Get It Right Already!

I have a bankruptcy. I am not proud of this fact. It wasn't a commemorative moment in my life, but it is branded into my memory. And to be fair, it might have been the biggest downer of 2017 had Bonus Mom not decided to take her last breath at the same time. Nothing has yet come close to that low point.

Anyway, my attorney and about three zillion others have assured me bankruptcies were created for the reasons we filed. The stigma is subsiding. But for the next several years I get to explain to people I pay why I filed in the first place. So, flashbacks are possible.

Right after our bankruptcy closed, one of our creditors filed a lawsuit against only me. This was highly illegal and I am quite certain they now regret doing so. Now to be fair, I didn't owe them money for two reasons: 1) my name was never associated with the loans in question. 2) OUR BANKRUPTCY CLOSED. But that didn't stop some hack of an attorney who violated Federal law and filed the papers anyway. That lawyer, by the way, is flipping burgers at some Burger Barf somewhere in the greater Birmingham Alabama area.

When the US Bankruptcy Trustee found this out, all heck broke loose and the bank who did this cowered in the corner, and chose to write a ginormous check instead of going to court for their gaffe. The man in charge of going after me in the first place was dismissed from his job and is hopefully cleaning the toilets at the local Burger Barf. But, the fact of the matter is, because of all this, our Bankruptcy was opened a month after the courts closed it while the Trustee sorted everything out.

Sometime this past autumn the bankruptcy closed again, with another one of our creditors making out like a bandit thanks to the ginormous check the bank had to write. Good for them! I hated stiffing people and businesses I owed.

However, it appears the bankruptcy has been opened a third time. At the time of this writing, nobody can tell me why.  But, it is open. To put life in perspective, I cannot buy another home until three years after the bankruptcy closes. So, that time frame won't start until the Trustees finally close this once and for good. This affects my taxes. It affects my mortgage. It affects my interest rate on the measly amount of commercial credit I have. It affects my FICO score. If I move and need to rent, explaining that I have three bankruptcies in two years looks sketchy--even if it is only because of weird circumstances.

I am guessing, though my attorney did nothing to reassure me today, that there was some sort of administrative error and it should not have been opened a third time. But sheesh. It is time to close this chapter for good.