Stated Income, Credit Cards, Bankruptcy - Likelihood of fraud accusations?
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First of all, I admit that I should have been much more careful. I never ever imagined that I would be stuck filing a bankruptcy, but here I am. About 4 years ago, a severe medical condition left me pretty much housebound. I lost my full time job, yet received unemployment and disability benefits. Since I have a Journalism BA and always dreamed of writing books, I started working on 2 manuscripts, and a series of instructional videos. When applying for credit cards to supplement my income and pay for food, rent, and other necessities, I unintentionally, but significantly, overestimated my income. I included what I thought I would make from book sales from the books I was authoring, and a series of instructional videos I was creating. I also tutored from my home, making over $100 an hour, but inaccurately estimated how many students I would have and how long they would need my service. Despite my degree, I never wrote a book before and was amazed about how much longer and how much more work it was compared to what I estimated. My inaccurate estimate ranged from saying $40k instead of $20k, and at worst possibly $90k instead of $20k. (I need to double check, but I think I was offered full time work when I made that estimate and was under the impression that I would be getting full time income on top of all the other income from disability, the books, etc.).
So, I have about 10 credit cards which I know is a lot - primarily because I started off by using the 0% apr offers which required applying for new cards. Every balance is under $10k. Most balances are under $5k. I have a total of about $50k in credit card debt. I have no assets.
I cannot see any alternative to filing bankruptcy, but fear that I will be charged with fraud for overstating my income. My question is, do you think I am likely to get charged with fraud if I file chapter 7 bankruptcy? If so, or if not, why?
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Nearly a decade ago I went through Chapter 7 and had some similar concerns to yours. I hadn’t obtained credit fraudulently, but I did stop paying non-secured creditors intentionally.
In my case, I allowed my (now ex) wife to stop working when my youngest child was born and then she never went back to work. By itself, I suppose it was forgivable but I also failed to reign in family spending over the following years and we lived solidly above our means by playing the credit card shuffle.
We consumed everything we had saved or invested and went farther and farther in to debt. We always managed to pay more than the minimum payments, but things grew steadily tighter year-after-year for a full decade.
Then, my third child was born and spent a few days in the neo-natal intensive care. Within days of baby and Momma arriving home from the hospital, my (now ex) wife had what appeared (at the time) to be a stroke!
I decided that finding a cure for my (now ex) wife’s medical condition was a higher priority than anything and that getting treatment meant making sure that doctors were paid. I consciously and deliberately stopped paying all unsecured creditors. I paid the mortgage and car payments and everything needed to support the household but I stopped paying even one penny to virtually every credit card company you’ve ever heard of.
I studied bankruptcy and I learned some important things that I probably won’t elaborate on here (because this post is already too long!)
I signed up for access to PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) and spent real money to get summaries of all the bankruptcies in my county for the previous couple of years. I looked at chapter 7 bankruptcies specifically and found that (in my county) a surprisingly small percentage of them were dismissed. I then paid more money (by the page) to look at court records for specific cases that were dismissed. (Not DISCHARGED. Discharged is what you seek, DISMISSED is bad.)
Here’s what I concluded…
(1) Almost nobody’s case is dismissed.
(2) The few that have difficulties qualifying for Chapter 7 most often get converted to Chapter 13 and suffer no apparent negative effects from having tried for Chapter 7 first.
(3) The most frequent reason for cases being dismissed is that the debtor decided to not complete the bankruptcy process – either intentionally or through failure to comply with the requirements for the class they made us take.
(4) The case details of the remaining few who were legitimately dismissed were laughable. The one I remember most was the case of a finance manager at a local car dealership that owned a huge home that they tried to exempt from the bankruptcy. The court questioned the guy’s HUGE electric bill as being abnormal and his argument was that the house had two AC systems that were very expensive to operate during the summer.I’d consider looking at court records in your county to make the same determination that I did. The other thing is that you’re going to want to use a lawyer. A good lawyer will look at your situation and give you an idea about what to expect in your area.
There’s more I can share about the decision process and how to position yourself for the best results as you go through it.
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I would find more about the current law. I believe it changed quite a bit since Keebler’s day so it may no longer be doing what you are hoping it would and also, may not be your best option.
I would also add it’s very very unlikely that you will be criminally charged.
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@beans said in [Stated Income, Credit Cards, Bankruptcy - Likelihood of fraud accusations?]
I cannot see any alternative to filing bankruptcy, but fear that I will be charged with fraud for overstating my income. My question is, do you think I am likely to get charged with fraud if I file chapter 7 bankruptcy? If so, or if not, why?
They did away with debtors prisons 100 years ago. I don’t think they base your credit card so much on income as on a track record of paying your monthly bills on time. Also, if they were dumb enough not to verify your income before giving you a card, that shouldn’t be your problem.
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@zennuts said in Stated Income, Credit Cards, Bankruptcy - Likelihood of fraud accusations?:
I would find more about the current law. I believe it changed quite a bit since Keebler’s day so it may no longer be doing what you are hoping it would and also, may not be your best option.
I would also add it’s very very unlikely that you will be criminally charged.
The most notable Bankruptcy reform occurred in 2005 (BAPCA) and mine was a few years AFTER that so the new rules already applied. I haven’t heard of any newsworthy change since then.
In fact, I remember seeing graphs showing the number of bankruptcies spike before the law changed and then slowly rise back of from nearly nothing right after the law changed. The number of Bankruptcies before-and-after were virtually unchanged!
Back then I participated in a Bankruptcy forum and learned tons about the Bankruptcy process before I did it. There’s ways to do it wrong and there’s ways to do it right.
Contrary to popular belief, Bankruptcy isn’t for avoiding financial disaster – its for cleaning up after financial disaster.
The best advice that I got was to start living your post-Bankruptcy life before you file for Bankruptcy. In this regard, you reform your finances first and learn to live within your means. Then you use Bankruptcy to avoid having creditors interfere with the recovery that you’ve already put in to motion.
Very generally, you stop paying anyone who’s going to be discharged in the Bankruptcy and you start living paycheck to paycheck. Spend every penny and stop ignoring all the important stuff. Maintain your house and your car. Spend money on your health instead of ignoring it. Get your teeth taken care of. Buy clothing. Spend every penny of your paycheck on reasonable living expenses and don’t leave anything out. Your goal is to demonstrate – by example – that you’re spending every penny of your paycheck on all the reasonable living expenses that normal people have. Don’t skimp out on anything. Keep good records and do it for at least six months (longer if you can).
The Bankruptcy filing will rely on your six months (or more) of history to demonstrate that your living expenses actually consume 100% of your income and therefore you have no money left to repay creditors. This is Chapter 7.
If you manage to have money left to repay creditors, you’ll end up Chapter 13 and you’ll spend the next three to five years repaying what you’ve demonstrated is available.
Far too many people go in to Bankruptcy having skimped and scraped to get by. They neglect healthcare and car maintenance and they live on Ramen noodles. Well, guess what? You’ve demonstrated that you can live on almost nothing and the court will happily put you in to Chapter 13 where you’ll be living on Ramen noodles and skipping car repairs and dental care for FIVE YEARS wile you struggle to repay creditors.
Instead, you should learn what the court thinks are reasonable expenses and live your life fully within those guidelines while you save receipts and establish your pattern. Even if you end up in Chapter 13, you’ll know it well ahead of time because you’ve gotten yourself on a sustainable budget. The best part is that it’ll give yourself the best chance of surviving long-term.
If you can prove that there’s no money left at the end of the month to repay creditors, you’ll be Chapter 7 and you’ll start your new life debt-free and penniless.
