Michael Vick's bankruptcy case is finished
In July 2008, Michael Vick was in a prison cell and declared bankruptcy. Ten years later, he has rehabilitated his image and is no longer bankrupt after making his final payment to creditors.
TMZ Sports reports that Vick has paid back more than $17 million to dozens of creditors, with the final payment sent to Bank of America, BMW financial services and a neighborhood tax collector.
That final payment of $1.5 million was made in November and the judge has officially closed the case.
In 2008 Vick filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy instead of Chapter 7, which would have allowed him to liquidate his assets and not owe any more money. But Vick opted to have his future income go to creditors so they could get what they were owed.
While locked up in prison, Vick didn’t know that he would ever have more NFL income. He was making 12 cents an hour mopping floors in prison, but hoped he would resurrect his NFL career.
And he was right.
“I didn’t want to stiff people who never stiffed me,” Vick said in 2014 as to why he chose Chapter 11 over Chapter 7.
Vick signed a $130 million contract with the Falcons in 2004 and a $100 million contract with the Eagles in 2011. He is the only player in NFL history to sign two contracts worth more than $100 million.
But NFL contracts aren’t guaranteed and Vick spent 21 months in prison in between those two deals. Spotrac says he earned nearly $150 million in total cash in his 13-year NFL career, which ended in 2015.
Of that money, $60 million was earned after he declared bankruptcy and it’s from those earnings that his creditors were repaid.
Vick was able to achieve his goal of paying off his creditors by formulating, and sticking to, a financial plan. He was allowed annual living expenses of $300,000 and could spend up to $3,500 a month in rent while he lived in Philadelphia.
He also had a limit on the mortgage for his house in Virginia, a limit on the private school tuition for his kids and was given up to $472 a month in car-related expenses.
“I had never been on a budget before, so I had to pay attention to everything that I was doing,” Vick said. “Now I realize that I don’t need certain things I bought back in the day, like a new boat.”
The week before the Super Bowl, Vick was a guest speaker at Liberty University in Virginia, not far from where Vick held his dogfighting ring. He talked about how reading the Bible helped him prioritize things in his life while in prison, and that’s what set him up for success once he was released.
“From what he’s been through and the mistakes he’s made, the impact he can make on students is that whatever you go through, it doesn’t matter; you can always rely on God to have people forgive you and move you on in life to the next step to make it successful,” said Damian King, a wide receiver for Liberty who listened to Vick speak to a group of students.
Vick had his jersey retired by the Atlanta Falcons last season and was inducted into the Virginia Tech Hall of Fame. He also served as a coaching intern with the Chiefs under Andy Reid, who was Vick’s head coach in Philadelphia.
Vick is still open to coaching, but he spent this past season working as an NFL analyst for Fox Sports.
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