past due cc accts

[cathyloum]

What is the name of your state? I live in texas, am single mother,low income job as teachers aide. i stopped using all credit cards after christmas. i tried to use one of the bill consolidation companies, couldn't afford the proposed payment either. if i send a small payment to each of the 7 cards every month, can they turn them over to a collection agency ? or take my car i? i rent a house.Thanks

 

[Ladynred]

Yes, they can still turn the accounts over to collection agencies. The terms of your agreements says you have to pay some minimum amount based on a gordian-knot calculation that only a computer can unravel. If you don't pay THAT amount, then they will charge you finance charges, late fees, and probably over-limit fees if you're close to being maxed out. Anything less than the minimum they demand will actually just put you further behind. While it shows that you're at least trying to pay them SOMETHING, they don't care, its not going to be enough. The account will be sent to collections and after 180 days of non or insufficient payments, they'll charge-off the account and likely sell it to a 3rd party collection agency.

Can they take your car ?? Without knowing anything about the vehicle, the loan (if you have one), etc., the short answer is - probably not. Regardless, they'd have to sue you and win a judgment FIRST before they could touch or take a damn thing.

 

[empowerment]

Can they take your car?

Yes, if there is a loan out for the car in you failed to make payments as agreed then yes they can come and repo your car.

Can you make small payments to your credit card compaines for the time being?

Yes, if you contact them and let them know that this will be a short term thing. You can also elect to have them cut off and begin a payment process.

On your credit report it will show that you cancel the cards.
"Cancel by the consumer"

True, the card will incur finance charges. However, if you cancel the card to catch up with the payment (hopefully pay them off) Then I don't why somewhere down the line the company want elect to issue you another one. I wouldn't wait for them to throw over to a collection agency. I would be more pro-active and contacting them and letting them know what your intentions. It is important to contact them by certified letter with an agreement hopefully that they will sign as a receipt of acknowledgement.

when you contact them to cancel your cards...be prepare to pay at least 55% of balance due and the other 45% within 60 days. You might want to try one card at a time depending on your money situation.


Note: The suggestion here is not legal advice but is only my personal opionion and if you seek legal advice, please contact an attorney in your state.

 

[Ladynred]

As for whether or not 'they' can take your car, "empowerment" seems to have made some assumption. If the debt you can't pay is the auto loan, then yes, they could repo, but I don't believe that was your question.

OTHER creditors may NOT be able to take your car or put any liens on it, particularly if its financed.

If you don't catch up the accounts, and with small payments less than the minimums that would be virtually impossible, then the accounts will likely be charged off and go to collections. Its also likely that if you get on a hardship program with them, the account will be closed and your credit report will show CLOSED BY CREDIT GRANTOR, not 'closed by consumer' - its a big negative on your credit report.

 

[cathyloum]

Thanks for answering ...my car is financed by a bank and I have kept up on those payments. My paycheck is only enough to pay rent, buy groceries, utilities, insurance, gasoline, phone, etc. the basics. I got in this mess starting 9 years ago with a divorce, and a daughters wedding to pay for in the same 6 month period. I started having to charge groceries, phone bills, and even wrote credit card checks to pay the rent sometimes. I have had as many as 3 jobs at a time and have never lived the life of luxury, jewelry, furs, vacations, ect. I had a then 5 year old to support , making a huge 8,ooo in 94 when I divorced. Every year my income has gone up a little, and 2002 I made a whopping 20.000...but I love my job helping emotionally disturbed 7th and 8th graders try to do better in school.So...I decided to get off the merry go round of barely making the credit card payments, which was between 800-900 a month and then having to charge everything else for the rest of the month.

I guess my biggest fear is the credit cards filing civil suits against me and a deputy sherriff coming to my door or classroom and hauling me into court , then it will be in the newspaper.

I live in a VERY small town and everybody knows everybody and to make it worse my ex is a policeman here. I have thought about filing bankruptcy but again I will have to go to the courthouse, where I know everybody and I would be humiliated and my ex would love it!

Short of winning the lottery, does anyone have any idea how to resolve the mess I am in? By the way, on the 7 cards I had I owe about 40,000.
Thanks

 

[Ladynred]

Small towns are nice.. for some things, but when everyone knows your business its NOT so nice.

Unfortunately, with that much credit card debt, and your level of income, its going to be next to impossible for you to catch up with those bad boys. The interest will continue to build, late fees and overlimit fees. You MAY be able to get on hardship programs with the creditors, but even that will probably take more money up front than you can afford.

As for being 'dragged off to court' .. well that won't happen. IF you're sued, you would be served a summons, most likely at your home, at least that would be their first choice. You'd have to file an Answer to the suit and only later would you end up in court. Since this would be a civil matter, yeah.. you'd end up in court where you know everyone.

I can well understand you're resistance to bankruptcy, but quite frankly, it may be your best option in this case. Yes, you'd have to go to court, but you'd go to FEDERAL court - and if your town is as small as you say it is, I'd be willing to bet that the Federal Bankruptcy court is NOT in your town but in a larger urban area. In which case, you'd probably not know anyone at all

The bankruptcy will wipe out all your unsecured debt. You can reaffirm on the car and keep it, no problem there (usually). You're current on it, so it shouldn't be an issue. It really sounds like the fresh start you need. CCCS, which I really don't reccommend, would probably not help you under the circumstances and they can be VERY bad if you're not very careful and on top of them ALL the time. They can actually ruin your credit even more.

Contact a couple of bankruptcy attorneys in the next town, they usually give free consultations. Find out where the Federal BK court is located too, I'd be willing to bet its not in your home town.

As for being sued, if your creditors include Discover, CitiBank, Providan or Cap1, they DO sue and none of them wait very long to do so.

 

[empowerment]

I have yet to here of credit card companies hauling people in court via a subpoena because they could not make good on their payments. As with the previous posting, I honestly do not recommend CCCS or any other consolidation company because it just gets you further in debt. You could act on the first posting I submitted regarding the Chapter 7 or 11 Bankruptcy filling. This will protect your wages from being garnish if one of the credit card company have turn your outstanding debt over to a collection agency or law office. Or you could try another method which have work for many others who have face similar “life and income” changing events. List all of your current bills that are a necessity. Match that with your net monthly income. Subtract your “required” bills (rent, food, phone, etc) from your net income. This will give you an ideal on what you think you might be able to pay on a monthly payment plan. I would (meaning me) contact each credit card company by mail (certified) stating your current situation and what you will be offering to them as a means to make good on the cards. You really have nothing to lose if the cards are already appearing on your report as delinquent or charge off. So the opportunity for them to get some money over a period of time is strictly a benefit to getting nothing if you file a straight bankruptcy. They most likely have canceled your cards anyway so you are in a better position to work out a payment with them without the amount escalating. I would do all of this in a letter of agreement because you will be to uses that in court if they decide to pursue legal action against you. Do not consider any of the “post dated” checks suggestion. It is illegal for a company to ask for a post-dated check for payment. Just follow your plan and do what you can. I wouldn’t worry about all the other “hype.” People have life changing events which can has an economical affect. Nothing anyone can do to prevent that. The question is how you manage it? The final decision is to decide if you want to do a BK filling and which one you want to go with. In your BK filling you can list all of your debtors. You can also elect the one not to list, meaning that you will be obligated to pay the ones not listed in your BK unless you make an amendment to the filing somewhere down the line. As far as people in your small town, I wouldn’t worry about them either, because everyone has “sh_t” in their toilet and it all stinks. GOOD LUCK AND GODSPEED

 

[Ladynred]

WRONG !! You can not ELECT to leave off a debt !! That would be perjury and could get your BK case thrown out !!! You MUST list ALL your debts, BY LAW. There's no picking and choosing here, its all or nothing. If you have active accounts with ZERO balances, you don't have to list those but if you owe something it MUST be listed. Its not worth jeopardizing a bankrtupcy filing by intentionally trying to 'hide' a debt. IF there's one you would like to keep, you're going to have to have the Trustees permission to reaffirm it and there's NO guarantee that the creditor will keep the account open once they see the BK on your credit report.

Empowerment - you're new here - get your facts straight, please.

It is NOT illegal for a company just to ask for a post-dated check. Its asking for post-dated checks beyond a certain time limit and using those checks w/o first informing the debtor, IN WRITING, that the check is going to be deposited within xx days.

One other small note - someone you owe money to is a CREDITOR, and you list CREDITORS on your bankruptcy.

The person who OWES the money is a DEBTOR. You don't list debtors on your papers, YOU are the debtor.

 

[empowerment]

Normally, I don’t get in a back in forth email chain regarding “your” knowledge versus “my” knowledge because we all are just giving opinion based on our own experiences. Again, I am speaking from my own experience and what I will do or have done and it has work for me and many others. You obviously mis read my posting by “assuming” that I was asking someone to “hide” information. Speaking from personal experience, when you meet with your BK attorney, at that time you have the opportunity to list “all” of your debts and at that time you can also decide on which account you want to keep out of the BK Filling. This is usually done at the advice of the attorney. On Post Dated Checks – I am not sure where you read it is legal for a collection agency to ask for posted date checks. When in fact the law clearly states that it is legal. Speaking from personal experience (my sister work today for a collection agency) it is a common practice of many collectors to ask for a posted dated check even though they know they are in violation of Fair Debt Collecting Act. Most consumers do not know their rights and how they are protected under various laws. While I am not an attorney and nor do I claim to be one. I can assure you that I been in many of these situation and with research and actually using some of these laws and methods to my advantage has protected me from many situations. You have a right to work contact your creditors when things are not looking so bright down the road. You have a right to decide on which BK best meet your needs. It is also advisable in the end to seek a competent attorney to insure that you are in compliance with Federal, State and local laws during your filing. Furthermore, you have a right to challenge anything on your credit report regardless how true it maybe. These are you rights as outlined in the various consumer credit protection law…ladynred!!!!!!!

 

[Ladynred]

I'm not trying to get into a pissing contest here, I was stating what the bankruptcy law states - and it clearly states you must include ALL debt.

As for 'keeping' a credit card, its actually up to the Trustee to decide, not you or your lawyer, whether or not you can keep it. IF the Trustee approves, then there's simply NO guarantee that a creditor will leave the account open just because you didn't include them in your filing. 90% of the card-issuers out there today are CLOSING accounts, even those with prior good histories, when they find a customer has filed for bankrupty. My sister asked and was allowed to keep 2 very small-balance dept store credit cards. Yes, her lawyer told her she could do so, as yours did for you, but her lawyer also told her that the Trustee could DENY her request to keep those cards. Its just not right to tell someone that you WILL be able to hold out or keep a card. The downside is if you do deliberately omit a credit card and don't ever reveal it to the Trustee, should the Trustee find out, then you CAN be in trouble. My statements are that its better to be TOTALLY HONEST about it all, its safer that way.

Post-dated checks per the FDCPA:

§ 808. Unfair practices [15 USC 1692f]

"(2) The acceptance by a debt collector from any person of a check or other payment instrument ***postdated by more than five days unless such person is notified in writing of the debt collector's intent to deposit such check or instrument not more than ten nor less than three business days prior to such deposit. ***

(3) The solicitation by a debt collector of any postdated check or other postdated payment instrument ***for the purpose of threatening or instituting criminal prosecution.***

(4) Depositing or threatening to deposit any postdated check or other postdated payment instrument ***prior to the date on such check or instrument. ***"

So, if you carefully read the law it does NOT state that post-dated checks, in and of themselves, are illegal, its the USE and CONDITIONS under which they are solicited that is illegal. A CA who demands post-dated checks for months in advance and who does not then notify the account holder in writing that they're going to deposit that check IS then in violation ! Unfortunately, unscrupulous CA's DO violate the specifics of the law all the time. THAT is what is illegal.

Only one other point. You, as the bankruptcy petitioner, do NOT have the ultimate say in which chapter of bankruptcy you end up with. Yes, you can CHOOSE to file 7 or 13, but the BK court can turn that around and push you from a 7 filing into a 13 and they can deny a 13 if the 'plan' is insufficient. Ultimately - its not YOUR choice, the COURT decides.

I'm also the first one to discourage people from filing pro se if they can, in any way, see their way clear to hiring a competent attorney. If there's no other way, then a pro se filer should AT LEAST get a few free consultations to see what's involved before they take that final pro se step !

I have NO argument whatsoever about what rights we have as far as the FCRA and CRA's are concerned - where did credit report disputes come into this anyway ?? I'll be the first one to say 'DISPUTE IT' and use the laws to their fullest exent to your advantage !! Anyone here more than a few days will certainly tell you that. You're absolutely right, the vast majority of consumers have NO CLUE about the available laws that guarantee and protect their rights - that's why this board, and others like it, exist. That's why I do a LOT of my own research into Federal and State laws and do so for some people who cannot understand the 'legalese'. If *I* get stumped, I ask one of the attorneys here who are senior members to clarify. They've jerked my collar a few times when I've erred and I really don't mind - I learn from that too.

I'm not really trying to argue with you here. We need educated, informed people here that can contribute, but, as *I've* been told, you must be accurate or you'll mislead .. and we don't want to do that.

Stick around long enough, read enough past posts, and you'll see what I mean.