Is there any benefit to making payments on my individual CCs while I wait to file?

[cupcake]

I will be filing for CH. 7 in January, 2009. When I initially met with my attorney he said to stop paying all of the CC bills from that point forward while we wait to file, which I have done. Most of the CCs are joint with my soon to be ex-husband (divorce will be final in September) with the exception of three which total approximately $13,000 excluding my car. Is there a benefit or detriment to continuing the payments on my individual CCs? I'm hoping to prevent some of the creditor calls which have already started and also be able to give an explanation to the creditors who are not being paid. I could honestly tell my creditors that I am doing what I can; I am paying my individual creditors with what money I have and that right now I can't do anymore.

My car is financed through Chase and I am planning to continue my car payments and reaffirm the loan. One of my individual CCs is also through Chase ($7,000 balance), as is one joint CC (with a big balance). I am also considering paying off one of my individual CCs that is a store CC with a small balance of $450. The other individual CC is through Elan Financial ($5,500 balance).

I am planning to ask my attorney, but I am interested to get all of your opinions on this. Would I just be wasting money by making any payments here?

Thanks.

[BassBoy]

Yes, you are wasting your money paying any debt that you intend to discharge. The worst case scenario here is that you'll have to deal with the phone calls until you've filed. You can/should inform your creditors that you have hired an attorney to represent you in bankruptcy proceedings and give them your attorney's contact info and this should help ease the call volume.

[UpACreek]

IMO, and I am a novice, .... If you have come to the end, then don't throw good money after bad. Don't make payments just to fend off phone calls. Phone calls are easy. Get voicemail and stop answering calls live. If you are bankrupt, do not make a payment on any account that you intend to discharge. It dosen't matter that you won't file until January. DO make payments on time for any account that you will reaffirm. Don't lose your car or home through a mistake. Take care.

[ThreadsSnapping]

Since you have a car loan and 2 credit cards with Chase it might be a good idea to see if you can refi the car with someone else to avoid any problems.

Other than that the only thing you will accomplish by continuing to make payments on accounts that will be discharged is emptying your bank account. You're just throwing away money at this point.

TS

[cupcake]

Thanks for the advice. I guess there is no need to call my attorney at this point because I suspect that he will say the same thing you guys said - I guess he already has. What about the store CC for $450? I read in another thread that store CCs are different than "regular" CCs - still don't pay that one, either?

Unfortunately, I don't think my attorney would appreciate me giving my creditors his name and phone number. I haven't formally retained him at this point, meaning I haven't signed ANY documents yet, and I am fairly sure that he is going to do my BK for free as a favor (he has a great professional relationship with the law firm where I work and has a long-time family relationship with my boss). I am very fortunate, as he is the best BK attorney in the area, and I don't want to push it.

[UpACreek]

Ask him. I think that you will find that as a BK attorney, he is more than accoustomed to this. SOP is for you to use the magic words on the phone "I have retained an attorney and I am planning to file bacnkruptcy." Talk to hm about this. If he is planning to do the job as a favor, give him $1 and then you will have retained him. Either way, the CC companies will still call you until you actually file. Before filing, I used that line above for a full four months. I gave them his name and phone number for thier records. They were polite and wished me better luck in the future. They reminded me that the calls would continue until filing date.

As far as I know my attorney never actually answered a call from them.

[Phillymanhere]

Remember: if he's a big attorney, it's his office managers that will field the calls, and they won't get many calls, not anything like the # you'll get ... politely bring up ...

[hnhlvr]

Watch out for "cross collateral." If you have a car loan at the same bank as a credit card and you quit paying your CC, they can come after your car! Be sure to refinance w/another bank (that you do not have ANY credit cards with) and QUICKLY before your credit score goes down as a result of you defaulting on payments. Do not default on Chase until your car issue is resolved.

[cupcake]

Watch out for "cross collateral." If you have a car loan at the same bank as a credit card and you quit paying your CC, they can come after your car! Be sure to refinance w/another bank (that you do not have ANY credit cards with) and QUICKLY before your credit score goes down as a result of you defaulting on payments. Do not default on Chase until your car issue is resolved.

There is no bank on this planet who is going to refinance me with my current income-to-debt ratio and recent missed payments. How could Chase come after my car for unsecured CC debt if I am current on my car payment? Doesn't cross collateral only apply if you have money in a bank account that can be used to pay for debt with the same creditor? And isn't it mostly credit unions who have cross collateral clauses?

[Cali]

Stop paying all creditors you are going to BK.

I retained my attorney 4 months before I filed and the calls I did get were told to call his firm.

I don't think banks cross-collateralize.

[hnhlvr]

There is no bank on this planet who is going to refinance me with my current income-to-debt ratio and recent missed payments. How could Chase come after my car for unsecured CC debt if I am current on my car payment? Doesn't cross collateral only apply if you have money in a bank account that can be used to pay for debt with the same creditor? And isn't it mostly credit unions who have cross collateral clauses?

Cupcake - I'm not sure. . . but, just wanted to point out that you need to check. Don't rely on internet people when it comes to the possibility of your car being taken away. I'm not enough of an expert and others here have mentioned getting bad advice, so I'd want you err on the side of caution, in case we're ALL wrong. lol!

Best of luck!

[woeisme]

check the workding of the car loans and the credit cards that you have with Chase to see if cross-collaterazation is a problem.

I agree with not paying any more (once you find out what the rules are with Chase). The store card depends on whether it is secured or unsecured by what you purchased with it. If it's a clothing store or something like that, probably not secured, if it's HHGregg and you bought a washing machine with it, you'll want to check the paperwork again to see if they might claim it as secured and repo your washer, etc.

[cupcake]

Cupcake - I'm not sure. . . but, just wanted to point out that you need to check. Don't rely on internet people when it comes to the possibility of your car being taken away. I'm not enough of an expert and others here have mentioned getting bad advice, so I'd want you err on the side of caution, in case we're ALL wrong. lol!

Best of luck!

Actually, I posted a new thread on the cross-collateral issue and I don't think I have anything to worry about. I am going to leave things how they are. Thanks, though.

[No Gravy]

IMO, and I am a novice, .... If you have come to the end, then don't throw good money after bad. Don't make payments just to fend off phone calls. Phone calls are easy. Get voicemail and stop answering calls live. If you are bankrupt, do not make a payment on any account that you intend to discharge. It dosen't matter that you won't file until January. DO make payments on time for any account that you will reaffirm. Don't lose your car or home through a mistake. Take care.

Which is precisely why I'm sure the OP asked the question, because she intends to reaffirm with Chase for the car, and she also has *other* Chase accounts.