" Bankruptcy was , candidly , one of the good financial decisions I made in maturity . "
Money isn’t a measure of character, but society acts like it is. And that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s important to hear that at a time whenfinancial anxietiesare at an all-time high.
Jobs are vanishing, the stock market is fluctuating, medical bills are piling up, and government budget cuts are putting Social Security and other public services at risk. For some, the economic situation we’re currently facing mirrors previousrecessions.
Bankruptcy and financial loss aren’t personal failures in any capacity. More often than not, it’s a case of someone in a system that’s already working against them.
Last week, I asked members of theBuzzFeed Communityto open up aboutexperiencing bankruptcy or losing it all, and these submissions shared some honest insight into how they handled or are currently handling debt and stress.
Note : Some submissions have been edit and digest for clarity . Some responses are from thisReddit ribbon .
1.“So, I was a stay-at-home mom at the time, because my old job hadn’t paid enough to cover daycare. My ex-husband made enough for us to live on, but nothing more, really. My parents helped put him through grad school. Then he committed crimes and was fired (of course), and I was unemployed with two kids and no daycare openings. I scrambled to find a job and a place to live, and am eternally grateful for my parents’ support. That said, my job paid about a quarter of what his did, so there was no choice. I’m a little more than halfway through.”
2.“I’m a bankruptcy paralegal, and honestly, people think it will be so much worse, but it’s a fairly simple process. Even the 341 meeting of creditors isn’t that bad. Bankruptcy forms are free online, and if you want to file, my biggest advice is to fill out forms A/B (personal property), I (income), and J (expenses) because a lot of the holdup is just trying to get that info. So many people will call crying after their discharge, thanking us because they feel the weight off their chest.”
— monikap6
3.“American here. My husband and I filed after I got sick and couldn’t work for two years, racking up medical debt without the income to pay it, and using credit cards to buy groceries and basic needs. We had to move back in with my family because we couldn’t afford rent. We filed a Chapter 13, which meant we still owed a large portion of the money, but a fraction of the total. We’ve just paid it off after five years of payments.”
4.“21 years ago, I’d just had a child. He turned 1, my spouse came home, and decided he wanted a divorce! I didn’t even know we were having issues! I mean, we just had a kid! I was always a happy-go-lucky type! Came out of nowhere! Discovered we were $100,000 in debt!”
5.“Now, I’m doing very well. It took a while to get back to where I was and beyond. I’ve lost everything: my house, car, savings, liquidated my 401(k), and filed for bankruptcy. I had to live in a motel for a little while. Started back at a minimum wage job when I was making over six figures before. Now, I’m back to making over six figures. It took time, perseverance, not giving up, and knowing that sometimes, we have to pay our dues more than once.”
– 57 , Florida
6.“I filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy TWICE by the time I was 28. I definitely understand things happen and how it can all go south quickly. I was making under $30k a year and HIGHLY irresponsible.”
7.“I declared bankruptcy before I turned 30 due to bad health and credit card debt. After nine months of minimal payments, it was a weight off my shoulders and a fresh start for my credit history. Bankruptcy isn’t a moral failing; it’s a societal one.”
8.“Life changes at the drop of a dime. I went from a nice-paying job to going through my first job loss during a company restructure in COVID to being unable to find work and having to resort to serving at a restaurant and doing delivery apps. The restaurant went bankrupt.”
" I got a temp problem , but they edit hours to nothing after the hurricane in my surface area . With the lack of hour at the temp business and my auto having an proceeds that get it to be down for over two weeks , endeavor to troubleshoot , and after spend money on parts and Uber to business interviews , I ’m so far behind . I ’m doing 14 - time of day days in a red-hot car and will still be $ 200 short on rent , and will terminate up homeless now . I defaulted on my acknowledgment years ago and have to sort that out once I can give to even file for bankruptcy . I ’m not ashamed to need it . I cognise it does n’t count in the end . I am just in utter survival mode until then . Maybe one day life wo n’t be so cruel to me . "
– u / Patient_Ad_2357
9.“I left my cheating husband of a decade a couple of years ago. I quit my career so I could raise our babies and he could excel at his career and go to school.”
10.“My parents filed for bankruptcy when I was 15. It was a very tense few months around the house as we adjusted to no longer using credit cards; we did some heavy couponing at that time, and a lot of the luxuries my parents treated us to (vacations, certain foods, etc.) were non-existent.”
11.“I’m doing well. I bought a house two years ago, eight years after filing bankruptcy. I had lost my job in 2008, was out for almost three years doing freelance, selling things on eBay, and taking in alterations sewing. I wasn’t wild with credit cards, and could have maxed them out, but I ended up $14,000 in the hole with my mortgage. I was back to work full time with a great salary but was too far underwater. I found a buyer for a short sale, but the bank wouldn’t accept it, so I went into Chapter 11, gave up my $350,000 house that had decreased in value to $300,000, and paid $900 a month to pay off some of the debt through the courts.”
12.“Two bankruptcies and life has never been better. I have excellent credit, and it’s only been six years since my last one. If I get hit hard in the wallet again, I’ll do number three. Easy process.”
– 44 , California
13.“I filed at 35 mainly because my medical bills got out of hand, but I was nervous about bankruptcy because of the stigma that the term carries with it. I was able to pay the monthly notes for three years, and it was discharged. I’m 44 now, and although it shows up on my credit report still, I can purchase things without any problems. The bankruptcy sucked, but the outcome has been nothing but positive.”
– u / srich127
14.“I stole my parents' car at 15 and crashed it with my friend in the car. She was hurt pretty badly, and her parents' health insurance covered her bills. The insurance company then sued me and my parents individually. We all had to file for bankruptcy.”
15.“Bankruptcy was, honestly, one of the best financial decisions I made in adulthood. Five years ago, I was drowning in credit card debt, and there was absolutely no end in sight. Then COVID hit the world, and things got even worse. I lost my job during that time and was able to find a new one about five months later, but I was making significantly less, adding more stress to the already huge mountain I was facing. When we got the $1,400 stimulus checks, I used mine to pay for an attorney and filed Chapter 7.”
H/T:r/Debt
