Let's talk bankruptcy

[KallDrexx]

This is risking getting moved to polittics

[Malakili]

It kills me that there is no 'life skills' class in high school that teaches people how to use credit cards, how to manage a bank account, how to do the basics of raising a kid, how to pay bills, how to manage passwords, etc...

I'm sure parents would be up in arms about teaching stuff at school that should be taught in the home, or something.

[Teleku]

You guys never had to take home economics?

[Malakili]

You guys never had to take home economics?

I took a class called "Home and Careers."  We never did financial things.  I think it was like, sewing, cooking, baking, etc.  I don't remember everything we did in there, but managing a budget or your finances was definitely not on the list.

[Torinak]

You guys never had to take home economics?

I took a class called "Home and Careers."  We never did financial things.  I think it was like, sewing, cooking, baking, etc.  I don't remember everything we did in there, but managing a budget or your finances was definitely not on the list.

There was a class called "Consumer Economics" offered in 8th grade. IIRC, it covered balancing a checkbook, making a budget, loans, interest, basic fractions and percentages (e.g., what "10% off" means), sales commissions, and basic pensions (ouch, that dated me). "Home Economics" was sewing, cooking, and cleaning (how to run those new-fangled washing machines and other small and large home appliances). Only "Home Economics" was required of all students.

[Rendakor]

Home Economics was cooking one year, sewing the next. Both optional electives, and neither taught anything about finance. We did have an Economics class my senior year that covered some stuff like how compound interest works, but a lot of that class was just field trips to cool places so the teachers could get drunk.

[Tannhauser]

I had Single Living class (prophetic!) in my freshman year where we learned how to cook and sew, etc.  In my senior year I took Economics.  Actually pretty interesting, that's where I learned about Caveat Emptor and the teacher had zero sympathy for fools in debt.

I got a $1000 limit credit card in college and it took me YEARS to pay it off!  No one to teach me, my family has no idea about money.

Haven't had a card in years, but I think it's hurting my credit rating, so I'm looking around. 

[Strazos]

Had some cards in college, and the debt ran away from me a little bit towards the end. After that and working crappy jobs until my current one, I was slowly working it down but then unexpected expenses would mess with that plan.

Thankfully I have a real job now, and my only debt is my car. I pay down the cards every month, to zero.

[Maven]

Oh my god. You shined new light on my background. I had Shop and Home Economits in 6th-8th grade. God, Indiana was shit. All my Home El class taught me was that cooking is fun. South Park was rigut.

[Paelos]

Credit Card companies don't want you to be educated on how they work.

[Malakili]

Yeah, the fact that I pay off my card every month means I am a "bad" customer for them. 

[Morat20]

Credit Card companies don't want you to be educated on how they work.

I got out of college in the late 90s, but even then the credit card companies had started sniffing around. I understand it got a lot worse -- I know way too many people who got credit cards in college and ran up ridiculous bills that took years and years to pay off.

Which was the point of pushing high limit cards on them in college.

[Malakili]

Yeah, I used to get a credit card offer in the mail at least once a week when I turned 18. 

[angry.bob]

Yeah, the fact that I pay off my card every month means I am a "bad" customer for them. 

Yeah, people who do that are referred to internally as "deadbeats".

So I just filed my latest bankruptcy and not reaffirming your mortgage but keeping your house is a true thing. I had never dealt with it before since I didn't have a house the other times. The downside is that you don't have the mortgage to build credit. The upside is that as long as you make the payments like normal they can't take your house and if you decide at any point to just say fuck it and walk away you still get to be off the hook for all the debt that you can incur with a foreclosure.

[Paelos]

Yeah, I used to get a credit card offer in the mail at least once a week when I turned 18. 

That hasn't changed. They prey on college people who are now "free and stupid."

Don't be fooled though. Even if you pay it off every month, the credit card companies make money on you. Your transaction fees paid by the businesses accepting your card net them plenty of revenues.

[Tmon]

It kills me that there is no 'life skills' class in high school that teaches people how to use credit cards, how to manage a bank account, how to do the basics of raising a kid, how to pay bills, how to manage passwords, etc... It is ridiculous that kids learn more about how people lived in the Civil War than they do about how people live today. 

My high school had one that taught the basic financial skills, it was called Practical Math, and it was aimed at the kids who were heading down what was then called the vocational track.  I'm guessing it is no longer offered due to the "everyone must go to college" thing and the rise of state mandated standardized assessment testing.

[Signe]

I had to declare bankruptcy when my marriage collapsed.  After, for years, I would get tons of car spam, even from companies like BMW.  It was insane.  I still get them but not nearly like before.  I reckon they thought that since I couldn't declare again for seven years (right?) they'd have a go at me.  Bleh.  Just what I needed... a new car that I couldn't afford and to be reminded of what a loser I was... I don't feel that way anymore.  Gordon was mad at me, too, I think, but I didn't realise that it would cause him trouble.  Just like filing single the next year would cause trouble.  That's me.  Trouble.   

[angry.bob]

Yeah, this was my wife's first bankruptcy and she was still operating under that "bankruptcy is the worst thing you can do" mentality they work hard to build into us. It's just over one week now and we've already gotten more pre-approved credit than we had before. She says she doesn't feel bad about it any more.

Frankly, I think offering the newly bankrupt that much credit is as bad as flooding an 18 year old kid's mailbox with offers. It's just as cynical and predatory but with an added dash of guaranteed slavery for seven years.

[Cheddar]

We are trying to foreclose on a home and got flooded with CC offers.

Yes, trying.

Anyway giggles and shits had wife apply.  3k limit lol.  4 years ago was nyet. 

[Paelos]

My credit was basically non-existant for years because I was either working paycheck to paycheck with a debit card, or I was living off my savings from prior jobs. Still, it never got to the point where credit was an option. I'd rather eat ramen for 3 weeks than run up credit card bills because I knew what would happen.

Many people don't know and they get eaten alive. Now? I applied for a credit card and got a 5k limit immediately. I needed more freedom for travel so I told them to upgrade it to 10k, which they did with no issues. But I'm getting cash back of 1-3% on everything and I'm paying off the balances and getting expense reimbursements by month-end.

What makes me chuckle is I'm actually getting a better income rate on my credit card than if I put money in the bank in a CD.

[RhyssaFireheart]

We meet with the trustee next week for the debtor's meeting or whatever it's called.  Going to reaffirm the mortgages because like Bob mentioned, it doesn't help rebuild your credit if the debt is wiped away.  Plus, the hassle the husband went through trying to make a payment after we filed was just... no.  We're halfway into a 30 year mortgage with no intentions of moving, so we're not risking that equity.

Since both our cars are in my name though, I have been inundated with car loan offers.  Like 2-3 a day.  No other credit card offers though, which is totally fine with me.  I never realized how casually I used one of my cards until I didn't have it.  It's an adjustment but I already feel better about doing this.

[Signe]

It's crazy.  It's like they want us to drive ourselves to the Poor House. 

[Trippy]

What's really weird is getting offers for a card you already have.

[angry.bob]

What's really weird is getting offers for a card you already have.

What's even weirder is getting offers for a card that you had $14,000 on ($25,000 after a few years of interest and a default judgement) when you went bankrupt. Capital One, stop giving me credit cards. If you won't learn your lesson I'm not going to bother doing it either.

[Maven]

Different departments on autopilot and formulas. The marketing department doesn't give a shit about you, you're just a potential lead to them. Their job is to get you to place the call to the representative who will see you are already in the system and wonder what the hell is going on right along with you.

[Sophismata]

Actually I find those car loan offers to be pretty scary.

I wouldn't want the State government sharing my registration info like that.

[angry.bob]

Actually I find those car loan offers to be pretty scary.

I wouldn't want the State government sharing my registration info like that.

They get the info from your bankruptcy filing, those are public record. Some places even have them in the newspaper along with the marriages and divorces.

[HaemishM]

Yes, as soon as your credit goes in the shitter, you realize that the bullshit they tell you about credit is BULLSHIT. It doesn't matter how bad your credit is or how badly you fucked up, someone will ALWAYS give you just enough money to be indebted to them for much too long, while not being nearly enough money to actually improve on your financial picture. Credit is an absolute trap designed to ensnare the weak-willed, stupid or people just too desperately needy to say no.

You people with good credit who pay shit off? THEY FUCKING HATE YOU. The reason they give you more of the best offers is to make you spend MORE than you can pay back. They want to make you bad credit users. Credit is the financial crack and the banks are stone cold pimp pushers.

[Merusk]

Actually I find those car loan offers to be pretty scary.

I wouldn't want the State government sharing my registration info like that.

Any point you interact with the state is public record, unless explicitly stated that it's not. It's always been that way AFAIK but until the internet and records were being put out there, few knew that. I can tell you what everyone in my neighborhood paid for their houses. Who's delinquent on taxes, etc.  I've always known how to do that because I took a class on it in College for Historic Pres which involved record pulling, but it wasn't some arcane knowledge. It was the professor telling us, "go to this department, their hours are 8 to 4, ask them how to pull these records."  That's it. Yeah, you had to know the department you needed and actually go to the courthouse/ auditor to pull them but it was always available.

These days so much of it is on the internet and there's resources readily available to tell you how. Yeah it seems scary but it's always been that scary, its' just more transparent.

[Sophismata]

Wow.

[Paelos]

In my county all I have to know is your address, and I can find your tax records, your payments, the owner, and the purchase information. It's public record too. And I've done it before because people are idiots about keeping their tax bills for their tax returns.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Got a new credit offer in the mail yesterday, but not for a car.  This one was just a straight loan ($4,000 max) and out of curiosity, I read the fine print to see what interest rate they were offering.

98.71%

Seriously.

 

[Maven]

Was it the one featuring Rocky? You know, the guy who made poor financial decisions and lost most of his hard-earned gains?

[angry.bob]

Got a new credit offer in the mail yesterday, but not for a car.  This one was just a straight loan ($4,000 max) and out of curiosity, I read the fine print to see what interest rate they were offering.

98.71%

Seriously.

 

Was it from a Payday Loan place or Native Americans? As far as I know 25% is the max legal rate for credit cards. Payday loan places get to charge a ton more because of the alleged "short term" of the "loan". Native Americans were experimenting with giving people credit and then surprise fucking them because say they don't have to follow any sort of laws or regulations and can do whatever they want. Not sure if they're still doing that or if it turned out people were getting money and then telling them to fuck off because reasons.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Went to the creditors meeting today.  That was actually pretty painless, outside of the missing some work part.  We were in the late afternoon schedule so got to sit through several people going before us.  It's not very private, although you don't hear real details, but some folks... wow.  I had to shake my head at the people who didn't show up prepared with proper ID though.  Our lawyer reminded us a few times to have our DLs and SSN cards out and ready to hand to the Trustee, which we did.

Now we just have to wait the 60 days for everything to clear and we're good.