Our Ruination Has Been Recorded

Do you all remember how I alluded to other things going on with us that I couldn't discuss?  Today our financial ruin was finally recorded.  We realized in January that we had no options left.  We tried to refinance to pay down our debts but couldn't because our debt to loan ratio was already too high.  We tried talking to our banks but they had no desire to negotiate better rates on our cards or to change our mortgages.  Yes, I said mortgages because we still had the other house that we couldn't sell and although we had it rented for 6 months, it didn't cover the property taxes which came due in January.  So we began the process of filing chapter 7.

It wasn't something we were thrilled to do nor was it a decision we made quickly or lightly.  We had already spent months trying to figure out how best to deal with our rapidly deteriorating situation.  We have never been late payers on mortgages or credit cards.  Our credit has been A+ for years.  That's better than most Americans can boast.  But in the past year of having to decide whether to pay the doctor or the mortgage, whether to pay the mortgage on the house we're living in or the one we can't get rid of...our credit was going to start dropping points anyway.  We could see by January that we could either keep trying to patch the dam while ruining our credit, never being able to pay down our debt, not be able to afford food and clothes, and lose not one but both our houses...

Or we could file for bankruptcy, actually clear the debt, and have shitty credit but get there with a lot less struggle and reduce our chances of dying from heart attacks.  We chose bankruptcy over slow death.  It isn't like we're rich people asking for a bailout.  We are people who can't afford medical insurance, going to the dentist, or the proper mental care we need.  We are already living a modest life and as you know, every couple of weeks we completely hit the wall before payday and try not to have any needs for a few days.

Philip did most of the paperwork which was extensive.  You're wondering about the McDonald's picture, aren't you?  Today was not only the first time since I was married that I had to enter a courthouse but it has been over 20 years since I have stepped foot in a McDonald's, but we had to make a bathroom emergency stop and since there was no gas station we opted for the great American fall from culinary grace to bail us out of our bathroom needs.  Seems so appropriate to eat a snack from the greatest icon of our degraded American culture on the same day we go to have our ruination recorded in the government court. 


Being broke in America the way we've been broke is not like being rich everywhere else in the world.  So don't even say it. 

Today we are officially just another bankrupt American family.