Debts Paid in Full:
- Debts paid in full: 8
- Amount paid in full: $5,345
Status Report:
- May 2008 payments: $526.84
- Total amount of payments made to date: $13,983
- Debts left to pay off: 22
Balance Report:
- Original Debt Balance: $246,281
- Current Debt Balance: $250,654
- Balance change since starting the plan (April 2007): $4,373 (increase)
Total debt balance including 1st mortgage on house: $368,270
After Bankruptcy Projection:
Debt remaining after bankruptcy:
Debt snowball:
- CFCU Visa: $4,596.53
- Chase HELOC: $5,020.19
- Capital One HELOC: $21,576.12
First mortgage balance: $117,616
Debt Balance excluding co-signed student loans and first mortgage: $31,193
Total debt including first mortgage, excluding student loans: $148,809
- 148,809/368,270 = 0.53 x 100 = 53% of the total debt will remain
Student Loans:
- Co-signed student loan approximate balance: $45,238 (need a complete audit on these accounts; not sure this balance is correct or even close)
Possible total balance including 1st mortgage: $194,047
Discussion
When I calculate debt remaining, I mean everything but my house (1st mortgage), so remaining would be $31,193 if I don’t have to pay the student loan, and $76,431 if I do. Total debt excluding the 1st mortgage is $250,654.
Calculating what I’ll have left to pay as a percent without the student loans is as follows: 31,193/205,416 = 0.152 x 100 = 15.2%
Including the student loan, the percentage will be: 76,431/250,654 = 0.305 x 100 = 30.5%
I’ll be wiping out 84.8% to 69.5% of the debt in the bankruptcy.
Why do I leave out the debt on my first mortgage?
- We have to live somewhere and pay either rent or a mortgage. Selling my house would wipe out almost all of those debts, but it wouldn’t change the fact that we have to pay for a place to live.
- Rent in our area is still inflated from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A smaller rental house runs $1500 to $1800 per month. Even with the 2nd mortgages we’re better off staying where we are, paying less per month to live, and not incurring all the expenses of moving.
My 1st mortgage payment totals $980.73 and includes the following:
- P & I - $739.14
- PMI - $66.34
- Remaining escrow (taxes, insurance) - $175.25
Second mortgage payments are:
Total to stay in current house: $1,186.73
Why a house? We have 3 animals, including two large dogs (65 lb and 85 lb). It’s hard to find any rental at all that will allow one large dog, let alone two. An apartment is completely out of the question. Our animals are part of the family and we’re not giving them up.
FYI: The going rate for a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment is currently $900/mo anyway. If we move to an apartment I’d have to pay to store some furniture, and storage facilities also have inflated rental prices. The size I would need costs $100/mo.
Co-signed Student Loan
I still haven’t received anymore notices from the student loan people. It’s possible the friend I co-signed for is paying them again. The bankruptcy trustee will require an audit of these accounts as part of my remaining obligations and I have to call and request it.
I didn’t pay anything on the debts I’m going to bankrupt. I don’t see the point of spending money on them when they will be gone soon.
Tutoring is busy this summer
I don’t have many LEAP students, but my tutoring company has scheduled me for 10 hours per week so far, and more students are coming each week for summer enrichment in math and reading/language arts. If you don’t know what LEAP is, please go back to my May 2008 Debt Report and read about it there.
I’m pleasantly surprised because I didn’t have any company students last summer. This summer I started tutoring the week after Memorial Day week, just after school was out here.
I’m deliver pizzas on my free evenings part-time.
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June 18th, 2008
Posted by
joubess |
Debt Reports |
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Debts Paid in Full:
- Debts paid in full: 8
- Amount paid in full: $5,345
Status Report:
- May 2008 payments: $940.89
- Total amount of payments made to date: $13,456
- Debts left to pay off: 15
- Next debt in line before bankruptcy: Northland Group (Cap One Visa): $3,717.17
Balance Report:
- Original Debt Balance: $246,281
- Current Debt Balance: $248,020
- Balance change since last month: $1,739 (increase)
- Balance change since starting the plan (April 2007): $1,739 (increase)
After Bankruptcy Projection:
Debt snowball:
- CFCU Visa: $4,402.81
- Chase HELOC: $5,021.64
- Capital One HELOC: $21,637.43
Debt Balance excluding co-signed student loans: $30,985
- Co-signed student loan approximate balance: $45,051 (need a complete audit on these accounts; not sure this balance is correct or even close)
Debt Balance including co-signed student loans: $76,037
First mortgage balance: $117,803
Discussion
I paid off two small debts that crept up on us: $140 to Professional Emergency Physicians from when my son needed stitches a few years ago, and One Hour Air Conditioning for last year’s cleaning and maintenance.
Since I haven’t received anymore notices from the student loan people, it’s possible the friend I co-signed for is paying them again. The bankruptcy trustee will likely require an audit of these accounts as part of my remaining obligations. If the trustee doesn’t, I’ll require one before I start making any payments. I don’t know what’s been paid or what is still owed. I won’t make any payments on these loans until I pay off my own debts. It’s the biggest balance debt anyway, so would come last in the debt snowball.
I didn’t pay anything on the debts I’m going to bankrupt. I don’t see the point of spending money on them when they will be gone about this time next month.
New Summer Income Source
I found a new tutoring opportunity after school is out. All public school students in the 4th and 8th grades must pass the Louisiana LEAP exam to progress to 5th and 9th grades. If they don’t pass in the spring they have a chance to take it again over the summer. Failing 4th grade LEAP isn’t too big a deal. Students who fail it often are on the young end of the age limit and need another trip through 4th grade if they don’t pass LEAP remediation in the summer.
But 8th graders who fail the LEAP are extremely stressed out to pass it over the summer so they can go to 9th grade with their friends. It’s a huge social issue with 8th graders who need remediation. Those parents are very motivated to help their kids succeed and will pay for tutoring on top of the school system’s program.
This test is a must-pass thing. Even if a student passed all classes in 4th or 8th grade, they fail if they didn’t pass the LEAP test.
I made a flier, I’m getting it copied tonight, and I’m distributing them starting Monday to the public middle schools to give out to students who failed the 8th grade LEAP test. A friend who works in the school system has several of the remediation workbooks and is lending me a set to use over the summer. I’ll have to make copies for my students, but that’s relatively cheap compared to what I’m charging. I should be able to start working with these students as soon as school is out, but may not get as much work until remediation begins the first week of June. The test will be administered again the first or second week of July.
I’m charging $25/hour. I’m not charging full price ($45/hr.) because these are public school students and the families may not have the money private school families have. That’s $6/hr. more than my tutoring company pays me. Another reason to only charge $25/hr. is I’ll be undercutting all the tutoring companies so I’ll get more students.
Depending on the amount of work I can score, I’ll deliver pizzas on my free afternoons and evenings. I’ll go up to full-time pizza delivery after LEAP test tutoring until mid-August when tutoring picks back up. Then I’ll go back down to part-time pizza delivery again.
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May 9th, 2008
Posted by
joubess |
Bankruptcy, Debt Reports, Earnings Updates |
8 comments
Debts Paid in Full:
- Debts paid in full: 6
- Amount paid in full: $4,404
Status Report:
- April 2008 payments: $655.82
- Total amount of payments made to date: $12,515
- Debts left to pay off: 17
- Next debt in line: Professional Physicians: $140.00
Balance Report:
- Original Debt Balance: $201,230
- Current Debt Balance: >$201,230 I forgot to write down auto-calculation from debt snowball at MyTMMO.com
- Balance change since last month: $? (increase)
- Balance change since starting the plan (April 2007): $? (increase)
I forgot to publish this report in April. I’m working on May right now and it will be a bit more detailed.
Since I’m filing for bankruptcy near the end of the month, the June report will have a significantly different debt balance. I will still have a few debts after bankruptcy: my primary mortgage (not a snowball item) my two HELOCs, my credit union Visa (I’m paying it off because it’s not a big balance), and I may have to pay a student loan for a friend I co-signed for who doesn’t seem to be paying the note: stupid tax that isn’t bankruptable.
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May 7th, 2008
Posted by
joubess |
Debt Reports |
2 comments
I wrote that last post right after I got off the phone with the DR counselor. I was really pumped up from being told I was doing all the right things as far as working the plan goes and that I am making progress on the front end of my debt snowball.
The adrenaline rush had me quite optimistic for a little while.
The rush is over and reality has settled back in. I don’t have a big enough shovel, period. Not looking at that fact doesn’t change it. I can spend a ton of years and money paying back astronomical amounts of debt that will be more interest and fee charges than principal by the time I pay it off. The banking industry does not deserve my hard-earned money to pad its profits. I’ve paid back a significant amount of the original principal I borrowed. I dug that out and added it up after I found all my old paperwork.
I’m waiting to hear from my accountant about any tax implications of Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I’m holding off until the end of the month because my students have final exams through May 21. I get a lot of tutoring hours during finals and sometimes those hours are really wacky depending on each school’s schedule. I tutor mostly private school students, so schedules vary all over the ballpark. I can get some 10-12 hour days in.
Bankruptcy filing will mean I have to spend some time working through the process and I don’t want to miss any tutoring hours or have to decline any students because of a court date or attorney appointments. I can schedule an appointment with my attorney the last week of this month. School will be out and my tutoring schedule will either disappear or decline significantly.
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May 1st, 2008
Posted by
joubess |
Debt Reports, Legal Issues |
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Talked with DR Counselor
I was able to talk with a Dave Ramsey counselor today. We discussed my income and the level of my debts and how fast they’re growing. I’ve been working the plan just as prescribed and I’m on the right track. I just need to keep working on getting my income up as much as I can, which I’m doing.
My counselor suggested paying $10 or so each month to the creditors I can’t make a real dent with right now and focusing what money I do have on the next debt in line in the snowball and get it paid off. That will put more money toward paying the debt, and less maintaining a relationship with the other debt collectors. Basically, I stop paying on a pro rata basis and start paying a flat rate. That will leave twice as much money to pay on the lowest debt than I had on the pro rata plan. That will make a big difference in making the money I have work harder for me.
I am making progress. I’ve paid off 6 debts. I’m just discouraged because I’m not making any headway on the back end of my snowball. I’ve got to keep plugging along and work toward getting a bigger shovel (more income, a lot more).
I’m going to try this over the summer and work on increasing my online income while I’m delivery pizzas and tutoring. We’ll see where I’m at in August.
If it gets too tough to handle or I’m not making progress, I can always file for bankruptcy at any time. I found my pre-bankruptcy counseling certificate and I have all my paperwork in order. All I have to do is take it to my attorney. I’m going to keep it ready to go and that is my fall-back position for now.
Need to Get Medical Insurance
This is one of the “inside your own 4 walls” issues I haven’t taken care of. Before I put more on the debt I need to get with the local health insurance ELP about what coverage I could at least get for myself. I need something to cover me if I get really sick and need to go to the hospital. As far as I know, if I needed a hospital stay I could go to the public hospital (Earl K. Long Hospital) and my costs would be waived for lack of ability to pay.
My son is on Medicaid, but I only use it when it’s something bigger than I can handle. I pay cash for his routine doctor visits or when he needs to see his pediatrician when he’s sick. Medicaid pays for his prescriptions because they are really expensive but vital to his survival. They would reimburse me for my expenses, but I don’t do that because I can manage my costs okay on my own so far.
I don’t want to stay in this position any longer than we have to, so I’m seeking reasonable coverage for both of us that won’t break us financially. It may require that I keep searching for a solution for awhile. I have been searching for 2 years now, but things are changing and more products are becoming available in a more competitive marketplace.
The only reason we don’t qualify for food stamps is I have an IRA. The state considers that a usable asset and won’t award food stamps to anyone who has any usable assets, no matter what the tax consequences or how that asset is viewed by any other law, like the bankruptcy law.
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April 30th, 2008
Posted by
joubess |
Debt Reports, Goals, Legal Issues |
4 comments
