Had my consultation today and am a bit confused...

[Gar]

If you owe to Capitol One, be forewarned they will get a judgement on you within a year of you stopping payments to them. If you have a job, house, bank accounts they will try to attach.

Forgot to mention that it's a Chase Visa

Although this entire premise still seems weird to me, I'll give it a try and see what happens. I'll start a payoff fund in case I get an settlement offer (right now it would have to be under $500...)

[JRScott]

Your lawyer is advising you correctly. You have no assets to speak of to have a lien against. You are unemployed so no wages to garnish and also I assume no bank account to levy. You are much better off waiting until you have been employed 6 months and then filing.

Stop paying on the card, they'll send calls and stuff as he says just tell them that you are unemployed and with the current economic situation you are unsure when you might get employment again but that you are out there trying. That should hold them off for a year or two at least in the current climate.

[inpain66]

It is not worth filing for 14k and one creditor. The lawyers and fees would add up to 1500-2k in the end so not worth it.

[MidFlorida]

Collections people

One thing not yet mentioned is what it's like dealing with the collections people and also how they try to restart the statute of limitations (SOL) when you do talk to them.

They're trained to collect money, period. They want to know it's actually you and then they proceed to say pretty much anything to get you to agree to send payment. I've never been so close to a nervous breakdown as I was during those months.

In my situation to date, I was better off not talking to them at all. I couldn't pay and I didn't need the horrible things they'd say.

I agree with everybody saying to save as best you can so that if you do get sued at any point, you can use that money to hire the bankruptcy attorney or settle on the debt. If that day comes, it's really hard to do anything at all if, like me, you're dead broke. With money, you have options.

The longer the debt is unpaid, the better the settlement offers can be, too. Also, if Chase sells the debt to some junk debt buyer, they more often accept considerably less, too. Chase never sold my debt yet though. But they aren't suing me either. Capital One is suing me and Wells Fargo too. Chase might not be so sue happy?

[cwilliams]

If they do sue you in the future, go to the hearing. Chances are they will not show up and the debt could be wiped out, especially if you have no job and no wages to garnish. Show up with a copy of a budget and any other records you have regarding your financial situation and see what happens. Do you have a bank account? If so, keep nothing in it but maybe a few dollars to keep the account open. Use the bank only to cash your paychecks and pay your bills by cash or money order instead.