My first two late fees!

[queenfluff]

Hey, check it out! Today I got two late fees on my two Chase cards - $40 each one. Only took one day for each one. I have never had a late fee before in my life (well, not on a cc as far as I can remember). No APR increase yet and my Chase checking acct is safe. But I know I can look forward to 29.99% APR on all my cards soon.

I know its not a huge deal but it is such a weird thing for me - getting a late fee - I would have never have allowed it before. So strange a feeling to just let the bills "slide"....To me though, the late fees signify that, the ball is rolling so to speak. Of course, doesn't matter because I get my case number tomorrow and soon my 341 date and I will feel slightly "protected" in a way with that stay!

Funny how I will probably have no late fees on my Citibank account because the card I have waives late fees - don't know how long that lasts though - I think it only for the first 5 days but I have never had to find out before. I guess I will soon!

Ha! Ha! Chase and Citibank!

This calls for "I am now officially late" celebration tonight. Hmmm...
Ok, I have a slightly twisted in my sense of humor here.

[JoeBankrupt33]

I know the feeling. The day that you finally decide to quit paying on things. It's surreal, and for me there was a rush of different emotions. I also remember having a queasy stomach. But that's all over, and hopefully I can start fresh and do it right this time.

[hurtininaz]

I am a week late on my truck and already getting calls. I keep having to talk myself out of just making the payment. Just not paying is definately harder than I thought!

[LuciluS]

I haven't opened our CC Statements since January. I can tell by the envelopes, they are statements. They are just in a pile in my office.
Figure no reason to open them as I'm sure the minimum payment & balance due is Outrageous.

Not filing until 9/30/09 so will open sometime in August. So far, only 3 collection agency letters & quit paying on all but 1(Crap 1, BT in 8/08, so made more than min. pymt. for 3 mths, at the advice of Attorney) in 9/08. I attached the letter to the folder which holds that CC statements for the last 6 years.

Think I might need to figure out a way to attach a Cart to the back of my Scooter as I intend to bring all Files to the 341 hearing.

Luci

[TheAbyss]

Hey, check it out! Today I got two late fees on my two Chase cards - $40 each one. Only took one day for each one. I have never had a late fee before in my life (well, not on a cc as far as I can remember). No APR increase yet and my Chase checking acct is safe. But I know I can look forward to 29.99% APR on all my cards soon.

I know its not a huge deal but it is such a weird thing for me - getting a late fee - I would have never have allowed it before. So strange a feeling to just let the bills "slide"....To me though, the late fees signify that, the ball is rolling so to speak. Of course, doesn't matter because I get my case number tomorrow and soon my 341 date and I will feel slightly "protected" in a way with that stay!

Funny how I will probably have no late fees on my Citibank account because the card I have waives late fees - don't know how long that lasts though - I think it only for the first 5 days but I have never had to find out before. I guess I will soon!

Ha! Ha! Chase and Citibank!

This calls for "I am now officially late" celebration tonight. Hmmm...
Ok, I have a slightly twisted in my sense of humor here.

I'm going through a similar thing. American Express has sent me two late notices, and 1 notice that they've closed the other account. They've also sent my new statement with my new late fee. Chase has sent me 1 late notice. Up until this month, I've never been late. Except once, but it was an honest lapse in memory.

[queenfluff]

I understand the mixed emotions too. My brain looks at the due date and thinks "I need to paid that (panic!)" but I know I don't need to anymore and I need to tell myself "No, you don't need to pay anymore and you won't EVER have to AGAIN!". Your world is different now - you are in BK now.

For me, I look at it and think "Look at those icky late fees! I will NEVER have to pay them! WooHoo!" (sticks out tongue at banks! ). They also signify my soon-to-be fresh start in life.

So, for me it doesn't bother me to look at them - on the contrary - I am very curious to what kinda of wacko interest increase they will give me or anything else. My Citibank bill is pretty high so I figure what is a couple more thou on there. Two of my cards will actually probably go over the limit so that will be interesting. I figure I am going to take it all with a grain of salt and get a few giggles and snorts out my wacked out bills - which soon won't be mine anymore to worry about.

I gotta have a sense of humor to get through all this stuff.

[LuciluS]

I gotta have a sense of humor to get through all this stuff.

Yep! I can remember last Sept. when I faxed paperwork the CCCS & they called the next day & told hubby & I they couldn't help us. We needed an Attorney. We are new to this area and although, they are not allowed to recommend an Attorney, I coaxed the guy into giving me the 1st three letters of an Attorney's last name.

I prepared a Spreadsheet of our Income and Expenses and we met with him 3 days after that call. Attorney briefly scanned over my spreadsheet and said Yep, you qualify for a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Crap, I didn't even know the different names of bankruptcies, much less what they stood for.

We came home, hubby went to work and I cried for days and days. Then Hubby found this forum and I began reading posts, using the Search feature & asking questions. If it wasn't for this Forum, we most likely would have already filed and be in a Chapter 13, due to a 10 yr payout on a QDRO (my divorce) which ended in 2/09.

Yep, Ya gotta add some Humor in your life while going through Bankruptcy

Luci

[Cheeseater]

I just quit paying as well, Discover just called told them I couldn't pay they offered to cut my rate a take a small payment. Like you I was only late once by mistake. It has been very difficult and I know it will only become worse. But as our president said today "there is no shame in doing what you have to do to deal with unreasonable creditors". Could anyone offer some advice as to a concise reply to these morons when they call. I have been answering and saying I can't pay and am reviewing all my bill to come up with a plan to move forward. I worry I may be saying too much, I don't anticipate filing until July.

[LuciluS]

I just quit paying as well, Discover just called told them I couldn't pay they offered to cut my rate a take a small payment. Like you I was only late once by mistake. It has been very difficult and I know it will only become worse. But as our president said today "there is no shame in doing what you have to do to deal with unreasonable creditors". Could anyone offer some advice as to a concise reply to these morons when they call. I have been answering and saying I can't pay and am reviewing all my bill to come up with a plan to move forward. I worry I may be saying too much, I don't anticipate filing until July.

Have you hired an Attorney yet? If not, set up some Free Consultations. Our Attorney allowed us to give him $300 & we could start referring phone calls to him.

I've spoken to all CCs' at least twice because the 1st time I gave them too much information. Told them we would be filing in Dec. So when they called back, I just gave them the Attorney's name, address and phone #. When they would ask questions, I would just say talk to my Attorney.

Yea, try not to give them any info. If you haven't retained Attorney, Yet, just don't answer the phone if it's a number you don't recognize (assuming you have caller ID). I don't answer the phone anymore.

If you have a checking account with any of the CCs' you are going to Bankrupt, immediately move your checking account. Lots of people on this forum recommend moving your checking account anyway. However, my Attorney said there was no reason to do that as a CC or collector would have to petition the Court to take monies out of your checking Account.
Besides that, I've got my SSD direct deposited into our Account and have several Auto-Pays (not CCs) drafted from our Account and it is a hassle to change them.

Luci

[atlbankrupt]

I agree with LuciluS's advice.

[WillinVT]

I stopped paying on all my cards in mid April. My Chase card is due on the 6th of May and I have a balance of $1.00 in my account. Can't wait for the calls to start pouring in on that one. As of now, I am late on 4 accounts and I receive roughly 20 calls a day between the 4 of them. Haven't talked to a single person yet. All calls go to my cell which I leave on to see how many missed calls I have at the end of the day.

Before I stopped paying on my Juniper card, my interest rate was around 3.99% and the day after I missed my payment, it shot up to 23.99%.

I can't wait to get rid of all this crap....

[hopefulbk]

Haha the title of your post made me smile. All my life I did whatever it took to get my bills paid on time. I still find myself waking up in the middle of the night thinking "crap, did I pay so and so?!" But it doesn't matter anymore. I've noticed I'm a lot more laid back and can't wait for a fresh start. For once, the beginning of the month (tomorrow) won't cause me any headaches over bills.
Enjoy!

[Blackadder]

I know not paying a bill on time was completely alien to me. Overall my big 3 CC companies were OK. Amex was the most aggressive, plus I gave them too much info the first time. That led to it being transferred to some outfit in India (they were pretty nice). BofA called once, and Chase never did anything.

Loving the new found freedom and control with all the rest of bills now that the weight of the CC debt has been removed.

My 341 is next week so hopefully I'm getting close to the end of this tunnel.

[epiphany]

I just quit paying as well, Discover just called told them I couldn't pay they offered to cut my rate a take a small payment. Like you I was only late once by mistake. It has been very difficult and I know it will only become worse. But as our president said today "there is no shame in doing what you have to do to deal with unreasonable creditors". Could anyone offer some advice as to a concise reply to these morons when they call. I have been answering and saying I can't pay and am reviewing all my bill to come up with a plan to move forward. I worry I may be saying too much, I don't anticipate filing until July.

It's hard to give any one indivudual advice on this because you can take 100 of us who have been here and get 100 different results even when dealing with the same creditors. It worked for me (for the most part) to tell the creditors that I was filing even before I had a lawyer.

If you are seriously filing in July, there is not enough time for any of them to sue you and get a default judgment. I do believe I had one who sped up the process on this information, but they were cut at the pass when I filed.

On the other hand, telling them you are filing could get a few of them off your back now.

It's a crap shoot really. But the odds are in your favor if you stick to a schedule.

Best of luck to you,
ep

[chad9162]

Could anyone offer some advice as to a concise reply to these morons when they call.

When my creditors 1st called I told them I might be able to pay in mid May (stalling). Anyways they still called and it annoyed the crap out me so I started to answer.

Here's what I do...I say...

1. My car broke down
2. I have no money
3. I have no friends or family
4. I might get laid off
5. I'm recording this call so I can track how many times you call me.

Yep that last one kills them. They sort of freak out. I explain to them that they already know I can't pay and that the only reason they're calling is to annoy and harrass me. They say they are allowed to call blah blah blah. I tell them, "Yes, you are allowed to call but not harass me. Its in the Fair Credit thing" (haha don't even know what its called but they still freak out when I mention it).

I again say, "If you know I can't pay then why are you calling me?" They usually repeat themselves and then I remind them I'm just going to record everything. Most of them fold. One of them told me the call was already being recorded implying I didn't need to record it because they'd give it to me. I said, "Awesome, can you e-mail it to me."

He freaked out and said, "No, ahh ahh I need something in writing." I said, "See its a good thing I'm recording you." He was done after that. Another one tried to "guilt me" and said I had used the credit and blah blah blah. I said, "You're right I'm a LOSER, but I still don't have the money. Anything else?" She was done after that.

Ironically no one would give me their full name or ID#. Chase connected me to a supervisor and when I explained the harassment she just agreed and said yes yes yes yes. She thought she was being recorded. Juniper guy wanted to argue but finally said he could stop the calls. I said great and hung up.

Anyways my phone has stopped ringing and haven't heard from anyone in a few days.

So that's what I did. I told all my creditors to put in their computers that when they call me expect to be recorded. It seems that giving them notice about harassment slows them down a bit....