MasConcepts Incorporated

I am in a 5 year 100% repayment plan for my chapter 13 bankruptcy. The only reason this happened was because I missed a mortgage payment to pay the fee for the lawyer whom told me that I could reaffirm the loan with the mortgage company to have them work with me to resolve the missed mortgage payment. I later find out that it was completely wrong, but Bankruptcy still seemed like the best case for my wife and I since we were drowning in debt and continued to accumulate debt due to not having any money left after paying off the monthly dues for the debt payments. So our situation became a vicious spiral of paying off the monthly debt payments but having to go more into debt to pay for groceries, bills, etc.

After looking over my last two months of spending, we are over what the court has deemed allowed for a family of 4 per month. For instance: the court has deemed $1300 for groceries…that is doable but hard to do with the current grocery prices. $100 for going out…this includes food and a fun activities…this is really low IMO. $330 for medical expenses, and with the new year and the deductible not met, we are paying almost $500 a month for medicine and doctor’s visits. Finally, they didn’t give us a budget for pet food or vet bills. This is about $200 a month for food alone.

Overall: the cost of living vs what is left after the 100% payment to the trustee is extremely hard and almost not doable and it seems to be getting worse.

I am going to speak with my attorney this Friday about all this but wanted to see if anyone has been successful in lowering the payment. How much stress is it to get the payment lowered, if at all? Does the court just not take into account the cost of living for a family of 4 with the high costs for groceries, owning a pet, going out to eat, etc? Thanks!