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I know that you say bankruptcy is very, very bad, but I was wondering if there's any
situation where it may be the only way out. I am 34. I'm a single mom of two kids,
and I am over $90,000 in debt, and I bring in about $64,000 a year working three jobs.
So I feel like I'm drowning, and I've been doing the baby steps for like six months,
but really like going in deep with it seriously for about three months, and I just don't see
like a way out. And I found out recently when I went to try and get out of my car loan that
I'm $17,000 upside down. So I just don't know what to do. I'm sorry, you're scared.
I'm very scared. I have a 13-year-old and a one-year-old, and my one-year-old has
very complex medical issues.
How much do you owe on your car?
$37,000.
And so you bought a car that you can't afford, and it has made this whole thing happen?
Pretty much, yeah. My car loan is $850 a month.
Good God. And what is the rest of the debt, the other $50,000?
So I have $30,000 student loans, $13,000 medical, $5,500 to my grandma,
$2,200 in a payday loan when I was desperate, and I owe $2,300 to my lawyers.
For what?
Child support for my baby.
Is child support coming in?
Yes. We're just still going back and forth because he owes me $26,000 in arrears.
Do you think you'll get that?
Yeah.
You do? Okay. When will that come? Do you know?
Anytime between the next 10 days and if we have to go to trial over it, up to a year.
But I will 100% get it.
He has it?
Oh, he has it.
He just doesn't want to give it. He wants to be told he has to give it.
Okay. We'll tell him. That's good. We can help him with that.
So you owe $37,000 on your car and someone told you your car is worth $20,000.
Like the dealer said, that's what they would give you for it.
I went to 13 different dealerships and the highest I was quoted was $22,000.
Yeah. Well, that's because they're all buying it at wholesale.
Dealers do not pay retail for a car.
They sell cars at retail, but they buy them at wholesale.
So who do you owe the $37,000 to?
Santander.
What is that?
It's a bank.
A local bank?
No, it's one of those we'll finance anybody deals.
Yeah. So your interest rate's 15%?
16 and a half.
And I had good credit when I got this loan, so I don't really know what happened.
I know what happened. You signed a loan that you shouldn't have signed.
That's what happened. You allowed them to screw you.
Oh my gosh. You got taken to the cleaners.
I did. My engine was dying on my other car and I had a newborn baby and I went in
and they saw a helpless person and they got me.
They got you. They got you coming and going.
Okay. So number one, the answer to your question is bankruptcy is not really
going to solve your problems. Okay. Because the only way the car goes away in bankruptcy
is if the car goes away.
Right.
Okay. And the student loans are not bankruptable.
Right.
Okay. So that's the two of those things are most of the debt.
Oh, and by the way, you're not going to bankrupt your granny either.
No.
By the time we add those three things together that you're not going to bankrupt on
or, you know, then you really haven't accomplished anything by filing bankruptcy
because you're going to have to pay the student loans and grandmother,
and you're going to get the car repoed, which you could do without bankruptcy.
That's not a problem. Just quit paying it. They'll come get it.
You know, it's okay to let it repo, but before you'd file bankruptcy,
because you're going to lose it in bankruptcy anyway. Right.
Okay. I just didn't know if that was, have you just, I don't want you to do that.
That's not my suggestion, but before we file bankruptcy,
my point is bankruptcy is not doing anything for you.
Right.
Because the car, the student loans and grandma,
the, you know, so you didn't have bankrupting on $2,000 worth of stuff or something here.
That's silly. No, we're not going to do that. All right. So, but let's try to,
let's try to get you out of this mess. So, um, you know, I'm going to look up on Kelly
blue book, kbb.com, what private sale is on that car. And you're going to find it's more like
28,000, but you're still 10,000 in the hole. You're not 17 in the hole, but you're probably 10.
And I don't doubt what kind of car is it? 24 Ford edge. Okay. Boy, did they get you? Um,
sold you a piece of crap car on top of it, but anyway, um,
Oh, it's just awful. No, it's there's a lot of Chevy's that are better than that. Um, anyway,
the, um, yeah, so we need to get rid of the car. Let's try to figure out how we can sell it to an
individual for 25, 28, something like that. Then where are we going to come up with the 10
difference? Any ideas? I'm praying that this check comes in. Any ideas? Yeah. I've just been
hanging on to getting that payment. And so if that comes in, you sell the car the next day
and you write a check for the difference. Yep. And then you free up almost $900 a month. Yeah.
And that, that takes care of that. And then you use some of the money to buy you a five or $6,000
car that you pay cash for. Okay. And your student loans are on hardship deferral. Anyway, you're not
paying them right now. Anyway. Right. Um, I've been paying like $50 a month on them. Yeah. I
just put them on hardship for six months and let's work on some of this other stuff,
but we need to, the primary thing we got to do is figure out a way to get out of this car
sooner rather than later. So if it's going to be a year, I don't want you driving this car a year.
It's going to be a year before you get the child support money. So if you're not going to get the
child support money anytime soon, then we got to find $10,000. Any other places you can get it?
I mean, I could go into more debt with my grandmother. I just don't want to. No,
I don't want to do that. Any chance you could borrow $5,000, $10,000 from the credit union?
No, you're shut your credit. I lost my job when I was seven months pregnant and it,
I couldn't get another one until recently. And so I used my entire savings, everything.
And so I, my credit is now not great. Okay. Abby, you're not bankrupt. I don't know how
much pain you're going to be in with his car before you get out of it, but that's going to
be the answer. And that's the way through because the car is the problem. Create your
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