Citicard Forced My Hand

[freckleface]

We were actually making headway--we both have good jobs (at least at the moment) and I've taken on freelance work. We've paid a few smaller debts off, and had made payment arrangements with Target and did a settlement with Chase for less than half of what we owed. They had even split that up for us and we had about $1300 left on that. We are running a month behind on car and mortgage, but still paying and able to keep paying.

But Citicard is really playing hardball. We stopped paying less than a year ago, and tried on numerous occasions to make arrangements. The guy my husband spoke to was abusive on several occasions and kept calling at work even though he was told not to. We had to file a complain with the FTC. We really hadn't experienced that with any other cards. The Chase, GE Moneybank, Target people were fine to deal with, especially Target--and they were getting paid.

But Citicard wanted their money and wanted it now. And we were served with a summons on Sunday--we're being sued for the entire amount. We can't afford a garnishment along with our other bills (I think it would end up being $1000 a month just for a Citicard garnishment), so we have an appt. with a bankruptcy lawyer tomorrow.

It's really too bad, because now nobody is going to get paid what they are owed. The debtors that worked with us will stop being paid, our second mortgage probably won't be paid. We really felt we could work through it, and we were doing so, but it's sad that one stubborn apple can change things.

[walkthaplank]

We were actually making headway--we both have good jobs (at least at the moment) and I've taken on freelance work. We've paid a few smaller debts off, and had made payment arrangements with Target and did a settlement with Chase for less than half of what we owed. They had even split that up for us and we had about $1300 left on that. We are running a month behind on car and mortgage, but still paying and able to keep paying.

But Citicard is really playing hardball. We stopped paying less than a year ago, and tried on numerous occasions to make arrangements. The guy my husband spoke to was abusive on several occasions and kept calling at work even though he was told not to. We had to file a complain with the FTC. We really hadn't experienced that with any other cards. The Chase, GE Moneybank, Target people were fine to deal with, especially Target--and they were getting paid.

But Citicard wanted their money and wanted it now. And we were served with a summons on Sunday--we're being sued for the entire amount. We can't afford a garnishment along with our other bills (I think it would end up being $1000 a month just for a Citicard garnishment), so we have an appt. with a bankruptcy lawyer tomorrow.

It's really too bad, because now nobody is going to get paid what they are owed. The debtors that worked with us will stop being paid, our second mortgage probably won't be paid. We really felt we could work through it, and we were doing so, but it's sad that one stubborn apple can change things.

Was it Citi or one of their awful collection agencies like Client Services Inc. Those a-holes are the ones who convinced me that I should file BK. They called my employer and my mother in law that I may see once every 2 years before they called my home number or mailed me any kind of correspondence. I was furious. When I got the guy on the phone I told him repeatedly that he was not allowed to call my employer, that if he did he would cost me my job. He kept asking me about the bill, and I kept asking him for his mailing address. If somebody saw me on the side of the road (was calling from cell phone at work) they would have thought I'd gone nuts.

Citi themselves were pretty decent (relatively speaking), we had set up payment arrangements, I told the guy I had to go over the numbers with my wife and asked when I needed to get back to them for a yes or no. He gave me a date to contact them and two days after I spoke with him, 5 days before the deadline given me it was with this collection agency. I had another account with Citi, and I finally told them if they won't make arrangements on both accounts, there is no point in making them on one of them. Now I'm just waiting to file the papers.

BTW, my payments to the trustee will be less than my arrangements alone with Citi would have been. That includes stripping my 2nd and all of my other unsecureds. Because Citi played hard ball, they'll be lucky to get 10 cents on the dollar, tax free to me.