My husband and I are approximately $30 K in cc debt, accumulated over the past 7-8 years. Various reasons have put us so far into debt - car repairs, the birth of our daughter last year and my having to quit working outside the home to stay at home with her. (I do run a small online business that generates a gross revenue of $750/month with my pay somewhere between $200-$300 per month after expenses). I'm now pregnant with our 2nd child, and with the added expenses of preparing for him/her, we are at a point where we aren't able to make our minimum payments. I've done some extensive research to see what our options are, and after sitting down and figuring out our budget and income with just the household expenses, we have less than $100 per month left. (Which makes me wonder how we've managed to keep our bills current so far!) We rent our home and our only car is over 10 years old. His 401K has less than $1500 in it. Taking all of this into consideration, I have reached a conclusion that ch 7 may be our best option at this point. I just have a few questions that I can't seem to find clear answers on: 1. I found this on the Cornell.edu website about laws regarding bankruptcy: I'm a little confused about the $1,150 limit. Is it $1,150 total for both purchases + cash advances or is it $1,150 each? The way it is written it sounds like each, but I'm not terribly clear on it. 2. Also, it says 'debts owed to a single creditor'. Does this mean that each creditor reviews your account to see if there has been more than $X charged/advanced recently, and if it is at/above a certain amount they would challenge it? Or does someone from the court (trustee?) *not* prompted by a c.c. company look at all of your charges/advances on all of your accounts and challenge something that looks suspicious? From what I read it would seem to me that each creditor reviews your account(s) with only them and can then choose whether or not challenge it (please correct me if I'm wrong). 3. Also, what is the suggested time period between your last charge and filing (if any)? I have heard 60-90 days but would like to know for sure. I apologize for all the questions, but I want to have a good idea of what we need to take into consideration before we decide if/when we will file. I'm trying to get totals (balances/charges/advances) together for each company, and would hate to file and find out I was sorely mistaken on something rather simple. I do live in IL, btw. Thanks in advance!
