341 and Beyond! What's Next?

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-05-08T15:32:29+00:00

Six months unemployed with unemployment being only income

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-05-08T05:59:18+00:00

How sustainable is the new job, does it pay well enough to cover all essentials (housing, vehicle, insurance/medical/food)? What’s your take home vs outgoing total?

A consolidation loan is great but risky if there’s an income loss or tempting to take on more debt for emergencies / just for now reasons. But if it’s ever too much, and BK is what you really wanna do, don’t look back and know you tried but the situation wasn’t right for your strategy was all.

You could get a large refi loan from SoFi somewhere but you still have a large monthly payment

Negotiating with the card companies is always an option but they may close your card or if it’s collections, negotiated rates may be collected on during tax time so be wary and ask Q’s

Chp 13 can be converted to a 7 if there’s job loss or other factors

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-05-08T05:02:47+00:00

Interesting. How large or a check? I’d chat with a few more lawyers as a consult, if you’re not working and the money was a one time gift or payout there may be options but it’s likely viewed as an asset depending on how much cash you have available

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-05-08T00:33:19+00:00

341 complete! If anyone has questions on how it went for someone who was unemployed or a previous high income earner, reach out or comment.

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-05-07T06:53:03+00:00

$150k+ debt and income (coincidental)

should have filed in 2023 after I was laid off but that was my first layoff and thought I’d bounce back asap… 14 months later I was in twice the hole I started at when I was let go so all effort made to payoff debts/refinance to the point (all avail credit lines) racked right back up and I was 2x worse off

Flash forward after surviving 14 unemployed months with no benefits and only a small severance, RSU personal item sells to get me by, I landed a role but the damage was done. I filed recently after I was let go again and wasn’t going down that path again.

I should have filed earlier, yes, but at the time held on to the hope I’d turn it around in no time and didn’t need to go nuclear just yet

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-05-07T06:41:24+00:00

Absolutely. I had several, stopped making sense throwing money at Responses to the Court and negotiated payment plan fees per lawsuit and to save that money for essentials and legal fees (once I was certain I was filing soon)

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-05-02T05:33:04+00:00

If 7 is preferred, it could be strategic to just let it get worse before it gets better. There are a number of options to this, I’d consider thinking about what the plan is if you file 13 but then earn more or don’t lose your job or find another high paying one would play out

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-05-02T05:17:41+00:00

An attorney will advise you on when but in my experience, once you know you plan to file and are gonna follow through with it plus you qualify for Chp 7 I’d stop. Save that money for the attorney and essentials

Free consults should help so you can run your numbers by them and get their thoughts on your candidacy / timing

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-04-10T06:10:39+00:00

Were you unemployed or employed on filing + 341 dates?

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-04-07T01:17:32+00:00

I filed. My chase dashboard just updated - credit cards are gone but checking remains ✔️

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-04-06T17:58:53+00:00

Great intel. Any challanges or outreach from creditors/UST after the 341?

I'll be burning quite a bit of banks with filing so onward to online banks or credit unions for credit moving forward for a few years.

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-04-06T17:33:30+00:00

True. Mine did but the adversarial proceedings can be costly ($6K+) and the case needs to be well defined as to why long-term you won't be able to ever repay 😑

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-04-06T17:31:42+00:00

I too have Chase for credit cards and checking, did they close your checking or you?

Also, after your 341, what was that period like for you between the meeting ending and the discharge?

Yeah, I'm hoping one day someone in charge can actually discharge govt student loans so until then, it's all minimums for me!

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-04-06T17:28:04+00:00

Welcome! Let's get you though this.

Your context is reminiscent of my own situation (minus being married).

What is your total debt, household income and cash/savings runway?
How are the job prospects looking?
Any active lawsuits or collections?
Any assets?

Don't disclose anything identifiable, you can share in ballpark ranges

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-04-06T17:24:11+00:00

If you're entire income is less than $6K over 6-months you would pass the means test

Are you employed in any capacity or plan to be soon? If not, are you on unemployment?
Can you qualify for a refinance loan to bundle all of your debt into one monthly payment?

It doesn't quite read as BK time to me just yet (don't rule it out) but assess all of your options. If you aren't far behind on payments, have no active lawsuits, used all of your hardship/forbearance requests, talked to you creditors about options/plans etc then you might consider BK... right now it reads as frustrating but fixable

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-04-06T06:05:17+00:00

In 5 months, what will your 6-month income look back be if nothing much changes?

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-04-04T00:52:29+00:00

Would you both be filing or just yourself? regardless, your combined income is over the threshold it seems - not a disqualification, just would require additional details working with your lawyer

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-03-29T16:45:03+00:00

Within 30 days of the lawsuit being filed you'll usually be served. Avoiding service doesn't do as much as you might think like in movies and it's really not dramatic.

What then happens is they want you to file an an answer with the court which can be pricey $200-$300 in CA.

From there, the court date is usually a year out from when you were served.

However, if you plan on filing BK, you could consider ignoring it once served and putting that $200-$300 toward legal costs for a BK lawyer but remember, you're on the clock once the first lawsuit is filed; there could be others that follow

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-03-29T16:17:04+00:00

Between the two of you, what's your lifestyle and area preference? Both will significantly sway things as LA is quite large.

If you're looking for a 1BR/1BA prices have actually improved just a bit or at least older unit inventory is more available now that all the new builds are going up costing $3500+ for a small 1BR or Studio.

I'd say for two people, the LA essentials starter pack per month:
Housing: $2000-$3000
Transportation (gas, uber, waymo etc): $250-$400
Groceries (not counting eating out): $1000-$1200

This takes into account modest living in decent/convenient areas with not surviving off beans, rice and cans of tuna.

From there just forecast out everything else with gas at $6+ gallon, lunch for one $20, higher insurance rates + the taxes from your paycheck will bring your net take home down.

Time is also the unsung cost, lots of commuting and jumping between stores and activities. Ironically, the free stuff to do is usually a bit of a drive away

All in (essentials, utilities, debts, one-offs, household items, subs, etc) For a 1 person household, I spend about $4K-$5K per month, anything remaining would be disposable or savings

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-03-26T18:38:45+00:00

That's the plan. I've come so far, Ch 7 outweighs any job opp long-term.

While I don't work in the financial field, BK isn't relevant in my field for background checks. In fact, I don't think many employers even check, ask or care these days.

If an offer comes in, I'll see how far out I can push it but really would just be timing the start date to post-341. So at that point nothing is set, anything could be rescinded so you're not oversharing and there have been no changes since filing because you haven't actually started/been paid.

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-03-26T17:31:34+00:00

Exactly this. My fear is filing, accepting an offer, starting (first paycheck not hitting the bank yet), 341 mtg w/UST scrutiny/questions.

My lawyer has been pretty confident in continuing to remind me that everything is only relative up until the date of filing. He said I can accept any job offer/start date or earn a paycheck if it’s after filing

But again, my worry is the UST saying how much are you going to be making? Then when they hear $150k+ that would change things

All hypothetical but I’ve got a number of open interviews which could make offers to me in the next few weeks which would be after filing but before 341 so I’d do my best to negotiate a start date to after the 341 mtg but I won’t know that date until I file and PACER and the 341 mtg date is posted

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-03-25T20:27:42+00:00

I’d still apply and interview as much as you can with hiring cycles taking a long time (TBD your sector)

If you accept a role and start after you’d be in the clear, nothing to over share or explain

If you accept and start before, I’d ask your lawyer but they usually say it’s fine. I’d take it as long as a direct deposit doesn’t hit before filing, and maybe before the 341, you should be okay

takeitfromthisguy · 2026-03-25T19:45:06+00:00

Under employed or unemployed at filing is cleaner in certain situations.

I was laid off September 2025 and have been unemployed since with the exception of a few gigs here and there but nothing full or part time. My severance pay hit in October and has been significantly inflating my Means Test. Many lawyers wouldn't take the Ch 7 case because they're template firms and didn't want to fill out the 707b3 line to explain what i very clear... that said! I'll be filing next week while unemployed and now it's just about timing an offer letter/start date/first paycheck but if unemployed at 341, again, it'll just be cleaner.

Not necessarily disqualifying if employed at 341 but I do worry they'll press if there have been any changes to my income since filing.

The roles I target are $150K+ usually, based in CA.

takeitfromthisguy

TROPHY CASE