ready for seven and need advice from ladynred, homeguru, and bigun, all!

[thebee7777]

ready for seven and need advice, ladynred, homeguru, bigun, et all seniors!

What is the name of your state?ohio
hi all! I know it's been a long time since I posted and received all those great answers to my questions. My previous post was titled "chapter 13 being dismissed, life in shambles," in case ya want to refresh your memory.
Circumstances have changed a bit since I posted about the chapter 13 dismissal. The "criminal mastermind" (my husband for the time being)(I was advised that the bancruptcy would be trumped by the dissolution, so that has to come next.) has finally had the consequences of his criminal and financial misconduct, catch up with him. He has landed in jail for.......as the Public Defender noted, "Years" and "State Penitentiary." The mortgage is still in default and the foreclosure sale is scheduled for the 20th of June, 2003. As before, he left me with a lot of surprise, pulse pounding, urgent debt. The house is still in disrepair, so much so that the homeowner's insurance was cancelled. The catch up payment is over $30,000.00, to save a moneypit. As senior members, Ladynred, HomeGuru and Bigun, all kindly advised me, that it was a straight chapter 7, and to get a fresh start. Well, that's just exactly, what I'm prepared to do. I joined Prepaid Legal and because my assigned home firm had a conflict (they represent a few of my creditors and are disqualified) they referred me to their "Conflict Line" who gave me a referral to a local Lawyer who wants to charge me $800.00 to retain and the remainder of $1,225.00 for an individual bankruptcy. That seems high to me and may be related to my husband's nefarious and complicated legal history and the two Chapter 13's my husband filed and had dismissed in the last 18 months. The financial misconduct, included, getting credit cards: joint and cards in my name and maxing them out, unbeknownst to me, I've even had a personal and a business checking account at two different banks closed, and future banking with these institutions ruined for me because of his unauthorized use of my accounts, causing overdrafts and eventual closure of the accounts. He also has a debt with a satellite supplier, from his small business as a Satellite Co. who has named me in the suit because I'm supposedly a cosigner or listed on the business as vice-pres, I'm not really sure. I am a cosigner on the Mortgage, but not the utilities, although that doesn't much matter to the electric co. as the bill follows the property. In the chapter 13, he rolled his small business and all of the criminal and civil lawsuits and judgements against him into it.
Here are my concerns:
The lawyer is charging me too much when I have 2 complete chapter 13 schedules in my possession, one, as recent as Dec.2002.
I can fill out the appropriate schedule myself, accurately and have the prepaid firm look them over before filing.
The debt is so large and intertwined, that I'm concerned about filing individually, for fear that they'll all come back after me when they find out he's in jail, or even challenge my discharge. I have in my possession a general power-of-attorney, signed by the soon-to-be ex and notorized by a notory at the jail.
Please advise on whether I should file jointly or singly, because I want that fresh start without any post-bankruptcy harassment or problems, or any of these creditors rearing their ugly heads, again. I also would like advice on retaining this expensive lawyer(who said that "IF" he would take on a joint chapter 7, including my husband, it would cost me $3,732.00) when I have the bankruptcy engine at my disposal and can do this myself with my prepaid firm to look it over, before filing. I know you're probably all asleep, but any expedient responses will be gratefully appreciated as I'm supposed to be in that lawyer's office by 12N Thursday May 29th, with the worksheet done and $800.00. Thanks, Deb "thebee"

 

[HomeGuru]

I'm not asleep but your post was too long.

 

[thebee7777]

Ohio: I know.........I'm in 'Treatment' for it. The program is called 'Verbosity Anonymous'

 

[Ladynred]

Deb,

If it were me, I'd go with doing the papers yourself and have prepaid legal look them over. I don't know what the going rate in OH is for CH 7 bankruptcies, but you might be able to find another lawyer for less. The schedules for 7 are different than 13, but you should have the bulk of what you need in those other Ch 13 papers.

As for any of the creditors coming after you later, as long as you include everything you even *think* you might have been 'included' on with your STBX's debts, then they can't come after you later. For safety's sake, if you can't find out if your name is on things, then include everything, there is such a thing as a 'contingent debt' - something which could but may never happen.

Have you pulled your credit reports to see if any of your STBX's frauds appear there ??

As an aside, for your sake, I'm kinda glad your STBX has landed in the clink... you can start over, in more ways than one, and get on with your life.

 

[thebee7777]

how to get free credit reports from all three

Ohio-Thank You, Thank You...Ladynred! I did want to run an all inclusive credit report before filling out the forms. But in how to go about doing this, I'm lacking in knowledge and am suspicious and leary of all those spams and pop-ups touting, "Get your Free Credit Report, Now!!!!" Please advise this Neophyte. Is there such a thing as a free credit report?
Thanks again for the gentle advice.

PS:should I get a Joint, Individual, or both?

 

[Ladynred]

Deb,
What you need it do is go to each of the 3 CRA websites and order your report.

www.equifax.com
www.experian.com
www.transunion.com

It costs $9 each, don't get a 3-in-1 or tri-merge, they lack critical details.

You CAN get a free report, under certain circumstances. In general they are:

1 - recently became unemployed and you're looking for work
2 - recently been denied credit
3 - you believe you've been the victim of identity theft.

There are a couple others, but those are the main 3.
I don't know that you can legally pull your STBX's report, don't know if your POA for his incarcerated butt would cover you.

 

[cyana]

I have some experience with business debt...

because I was the volunteer bookkeeper through the first 18 months of my ex's now defunct business. This small business was incorporated. When I filed bk 7 my atty advised me to list everything that I might have "potentially" signed any personal guarantees for. As I have stated previously my ex was a "master" at identity theft. When I was done listing the potential business debt, my attorney assured me that as long as I had made a "good faith" effort to list any of the business debts, if one or more slipped through the cracks I would still be covered. None of the business debts were listed on my credit reports but that didn't stop the owners of the complex from suing both of us because I had "allegedly" signed the lease agreement, which thankfully I included on my "list".

The same thing is not true for personal and/or joint debt. That's why it's critical (as LNR says) to pull all three of your credit reports, not a trimerge (3 in 1). A couple of months after your discharge get all three again to check for errors.

By the way, I'm in DE.

 

[thebee7777]

Thanks for the advice, LNR and Cyanna. I pulled the Equifax so far and can't seem to print it out so it's in the same simple format-it keeps cutting off the right edge of the page also. Am I not entitled to a hard copy for $9.00.........or is it some "DUH" printer settings problem?
I was also shocked to see that much of my debt, judgements were on credit cards I never opened or used and bad checks written on my accounts that soon closed. Also on medical bills I've never seen before..........talk about identity theft! I'd put my STBX up to your X anyday.
There seems to be a place for a personal statement on the top of the bankruptcy form to explain the debt.....is that what it's for and can I explain these fraudulent abuses from my STBX on my credit there? Also can some of this info be used to start an investigation to remove some of these negative marks from my credit?
LNR, you were right.........it's illegal to try to obtain someone elses credit report and no POA will cover it, at least from Equifax.

 

[cyana]

"Bee" ... try printing your Equifax report on "landscape" instead of "portrait". That's what I had to do because my EQF did the same thing. If you order your Experian report online definitely use "landscape". I didn't have a problem printing my TU in portait, though all three online reports are choppy - meaning to get further detail you have to make use of their "links" to get a complete picture of your debt situation.

Now, if your bk paperwork allows you to add a "personal" statement to explain any causes of your debt, I'd certainly would add such a statement. And when you finally obtain all three of your credit reports, first make sure all the debt is listed as "included in bk" (all three CRA's have slightly different terminology) and then I'd write to all three credit bureaus and explain the debt caused by fraud. The credit bureaus are by law required to let you add at least a 100 word "of explanation" statement per debt. Further, the CRA's must make your "personal statements" available to any of your future creditors.

I was hoping that your POA would allow you to access your incarcerated x's credit report; apparently you found that it did not. The only credit report's you are allowed by law to access are your own. This is not Equifax's "rule"; it's the only law, with penalties including incarceration.

 

[thebee7777]

It's Deb, in Ohio again............Well, I just pulled and printed all of the three separate credit reports from Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. I am fit to be tied!!! From bad checks written on my accounts, to hospital bills I didn't incurr-Those that I did were hidden from me, till now. Credit cards I didn't open, and individual one's that I did, but the purchases with them were not done by me. I just talked with the woman he had a 3 year affair and a child with, during our marriage.........neat, Huh? She talked of things that he bought her and brought her during their relationship. The child has a rare congenital birth defect that makes her medically fragile and I'm wondering if some of those hospital and Dr. bills are hers. Get this, On their second date he brought her my childhood bed with the rosebuds on it. There has also been some very expensive jewelry missing during that time. There are large purchases on credit cards from JCP and stores like that, that I never charged.
What do I do first?.............Lucky for him, he's in jail! I read all the fraud and stolen identity articles and copied the phone numbers. It's just insurmountable, the vast amount of items I would need to dispute. Do I report it to the CRA's first, or File a Police report? This has been a 20 year marriage, with the crimes spanning years. He's led a double life, already had trouble with the FBI, IRS, and Local Police. I've even found tax bills, individual, that had been placed as leins. I'm a Nurse and every paying job I've had automatically withholds the largest amt of taxes. I'm somehow listed as co-owner of his satellite business. He's been very controlling throughout the marriage, and I'm just coming to find out that it's Domestic Abuse. Economic, and emotional, -he's always taken my paychecks and I've had to beg for what I needed. Isolated me from the outside world by many means, including car and financial means. He's filed taxes and bankruptcies giving me only the paper to sign, in extremely rushed circumstances. He's stolen money, medicine, checks, jewelry, and purchased items. He would actually take item's I had purchased back to the store and get the money back for his drug habit, then when I'd go to look for them he'd lie about doing anything with them. He's a criminal, through and through. Is there anything like "A wife can't testify against her Husband" law to keep me from pursuing all means to clear my name and credit? Help, you guys, after 20 years of this, I think I'm severely damaged.

 

[Ladynred]

There's NOTHING whatsoever to stop you from charging him with these frauds and placing them squarely where they belong legally, on HIM !!! It may look insurmountable, but its not, its one of those one step at time deals and its going to take patience and diligence.

Definitely start with the police report. You'll need that to file the fraud charges with the CRA's and since you can easily show his troubles with the local and FEDERAL law enforcement, this one more thing shouldn't be too hard. Once you have the police reports filed, then you start writing letters to the credit bureaus.

With the magnitude of what you're talking about, it may be a wise idea to get a lawyer to help you out with this one. It could expedite the process a bit and certainly help you with the criminal elements.

At least now you can move on with your life, even it you have to climb over this pile of rubble first, you've got a clearer, freeer path ahead of you

 

[thebee7777]

Thank You Ladynred. Since I last posted and put Homeboy, I mean HomeGuru to sleep....., I've been busy. I did talk with a lawyer and he helped me to get my priorities straight. I was under the impression that I would have to get the proof to dispute before the bankruptcy, in other words, filing charges against him was going to be required, not optional, and the four things I had to do were interdependant. He advised to make the bankruptcy my top priority and then write to, or fill out the form to request an investigation by the "big three." That way, they collect the paperstorm of documentation from the unending list of those I need to dispute so I can look at all these charges, checks and documents to see if it's my signature. And with what I've uncovered, so far in gathering all this stuff that's been hidden from me, I don't think I'm going to find a lot of my handwriting. Then if I still had any energy, I had the option to file the police report with the proof obtained from the investigations.

 

[HomeGuru]

I'm up now.