Timeframe of last payment to transfer to 3rd party to possible settlement to suit!

[Beeheery]

OK, I do not see this being a sticky anywhere and since myself and others have asked this question in so many different places on the boards, I thought we could make this a sticky??? So....here are a few questions that hopefully everyone can answer if they have reached this stage:

1) What cc companies did you owe to and what were the balances?

2) How long from last payment was it when they stopped calling and then sent letters

3) How long after last payment did they offer to settle the debt or sell your debt to a third party

4) How long after last payment did you receive notice of them filing suit against you/threatening to garnish wages. And how were you notified?

I think if we made this a sticky it would help ease the tension of alot of the "newbies" including me as I am only 1 month late with my bills and am scared everyday that I am going to check my mailbox and I have a lawsuit notice etc. I already changed my number and that has been a HUGE relief. So for anyone who can answer these, it would be much appreciated! Thanks to everyone in advance!

[ssdsco]

OK, I do not see this being a sticky anywhere and since myself and others have asked this question in so many different places on the boards, I thought we could make this a sticky??? So....here are a few questions that hopefully everyone can answer if they have reached this stage:

1) What cc companies did you owe to and what were the balances?

2) How long from last payment was it when they stopped calling and then sent letters

3) How long after last payment did they offer to settle the debt or sell your debt to a third party

4) How long after last payment did you receive notice of them filing suit against you/threatening to garnish wages. And how were you notified?

I think if we made this a sticky it would help ease the tension of alot of the "newbies" including me as I am only 1 month late with my bills and am scared everyday that I am going to check my mailbox and I have a lawsuit notice etc. I already changed my number and that has been a HUGE relief. So for anyone who can answer these, it would be much appreciated! Thanks to everyone in advance!

In case you missed these -

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=19883

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=20104

[Beeheery]

Hi,
Yes, I did see these two postings but it didn't really give specifics. It gives an average of when things might happen but if people could post the exact companies and how long it was before action was taken, we could see the average times and sequence of events for those particular cc companies. So many of us have debts with so many different creditors that if someone were to post specifics then we could reference those and get a pretty good idea as to when those companies might take action.

[HHM]

I understand your desire for such specifics...but the problem with your question is twofold...first off, there are too few members of this board such that even if everyone shared their experiences, you could not draw any reliable general conclusion from the data, and two...there are many paths a past-due debt may take and a lot depends on where you live, how long you have had the account, and how much information the creditor has about you. The major creditors do NOT have a set policy on lawsuits. (i.e. after so many months, we sue...it doesn't work like that).

Just realize that lawsuits tend to be the LAST step a creditor will take to collect the debt. For most debtors, a credit card debt going to lawsuit, is the least of your concerns.

[jp2861]

Like HHM stated, there's really no way to know when a creditor will take action. They all seem to use different timelines and nobody here has a crystal ball to tell you when an action will be started. At best, it's just a round-about ballpark guesstimate of a timeline. Your best tactic is the knowledge of what you need to do when the actions arrive in the mailbox or at your front door. I'm not a big advocate of predicting timelines, as you can probably tell. I've received collections notices as early as 2 months and I just received one for a 13 year old debt. I think folks need to focus more on what they need to do when the notices arrive, and not so much on when they will arrive.

[Beeheery]

Hi HHM,

What do you mean by it should be the least of my worries? I thought that is like the most important thing we should be concerned about? What is worse than getting sued? Are there other actions that they take/will take that I should prepare myself for? Thanks for your input so much.

[tay666]

I think the comment "last of your worries" meant more that since it is a last resort for most collections in order to collect on a debt, that you have a fairly long time until it happens.
You will get alot of letters and phone calls.
Then it will probably go through a series of 3rd party collections action before it ever gets close to someone seriously considering suing you.


And I can confirm that you can't predict when any particular company will take any particular action.

My wife and I each had separate accounts with BOA.
Mine for about $20,000 and hers for about $10,000.
The timelines for actions taken on these 2 accounts were completely different.
They started calling about her account about a week after she was 30 days past due.
It was almost 3 months until they started calling about my account.
Her account went to 3rd party collections over a month before mine did.
Mine went to one collection company, hers went to a completely different collection company after we got past the 6 month mark.

So there really is no rhyme or reason to what they do, or when they do it.

[HHM]

Hi HHM,

What do you mean by it should be the least of my worries? I thought that is like the most important thing we should be concerned about? What is worse than getting sued? Are there other actions that they take/will take that I should prepare myself for? Thanks for your input so much.

Tay explained it pretty well...I would just add that if you have debts that are at risk of going to law suit, you have more "immediate" and "practical" concerns. Unless your a "true" deadbeat (i.e. someone who charges up debt without any intention of paying it back), most debtors are "mostly" judgement proof anyway...they have few assets, they may have a job, but if you are at risk of garnishment, you will probably file BK anyway...so in the grand scheme, why should you really worried about getting sued...and if it does happen, just file BK.

[ssdsco]

Hi HHM,

What do you mean by it should be the least of my worries? I thought that is like the most important thing we should be concerned about? What is worse than getting sued? Are there other actions that they take/will take that I should prepare myself for? Thanks for your input so much.