Mary Beth T. – Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

When we filed bankruptcy, our financial situation was was tough. We had massive student loan debts, and we had run up a large amount of credit card debt trying to pay for everything we didn’t actually have money to buy. My husband owned his own company and was working hard, but the money just wasn’t coming in the way we needed. I was a stay at home mom with two children under 3. I tried to go back to work, but it was difficult to find a job that paid enough to cover the cost of daycare for two little ones and still have money to pay other bills. I remember going grocery shopping and having to choose certain things over others because money was so tight. When a child got sick, I not only worried about their wellbeing, but also about how I was going to pay for doctor’s visits or medications they needed. I received constant calls from my credit card companies wanting payments, each of them making my anxiety a little worse. I got to where I dreaded to hear the phone ring. Most of my conversations with my husband were about my worrying about our financial situation, which just added more stress to him.

When my husband suggested bankruptcy, I didn’t want to hear it. I felt like it was admitting defeat, and that we would never recover from something like that. I had never heard anything good about bankruptcy. But I felt we had nowhere else to turn, so I finally agreed to meet with an attorney.

As soon as we filed bankruptcy, all of the phone calls from the credit card companies stopped. We were set up on a payment plan where we were able to make one monthly payment to all of our creditors, leaving us with enough money to create a budget and start buying the things we needed again. And with our plan we were able to keep our house and car, too. Our credit scores took a hit, but we learned to live off of the money we had and not use credit. Bankruptcy gave us room to breathe and get back on our feet, and it helped us learn how to better budget our money.

Now that our bankruptcy is over, we have been able to build up a savings account again. We also have been able to purchase a new home that better fits our family’s needs. And when emergencies come up, we don’t have to worry as much because we know we can find a way to pay for them. What I thought was one of the worst times of my life is probably one of the best things that happened to me. I am thankful for the relief and time to reset that bankruptcy gave me and all of the lessons I learned along the way.