i am trying negotiate (ie. fight) with current unsecured ccc instead of filing bk. if i am forced to file because of judgements or law suits. should i get a cc now before my credit report gets slammed and have something for emergency. if so, are there any suggestions from the pros on this forum.
I don't know much about bk except that it's something you never want to file almost no matter what. And as far as the cc goes, I understand that the court will often cancel out all your credit cards for you whether you like it or not. I have a friend who filed years ago and that's what they did to him. Made him surrender all his credit cards and close all his accounts. I wouldn't worry about bankruptcy since if you get started before it's too late, you can force them to eat the debt in almost every case and clean up your credit for you too. That's what credit wrench methods do for you. Makes them eat the debt and remove the bad tradelines too.
Um, be careful. First - you won't be able to include any debts within 180 days of the BK filing - those won't be dischargeable and if the creditor is so inclined, they could file a fraud suit against you. When you go Chapter 7, most likely you WILL NOT have to include all your debts, and NOBODY will ask for your cards. It's all very systematic, and what you file (on papaer) is what's used for assets and liabilities. IF a creditor challenges, the trustee could take a closer look, and theoretically, could come out to look at your assets, lifestyle, pull your credit, etc. I've never heard of that done for a "normal" Chapter 7. Chapter 13 is more like a court-supervised credit counseling service - you make one payment to the trustee, and he/she distributes to your creditors. It stays on your credit report 7 (vs. 10) years, and does look "better" (but by how much isn't known).
Obviously you know a whole lot more about bankruptcy than I do. My friend had gotten himself into a mess with hot checks and the court did some kind of close supervision thing with him. They even told him how many calories a day he and his family could consume according to him. In other words, they limited very severely what they could spend on groceries. The court did get him a new car however by order of the judge. That was back in 87. They told him they wanted him to have a new car because the old one was such a junk heap that they would be spending lots more money fixing it than the payments would be on a new one which would last a while. They even told him it had to be a Nissan and provided him with a dealer that didn't even ask questions. Just sign here and the court signed somehow and the car was theirs. They had to pay for it of course. I guess they ate so much ravioli they just about started speaking Italian.
