Calling all collectors!

[telenator]

What is the name of your state? IL

I have posted our situation in a previous thread.

My wife was injured and has been unable to work for 2 years and I have been paying her pre-marriage debt since. I had to stop paying hers in order to cover taxes due for 05.

Two things are happening for her. One she is filing with Social Security for disability benefits and two, she has a personal injury case still pending from being t-boned.

Her credit card companies are now calling after missing the first payments.

Questions: Should a letter be sent to creditors explaining the situation?

How long now days does it take before they begin legal action?

Her lawyer is aware of our situation but would it be good for us to involve the creditors in her Personal injury case?

She may end up filing for BK and we will be seeing a BK attorney soon. I think it is best for us to wait untill her SS and personal injury cases are finished before considering BK and if evaluate at that time the ability to pay her creditors before filing any BK.

However, my final question would be will she be in any kind of a position at that point of negotiating a settelment for less than the amount due.

My personal opinion of the CC industry after watching them take advantage by raising her rates to near 30% on “BS” that her payment came in late (Total BS) is that they have no integrity and are on the level of loan sharks run by Enron style money mongers and for what they have done to so many people by sucking then into low rate cards with the intent of locking them into high rate long term debt affords them nothing but a future of burning in a proverbial hell.

So please don't get on any moral soap box with me about paying what you owe to them.
They do not conduct business in a strait forward ethical manner.

I think that taking any advantage possible in dealing with them is tit for tat.

Lady in Red, I would especially be interested in your feedback as I know you have been there.

Thank you all.

 

[Ladynred]

Questions: Should a letter be sent to creditors explaining the situation?

You can, but they won't care. They just want their money and are not interested in anyone's situation.

How long now days does it take before they begin legal action?

It is unlikely that any legal action would take place before the accounts are charged-off (6 months of no payments). Once they do CO, it could take a while before anyone sues - unless you owe Discover who will sue your dog for the price of his bone fairly soon after charge-off.

Her lawyer is aware of our situation but would it be good for us to involve the creditors in her Personal injury case?

No way I'd involve her creditors in the personal injury case. If she wins the case and has enough to pay off the old debts, then they'll be happy to take her money.

I think it is best for us to wait untill her SS and personal injury cases are finished before considering BK

Absolutely right. If she were to file BK with a personal injury case pending, the Trustee would probably get ALL of her award if she wins.

my final question would be will she be in any kind of a position at that point of negotiating a settelment for less than the amount due.

Possibly. A lot depends on how long the debts have gone unpaid by that time and who is collecting on it/owns it by then.

 

[telenator]

Calling all Collectors

Answer: A lot depends on how long the debts have gone unpaid by that time and who is collecting on it/owns it by then.

Question: Do CC Companies always sell the debt to a CA and if not what are the reasons they hold onto a defaulted loan? I have seen a few posts about how SOL's effect CA's but I am curiouse about how the original cerditor is effected by SOL's.

I assume that in the past CC companies did not have the resources to go after every problem account and so was willing to sell off bad debt to CA's but they all seem to have such deep pockets today that they would own the CA's.

Cheers,

Tele

 

[Ladynred]

Question: Do CC Companies always sell the debt to a CA and if not what are the reasons they hold onto a defaulted loan? I have seen a few posts about how SOL's effect CA's but I am curiouse about how the original cerditor is effected by SOL's.

Not all companies sell off their bad debt, some, like Discover and Crap 1 tend to keep it and assign it out to be collected. Crap 1 DOES own it's one collection agency called The Westmoreland Group ! Who actually sells and why is more a factor of their company policies than anything else.

The SOL - the time frame for legal action to enforce collection of a debt - applies to original creditors as well as CA's. The SOL, except in a couple of states, is not a bar to collection or even lawsuits, it's an affirmative defense to use in court against a lawsuit.