MasConcepts Incorporated

Single 50 y/o. Been single all my life. First bankruptcy ever. Last year made $140k, income dropped to $85k Jan 2026. $65k credit card debt and about $7k medical bills. I had assets the trustee could have sold – vacant land (only worth $4k, and items that totaled about $6k that were non-exempt). Trustee could have elected to take them, not sure why she didn’t because my attorney was overly preparing for me to end up making monthly payments for about 6 months to the trustee in order to keep these assets to avoid the trustee taking them. No lawsuits, no judgments pending. I own my house but owe $90k (home valued at $330k so it was protected by homestead exemption). I owe $40k on my 2026 car but the value is also $40k. Remained current. Mortgage, HOA and car payments have all been on time. Just stopped paying credit cards and medical bills. I even enlisted in a debt consolidation company 4 years before filing (DO NOT RECOMMEND DOING THIS). I interviewed about 6 bankruptcy attorneys and went with my intuition – ALWAYS trust your intuition. Nobody showed up to the 341 and the trustee filed the following the next day after my 341:

“Trustee’s Report of No Distribution: I, (NAME OMITTED), having been appointed trustee of the estate of the above-named debtor(s), report that I have neither received any property nor paid any money on account of this estate; that I have made a diligent inquiry into the financial affairs of the debtor(s) and the location of the property belonging to the estate; and that there is no property available for distribution from the estate over and above that exempted by law. Pursuant to Fed R Bank P 5009, I hereby certify that the estate of the above-named debtor(s) has been fully administered. I request that I be discharged from any further duties as trustee. Key information about this case as reported in schedules filed by the debtor(s) or otherwise found in the case record: This case was pending for 1 month.”

My attorney stated after the 341, “You have worked your whole life, the timing was right, and you had the right trustee today!” I am on track to getting my final discharge at the end of the month.

I say all this to hopefully encourage some of you. I was scared. I was prideful but was humbled. I was stuck. The only person I can depend on is me. I have no family that I can fall back on.

I’m proud to say I made it through this unscathed. The attorney was $3,200 so he didn’t come cheap, but he was well worth it.

Yes, it’s a blow to my credit and I probably can’t get any credit for a long time. However, through personal connections, I ended up with an offer with the highest paying job I ever had and start that in 2 weeks.

I had to look at the positive – I own my house, my house payment is reasonable because I’ve owned it for a long time, I kept my car and all my assets which could have been taken away. I only want 1 credit card for emergencies maybe next year (I’ll even do a secured credit card to build up that credit for a few years) and that’s it. I’m going to put my extra money from my new employment into an interest bearing account.

I hope this is promising to many of you. I was terrified. I was relatively successful my whole life and had a bad year which derailed everything. Very, very humbling experience.

There’s light at the end of the tunnel and even though I was embarrassed and ashamed, I did it. I hope all of you who are considering filing to do your homework- find the attorney your gut tells you to. You also might get an amazing trustee that sees you’ve been working and you’re just not making it. And that’s okay. ❤️ We will all come out stronger. I’m still ashamed, but so glad I did it. Hugs to everyone going through this. ❤️‍🩹