012.
I hope this helps.
Chris,
I am sorry for what you have had to go through as a parent, I cannot even imagine that type of struggle.
As to a bankruptcy, you can file a chapter 7 only every 8 years – from filing date of the old case to filing date of a new case. So it appears you will be eligible sometime in 2012.
But if you need bankruptcy protection now, you can file a chapter 13 and propose a low monthly payment. Then when 8 years has passed from the old chapter 7 case, you dismiss your chapter 13 case and file a new chapter 7.
It is important that you don’t try to convert your 13 to 7, this will not work. You need to file a new chapter 7 case in 2012.
I hope this helps.