Waiting 3 Months To File??

Question:
Well my husband and I had our consultation with our attorney and after looking over all of our paperwork (list of bills per month, assets & income)she definatly agreed that Chapt 7 was the ONLY way out. We tried to do debt consolidation but were $460 short per month of being able to go that route. Anyway, during the consultation the lawyer asked if we've had any recent charges (within the past 3 months) on our 3 credit cards and we said yes, a few for groceries and an oil change. She then said that we should NOT file right now but wait until April 1st, and not use the cards at all between now & then (which isn't a problem as there maxed). Were filing on 3 credit cards, doing a voluntary repo and a foreclosure on our home. Were 3 weeks late on the auto but other than that were up to date on the rest. However we won't be by april 1st as we can barely keep up and are robbing pete to pay paul. My question is WHY should we wait until April 1st ?? She also said to stop paying on whatever auto were letting go, stop making the house payment if were letting it go anyway, but give the CC companies anything we can afford whether it's $50 or $250 each month until april 1st. Any ideas why??? We havn't purchased anything large with the cards within the past 3 months using the cards. My biggest fear is that the new Bankruptcy law will pass before April 1st and we will be in BIG trouble. Any word on that??

Answer:
If the charges are very small (<$100) I usually advise my clients not to wait; there could be nondischargeability issues if the cards were used within 3 months of the date of filing, but for $100 the creditor usually won't bother. If the bankruptcy bill were to pass before April (most unlikely), it is expected that there would be a 180-day deferral in the effective date.





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