Now what do I do?!

[kasondra]

What is the name of your state? Texas

I opened a Citibank Mastercard about 7 years ago and it didnt take long before the balance was rising to the limit of 5000. It was one of my first cc. At the time I opened it I made a very nice income and that changed 3 years ago. I have struggled but paid them every month and have not even used the cc since then. The min. pmnt is 89 but with finance chgs if I dont sent at least 100 I dont even break even. I have only managed to pay it down 1500. Now its even higher, back up to 4200 as I have not paid them in 4 months. I first started calling to advise them of my situation and try to work with them ( or get them to work with me!) and I basically got -0- help. They said my husband needed to pay. Well, heres the deal, I have a prenuptual agreement and he WONT pay it. Oh yes he could, in a heart beat, he won't. My income has been cut in 1/2 and I have a child from a previous marriage that he does not help me with. I pay for everyting but the mortgage and basic utilities in the home. He will "lend" me $ if I need help until my next payday. He told me that if I didnt pay it long enough they would stop finance charges and work with me on the payment and if they would come down to an agreement of 2000 he would loan me the money and I could pay him back. Well, they only came down to 2700 and he would give an inch and neither would they. The cc company has now sent this to an attorney as they would not accept anything less than 400 as a payment from me at that point. I have received a letter from the attorney asking for full payment. My husband says I am "judgement proof" as I have nothing to take. I found out that he has even managed to have any of our cars out of my name. I basically pay for a car that is not in my name! Anyway, I own nothing, have no assessts and he even told the cc co. that and they backed off and just sent it to the att. I'm pretty scared of whats next. I dont have that kind of $ and dont know what to do. I know my husbands being a jerk but I cant even afford to leave right now, I need to get all of my affairs in order first so I wont struggle any more with my 8 yr old daughter who has no clue I even struggle. She just knows we live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood, she wants for very little and needs for nothing. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[JETX]

Some random thoughts....
1) It is obvious that your relationship with your husband has some HUGE problems.... and you need to resolve them ASAP!!
2) Texas is a community property state. That means that your husband is equally liable for ANY debts that you incur. So, if you don't pay, the creditor can take legal action against you..... and then collect it from either of you.
3) My suggestion.... take ALL of your income and pay the outstanding bill. Let your husband be responsible for providing the nice house, nice cars and even the food on the table. And if he won't take care of them, then his great, wonderfull little magical world will come tumbling down around BOTH of you.... him included.

And finally, when all this is done..... take his ass to the cleaners when you divorce him. The pre-nup will have no impact on his child support payments!!

 

[kasondra]

Now what do I do?

I know you are right but I guess I'm concerned about the impact of those actionsand how they will effect my daughter. I will not get any child support from him as she is from my previous marriage. I get a very small amount of support from her father. We have never co-mingled our funds therefore, I am told that the preupt is iron clad. I know this is a legal site but just a note we do have an appt with a therapist next week and Im hoping some major issues will be resolved and if not, well I really feel the most pain for my little girl. Anyway, I know the debt needs to be paid, my concern is with the legal aspect. Can they refuse any payment I can provide and if so and a judgement gets granted what happens next. Can they garnish my wages for that?

 

[JETX]

"Can they refuse any payment I can provide"
*** Yes. Simply, you have a contract to repay them for funds that they advanced to you (credit). When you failed to comply with that repayment agreement, you breached the contract. They then have certain legal remedies available to them to try to recover the money that they loaned to you. Though it would be unusual for the creditor to refuse a payment (after all, they are trying to get repaid), they can certainly do so. And even if they accept the payment, that does not waive their rights to legal collection efforts.

"and if so and a judgement gets granted what happens next. Can they garnish my wages for that?"
*** Wages are exempt from garnishment in Texas. They can however seize other non-exempt property and file judgment liens against your property. Further, as noted earlier, Texas is a community property state, which means that your joint assets (home, bank accounts, etc.) can be 'hit' for the debt.

 

[kasondra]

so basically my husband is right. He said that I have nothing to take making me "judgement proof". I think this is why he is not in a hurry to help me. I dont want this to look any worse than it already does and he doesnt care because he is oblivious to how upset this makes me and just offers up that "we" dont need it for credit. His credit is flawless I might add. So from a legal standpoint it goes on my credit as a judgement and then do I make arrangements to pay the judgement off or is a judgement due in full? Thank you so much for all of your advice by the way!

 

[empowerment]

In the words of the Game Show Announcer: "That Not All"

Your other course of actions would be to settle with the attorney for the amount "YOU" could afford not what they want you to pay. The catch to this settlement (LOA) (Letter of Agreement) is that you will pay the complete agreed amount within 72 hours once you received the signed LOA back from the attorney or you will make an installment letter of agreement (ILOA) over a period of 60 - 90 days. All of this is done through the mail (certified). It will be your weapon if they ever drag you into court. It would show the judge that you made a "good faith" offer to the attorney and they refused to work with despite your current situation. I doubt very seriously if they wouldn’t accept your offers because it has already went to collection and then to an attorney for legal actions. Meaning that the company already wrote the damm thing on their taxes. Collecting from you is a way of getting the entire principal back although the credit card company (original creditor sold the account for 50% less of the principle) If you owes $2700. then see if you can negoitate $1,500.00 over the course of 3 months and the payment with be $500.00 x 3 or spread it out to 4 months. Make sure you have them to sign the agreement and you will send them the first payment within 48 hours of the date you received the :signed ILOA. Stick to it and you will win. Time and time again

 

[JETX]

Kas:
What he doesn't understand (or is too blind to see), is that YOUR credit rating does affect him.

Anytime that you apply for credit (his name, your name, or jointly), your credit report is subject to consideration by the creditor. This is due to Texas being a community property state. This is especially true for house, furniture, car, etc.

And your lower credit rating is costing both of you in outright credit decline or in higher interest rates (due to the higher risk of your credit).