well, just got fired. what now, bankruptcy?

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I finally got the axe at work. I had been paranoid for a while, seeing the non-literal "writing on the wall" that my grandmother calls it. I think they were just looking for an excuse to fire the eccentric guy that nobody got along with socially and finally found that excuse when i breached the "miss a day, call in that morning" procedure because my alarm clock did not function morning after my boss wrote me up for missing days, during which, I was too sick to get out of bed and was in constant contact electronically (email on my old phone).

Now, I'm jobless; there are no IT jobs with enough pay that I'm qualified for where I live. I've checked all the major universities in my state and have checked all the big job sites but have found nothing. I've put out a few feelers within the small group of people I know to see if anything comes up but have heard nothing so far. This is a great time to be jobless, especially since I was just about to lose my mind from not making enough money, much less, not making any: See financial problems post here.

I filed for unemployment and have attempted to renegotiate lower interest rates on all my debts but have yet to be successful. One of the credit card companies actually hung up on me twice once I finally got through to a human. I've sent them paper mail after that and am hoping something good comes of it, especially since I threatened bankruptcy if we were not able to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.

I've been selling everything I can get my hands on and haven't turned down a single side job since I got laid off. Some days I hardly want to get out of bed for being so depressed, but I guess that's not an excuse. My insurance will be gone by May 15th, so at this point, I have no idea how I will afford my medications. Even with insurance, I pay about 200-300 per month. I've considered taking all my remaining assets, liquidating them, and using the money to seek asylum for mental health treatment in some north-western european country, but my contacts have been telling me that things are just as bad over there.

At this stage, unless I can be making about 3,000 per month, bare minimum there, I will be bankrupt within 30-60 days. With unemployment, if I cannot find a job, I will be bankrupt in about 45-90 days, but there is no guarantee that I will receive unemployment compensation.

My dream job would be probably working, living, and studying at some large university. This would eliminate the morning/evening rush-hour commute, which nearly makes me insane. Being able to study for a free or reduced rate would be quite nice, and I figure that there is a much better chance of finding more of "my species" at a university, perhaps even a suitable mate, than from the general public. I don't really care where the Uni is at this point as long as they can pay about 50k USD per year or more for IT work and have some sort of arrangement for living on campus.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or enlightened insights? I'm lost.

Something I just learned about unemployment. If you have a dentist appointment or any other appointment and you turned down work that was offered for that day, don't tell the unemployment office you refused work. They're not going to care why you refused the work. So you have to lie by saying you didn't turn down any work. I thought they call your work but I guess not because that is not what they did here.

My honesty got me disqualified. I will be working again soon with my job as long as I don't get officially laid off and I will report it back to them.

I appreciate your advice. Since most of the government has been lying to me for all my life, I figure it's the least I can do to imitate my authority figures by doing the same in my communications to them. I've been trying to reach out to various community resource groups for employment options for a few hours now without return on my time investment.

Ivan, first I am a fellow Russian immigrant too! You are one of millions of victims of the mortgage bubble. But you have opportunities. Rent out your house to room mates. lots of them. russian illegal immigrants. get thirty of them to pay you $100 per month to sleep, shower, eat in your house and you will be all set. start by calling the local russian store and telling exactly what you are doing - offering cheap rent. napishi obiavlenie pro deshevii rent na russkom iazike i poves ego v russkom magazine.

I sold about 80-90% of all my stock parts and such today for about 840 USD and received notice that I will get unemployment. However, considering that it's only about 25% of my former income, that won't help me much right now. I'm still looking for work and haven't gotten replies to the folks I've sent my resume to. I can pretty much expect to lose any hope of maintaining a decent credit score.

If I cannot get 2-3 room mates, each paying 400-500 per month, then my only choice is to move out of the house and sell it or try to rent it. If all renting efforts fail and if I cannot find a job, which is quite likely, I will be losing the house, pretty much anything I have left that's worth anything. I know I should be thankful to be alive right now and have decent amounts of food, but I just don't feel that way, not quite sure why.

yes room mates might help you pay for rent.

Bankruptcy does not come that easy. Lenders are normally reluctant to let declare someone bankrupt, because they loose in this way mostly all their claims and the borrower is protected against further claims.

It is even, depending on your circumstances, possible to put pressure on your lenders by saying that if they are not willing to enter into a agreement regarding lower interests, pausing payments or writing down parts of their claims that you would declare yourself bankrupt.

You need to be very cold-blooded - your lenders are too!

So pay up, dude:)

I too have been thinking of declaring bankruptcy. The problem is: doesn't one need money to hire a bankruptcy lawyer? So how the hell do you declare bankruptcy when you don't have any money. The people who don't have any money are the one's who need to declare bankruptcy. This is so stupid.

I do not know how the process is done in the US but in the UK you can go directly to the court and only had to pay the court fees.

Insolvency and bankruptcy are different. One concerns companies and will normally ban the majority owner from trading for a while. Personal bankruptcy with full liability can be swifter i think.

Oh thanks. Where I go to see my caseworker there is a lawyer who gives free advice. I will look into it.

Last edited by Master_Shake on 26 Feb 2009, 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

Personal in the UK means roughly that all your assets except elementary items and items which are not worth to bring to auction and all income above a basic standard of living will be used to pay your creditors. After a year you will be "discharged" and all remaining liabilities will be written off by the court.

Aslo with insolvency, there is nothing to stop you getting someone else to run a company for you, but you would have to trust them. But then again why would they trust you? Which is why it generally happens within families of delboys

^^^That's exactly the paraphrasing of the letters I sent my mortgage company and the companies who own my credit card debt. I have not yet received a response but am hoping for the best, despite the high probability of the best not happening.

I've spent the better part of 8 hours today trying to find jobs locally, regionally, and even state-wide (usa here). Nothing matched my needs or my qualifications. There are plenty of jobs out there which require a security clearance, but I don't have a clearance and am unlikely to get one. I might get unemployment, but that's only 225-275 per week, at best; my mortage is about 1300 per month (USD), to put that into perspective.

I've even gone to the computer store I used to work for. They have ALWAYS needed help but even now are not hiring. I've tried ebay and failed at that due to my incompetence at marketing/advertising. I suck at sales. The past few hours have been mostly to brainstorming and trying to find new ways to supplement my income. I've always wanted to be an owner or artisan of some sort of business but lack the people skills, quite generally speaking, to succeed in such an environment.

Any thoughts there?