Sometimes our guests choose to wait and not file bankruptcy. Sometimes, our guests will try debt consolidation or maybe even do nothing for a while. Sometimes, for a while, doing nothing or trying debt consolidation is a temporary solution. But, it is usually not a permanent fix to the problem.
So when I met with Heidi two years ago, she was just not ready to pull the trigger on a bankruptcy quite yet. Fast forward two years and now she is back and she is ready. Sometimes, for our guests, the idea of a bankruptcy takes time to percolate and the guest needs to time to think about it and be ok with filing.
Heidi was that person. She is like me, a tire kicker. We tire kickers need time to digest the problem and the potential solutions to the problem. She has now made up her mind that getting her life back is what she needs to do and she needs to do it now. What a wonderful Christmas gift she is going to give herself!
Of course the irony is- the only regret Heidi will have about filing bankruptcy- is the delay in filing not the actual filing itself. Once Heidi gets on the other side of this and is debt free for the first time since she was a minor she will not fully appreciate how wonderful life is again!
Chaz and Monique met with me earlier this year. They have been married for 8 years. It turns out Chaz and Monique got married without first having the “debt conversation”, as Monique said. She said she didn’t know Chaz had 42k in credit card debt. Chaz did not know that Monique had 16k in credit card and medical bills.
Together, Chaz and Monique had a total of 58k in general unsecured debt. The payments on Chaz’s debt alone was $1,300.00 per month. When you are a young couple with young kids (they had twin girls aged 5), having this kind of unsecured debt is not sustainable. So, they called us to speak about their unsecured debt problem and potential solutions to it.
Chaz and Monique made the decision to file a chapter 7 bankruptcy and get on with their lives. They were nervous and anxious but they also knew they had a problem and they must solve it. They simply could not sustain making these large payments anymore. Chaz is 32 years old and he has had 3 heart attacks already. Chaz believes the heart attacks are related to his genetic make up, but the debt certainly adds a layer of stress Chaz did not need.
They filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy in Eden Prairie, Minnesota and for the first time in their marriage they feel like they can breathe again. They are also not stressed out all the time and can focus on their kids now more than ever.
They now join over 10,000 other Minnesotans who get their lives back each year too! Each year, between 10,000 and 15,000 Minnesotans file bankruptcy and gain the freedom from overwhelming debt.
Mary was referred to us by her family law lawyer. She was recently divorced from her husband of 24 years. Do you think Mary got married wishing she would be divorced with 3 minor children? No, she did not.
When I met with Mary the divorce was final. She was awarded the house and she was required to refinance the home within 90 days or list it for sale. Ex-husband did not want the house in his name or her affecting his credit. The problem is she was a homemaker for 13 years and had not been employed for a very long time.
How was she supposed to refinance a home when she didn’t have a job? How was she supposed to refinance a home when she had no credit history for 13 years? Ex-husband was ordered to pay her 650.00 in child support for 3 kids even though he made 120k per year. He was also ordered to pay her alimony but that would terminate after 18 months or when she got a full time job which ever came first.
She had acquired 40k in attorneys’ fees and credit card debt totaling 20k. She has a degree in teaching but took a part time job lifting boxes for UPS. When her back could no longer handle that kind of work, she found a temporary job as a substitute teacher. As soon as she took the job as a temporary substitute teacher, ex-husband terminated her maintenance leaving her with $650.00 a month and temporary substitute teacher pay.
When Mary did not, and could not, refinance the home, ex-husband quickly obtained a court order requiring the house be listed for sale immediately. Do you think Mary envisioned any of this just a year ago? No, she had no idea. Life is humbling.
Mary decided enough was a enough. The divorce was brutal. Life after divorce was just as brutal and there was no escape until the debt was gone and she could begin fresh. She filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy and stopped a foreclosure sale. She also stopped her ex-husband from forcing her to sell the house. She needed time to sort through everything and stop the harassment. Mary’s life, for the first, in quite some time is peaceful again. I happy she can sort out what has happened to her and put together the pieces of her life again, in peace.
Life is amazingly humbling. Bad things do happen to good people. Once you get a handle on this, and get beyond the initial surprise and shock of the “b” word, the shock goes away and all that is left is the peace of knowing you can pay your bills again. Paying your bills on time may not seem like a beautiful thing but it is when you are suffering from overwhelming debt.
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