How long before you filed and why?

[Freddy03]

The debt settlement companies are worse than the collection agencies.

Most of them are nothing more than liars that will get you in a worse financial position than you're already in.

I am proof to that. At least I was smart enough to never sign up with them - so I never paid them anything.

[gman]

My next 2 lawsuits came within 30 days of me sending them a debt validation letter with cease and desist included.

All of the other cards I have ignored with only a few calls here and there.

Interesting.

So that advice I received about NOT sending cease and desist letters seems to be true not just for me but in your case as well.

Also - interesting to note that the ones you have ignored have ignored you.

Good luck with your BK!

[ccsjoe]

Thank you Gman! That gives me alot to think about. So many emotions involved in bk. Trying to put them where they should be.

I second gman. That is one of the best pieces of advice I've heard in a heck of a long time!

[Freddy03]

Interesting.

So that advice I received about NOT sending cease and desist letters seems to be true not just for me but in your case as well.

Also - interesting to note that the ones you have ignored have ignored you.

Good luck with your BK!

Thanks - what is funny about the 2 is that both their letters stated if I request debt validation or verification all collection activity would stop until validation/verification has been processed. Well no verification was ever received. Just the summons (about 6 days after I received the certified mail receipt back). I have even tried to file a counterclaim on one of them. That case is still pending.

[offthewall]

Thanks - what is funny about the 2 is that both their letters stated if I request debt validation or verification all collection activity would stop until validation/verification has been processed. Well no verification was ever received. Just the summons (about 6 days after I received the certified mail receipt back). I have even tried to file a counterclaim on one of them. That case is still pending.

Freddy, may I ask how much time went by between stopping your CC payments and the 1st summons you received? I am just trying to keep track of general time frames as in my situation I am waiting to file for income look-back purposes.

[tobee43]

So that advice I received about NOT sending cease and desist letters seems to be true not just for me but in your case as well.

gman...they go into a big pile in the heavens of the never read and no one care twilight zone pile of any given creditor's mail room. stacked neatly...sometimes not...sometimes used to light fires in the winter...

[Freddy03]

Freddy, may I ask how much time went by between stopping your CC payments and the 1st summons you received? I am just trying to keep track of general time frames as in my situation I am waiting to file for income look-back purposes.

Sure no problem - I stopped paying one card b/c after they finally approved me for a hardship program (which I have in writing from them) but before they even took their first payment they wrote the account off. That was in Jan 2010. Account was written off on Feb 2. Almost exactly 180 days past due. I was making small payments during the 180 days but never brought it current.

So it took them from Feb 2nd to May 5th to send me a summons. I will tell you this (from experience) CC are keeping their accounts (esp if the balance is over 3k) rather then send to a junk debt buyer. This makes settling harder and lawsuits quicker.

[Freddy03]

gman...they go into a big pile in the heavens of the never read and no one care twilight zone pile of any given creditor's mail room. stacked neatly...sometimes not...sometimes used to light fires in the winter...

Someone was reading them for Cap One....LOL Because I received letters from them acknowledging they have received my letter and is working hard on gathering my requested information.....LOL

[tobee43]

Someone was reading them for Cap One....LOL Because I received letters from them acknowledging they have received my letter and is working hard on gathering my requested information.....LOL

wow...freddy, i'm impressed...maybe they hired people to read them now...LOL!!! all mine went to the wayside...however, i did it for a reason...just in case they showed up at a 341 meeting i would throw it in the trustee's face and say "see" i tried....but they absolutely refused to work with me...so why show up NOW??? (that was when i was in my What If mod)....it was a waste of over 60 bucks in cert mail costs! LOL!!! thankfully no one showed up at my 341 and it was a no asset case anyway...so what can they try to collect at this point? not much!

[offthewall]

Sure no problem - I stopped paying one card b/c after they finally approved me for a hardship program (which I have in writing from them) but before they even took their first payment they wrote the account off. That was in Jan 2010. Account was written off on Feb 2. Almost exactly 180 days past due. I was making small payments during the 180 days but never brought it current.

So it took them from Feb 2nd to May 5th to send me a summons. I will tell you this (from experience) CC are keeping their accounts (esp if the balance is over 3k) rather then send to a junk debt buyer. This makes settling harder and lawsuits quicker.

Thanks Freddy! Yes, seems like some are fairly quick on the draw. I hope I can slide by with my 'Big 4' CC's without lawsuit until mid-Oct, beginning Nov...I won't be able to file prior to that!

[Freddy03]

Thanks Freddy! Yes, seems like some are fairly quick on the draw. I hope I can slide by with my 'Big 4' CC's without lawsuit until mid-Oct, beginning Nov...I won't be able to file prior to that!

I think you will be ok b/c if even you do receive a summons it usually takes a few months before trial. If you do receive a summons make sure you answer the summons (according to your court procedures) and file a request of documents (you can research examples online). That usually stalls them for 60 days.

Good Luck!

[kartoons19]

Great thread! I lost my job a little over two years ago. It was a contracted position, so I was unable to get unemployment. Since then I have taken on odd jobs. I also have a side business, but it is not very profitable. I kept thinking things would work out, meanwhile I exhausted all of my savings, maxed out the cards. I always had excellent credit, so there was a lot of credit available, not a good thing!

After it came to where I didn't know if I would be able to pay my rent, I realized that things were not going to get better soon enough. I tried to negotiate with the CCs, but no deal until I was delinquent. One of the cards I have had for almost 15 years, never late, but wouldn't work with me. Considered debt consolidation, wouldn't help. I was leery of the debt mgmt companies, so about 6 months ago, I looked into bk.

I was in denial for about a month, then decided it was my only choice. So I retained an attorney back in late May and moved on from there. It is a hard decision, with a lot of emotional ups and downs, but in the end it is the best decision. If needed, everyone is entitled to a fresh start!

[empowered]

I've been stunned by how long people live with these situations before considering bankruptcy. Since joining this forum while preparing to file Chapter 7 pro se after a dismissed Chapter 13, what I've read here about how many years some people wait has made me wonder on occasion whether I could have let things go for longer and at least filed Chapter 13 after leaving California instead of while still there, or whether I could have bypassed Chapter 13 for Chapter 7 altogether if I'd known more and either waited longer or filed while I was still unemployed years back.

But I can't imagine tolerating the situation of being harassed day-in and day-out by collection agencies either. In my case, I was very angry when the credit card company I had nearly all of my credit with, the company I'd done business with for more than 20 years, refused me any kind of a reasonable payment plan after I became unemployed and fell behind. I visited Consumer Credit Counseling at the time and was told that these companies are allowed to decide whether to admit people into their plan programs and that some companies uniformly reject applicants to their programs. The CCC agent admitted that court was often the only way to get a "payment plan" -- yes, bankruptcy and Chapter 13 is the only way to "force" a payment plan on a creditor who refuses to work with you. I was never tempted to try "debt management," having gotten wind somehow that it was considered a scam.

I wish I'd been on this forum back then and hadn't just automatically entrusted my well-being to the attorneys whose name I found on the Nolo website for my locale. But, practically, because I have since had changes in residence and job, doing the 13 was probably better than just refusing to pay.

In my case, my accounts were quickly put to collection over my ineffectual protestations and I had people calling and demanding, oh, the modest amount of $15,000 as a first payment. A few lies and attempts at tricks and I quickly stopped answering the phone.

I had a lot else going on in my life that was pretty hard at the time. I tried to do what I thought was the logical thing and consulted an attorney.

So instead of waiting, I suppose I did it once, and now I'm doing it again in a slightly different way with more control (pro se with greater knowledge) and hopefully a more positive outcome and future. I echo what I read earlier in this or another thread about Chapter 13 being a very poor solution for the debtor, especially an older debtor. Surviving a Chapter 13 plan in your 20s or 30s still leaves you time to begin with home ownership and retirement savings. When you're older, it seems that it's likely to just strip you of any savings you might have made in your supposed highest income years, making it hard to ensure that you can make it into your later years without becoming a burden on the state and probably also having a greater impact on your health. What are we asking people to do here with these Chapter 13 plans? It seems punitive and like, for many, we're ensuring that they can never go forward and act on whatever lessons they've learned in bankruptcy by saving for the future.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if the handle "screwed" is taken on this forum... :]

[tay666]

Well, we have been waiting for years.
We first considered BK in Oct of 2006.
Shortly after my wife's medical issues became worse and she couldn't work.
We were already tight with the bills because I had been unemployed for 2 years. I worked construction when it was available, but during lean times we relied on the CCs to cover things.

In early 2004 we were making about $45,000 a year and had $10,000 in unsecured debt.
By the end of 2006 we had annual income of $20,000 and unsecured debt of over $40,000. Plus another $20,000 owed on my wife's car (thanks to previous trade-ins

We went and talked to a lawyer in Oct. Discovered a big problem.
Too much equity in the house. Ohio only had $10,000 in homestead exemptions at that time. So, we went into a holding pattern.
During which I started researching BK.
And I found this place.

I knew BK was our only option and there was no way we could continue to juggle things.
So the begining of March 2007 we quit using the cards, and quit paying all unsecureds, and the auto loan.
By that point, I was even pretty much ok with loosing the house if it came to that. But we had a bigger problem.

We couldn't afford to file.

We were too broke to file bankrupcy!

Turned out to be a good thing though.
Since then my wife has racked up close to $30,000 in medical bills that my insurance didn't cover.

Thankfully, her medical issues are under control now.
She is also now getting SSI so we have a little cash now.
And we could finally file this year.
3 years and 9 months after we originally sought out BK.
3 years and 4 months of collections calls, letters, and other harassment.

Most people kind of dread BK.
For us it has been the light at the end of a very long tunnel.

[2bdebtfree]

Wow! You guys seem to have it worse than me and have waited a very long time to actually file.

I'm going to see my attorney this afternoon. I have all the paperword he asked for. I'm hoping I'll have answers and maybe some relief. I am nervous.

I don't know if this makes a difference but it wasn't a cash advance I took. It was with those balance transfer checks that have 0% for one year. In my eyes it's the same thing. I deposited the balance transfer check in my bank.

In an earlier post I blasted my husband. AFter thinking about it I really can't place blame. Circumstances happened and the debt came about to survive.

Good luck to Tay and Empowered. You two have been going through this for a couple years. Hopefully it wil be over for you soon.