Amex, high debt, chase not so high a debt, leaving me messages.

[panda]

I have been doing continuous research here on the boards since early August, and I appreciate every single thing I have learned from you guys.

I have a decent attorney and we will be seeing her again on the 26th for final paperwork.We will file for chapter seven on November 9th after waiting for the over $1000.00 dollar a month payments to amex to fall off the 90 day look back, as well as my last very small charge on August 7th.

So far I had answered the phone every few days, but honestly I am just sick of it. There is nothing new to tell any of them, and chase and Amex are pretty aggressive, as others on here have noted. So I quit answering the phone after last Saturday and just let the anwering machine pick up.

We owe about 94k in all on credit cards which is the reason for the bankruptcy, we just can not pay any longer without putting everything we buy right back on the credit card, so in August I had enough and said no more.

Ok, so chase is now leaving me messages from a phone number that comes in under chase, I need to urgently call them, so they say, sigh, I dont want to. I owe them about 15k.

Amex is the big one, we owe 44k for the regular card and 10k for what was our business card, They are calling several times a day leaving urgent messages, that are getting more insistent that my husband must call by the end of the day. These are cards under his name.

So far wells fargo and BOA just call with no messages from wells fargo, although now it looks like FIA services is calling for BOA to offer me a great financial deal to help us through our rough patch.

Am I going to be able to make it to our filing on November 9th without these guys getting a lawsuit going?

I am scared to death as we owe Amex so much that I fear we will never get away from them. Our lawyer saw all of this on our paperwork and never even blinked an eye about the amounts.

Does anyone think this is going to be an issue with the Amex debt so high, nothing frivolous at all, just living on the cards? I do not want to talk to these guys any more on the phone, I am ready to just unplug the phone til we get filed.

We had seen another attorney before we settled on our current one, and he said in his forty years of practice, here where we live, which is a small town, he has only ever had one adversarial proceeding and it was due to him filling the paperwork out wrong, so he even felt we had nothing to worry about.

I guess, after reading everything on here, I am not the only one concerned about these issue, but it is tearing me up pretty bad inside with the constant worry.

The bad thing is we had a business failure two and a half years ago and refinanced our home to try and pay off the majority of the cards and rebuild ourselves, but due to not being able to find any jobs, and the new payment on our home being so high, you can guess the rest.

I think I am rambling now, but appreciate any thoughts.

[BubbaJoeBob]

Don't be scared of AMEX or Citi, you got at least 45-60 days until they file suit... and why haven't you given the creditors your attorneys number. Thats what you pay them for... I would be more concerned about the UST taking a look at your case rather than the creditors......

[tcreegan]

Hi Panda,

Your case sounds pretty straightforward, your attorney sounds good, I don't think you have to worry...

Don't worry about the amounts on the cards, Amex, Chase, BOA, WF probably see this every day...

Even if they try, I doubt they could get judgement case off the ground before you file.

Several tricks to stop the calls, mine was telling the person that there was absolutely nothing I could do until (BK file date) Repeat as necessary. Then, key point here, ask them to note the account to contact you after (BK file date) Another, if your attorney is OK with it, is to tell them you have retained an attorney and all contact must go through them. Again, they key is to ask them to annotate it on their computer.

Think of how you will feel when you get your 'fresh start' and all that cc debt is like a weight lifted off your chest....

Tom in Colo

[panda]

My attorney appears to be very good and know her stuff, but she is expensive, which I know does not mean anything. She will not take any phone calls at this time, I do not know why. We have put down $700.00 of the $3000.00 she is charging and the final payment will be on the 26th when we go in to finish the paperwork. She said we are not to mention bankruptcy to the credit card people at any cost until we file and get our bankruptcy number.

Beleive me, there are not a lot of choices in attorney's where we live and the other guy we saw was about eighty years old and just did not grasp some of the information we had, such as our retirement funds, the huge payments we were making ect...but he was willing to take the phone calls after we paid him $1800.

We live in Hawaii and even after nine years I still find it insulting that because of my Haole (white) race, we are unworthy.
This attorney told us he greatly appreciated us coming here and dumping all of our money into the local economy, basically just like a stupid person would do. So we left him in the dust.

I was not hugely concerned about the US Trutee, we are 8k under median for our state as we have retirement funds we live on, but they do not push us over the median and our business is a bust and has shown negative loss on our tax forms for years, we have it finally and totally shut down and liquidated. Even with the new medians beginning in November we have a
-235 DMI. Maybe I am missing something about what the trustee may be looking at, but the new lawyer seems to know them well and knows what they are looking for. We have nothing but a house that is barely above water by two thousand dollars and old cars, even older furniture. The exemptions are good here though.

We have worked like dogs 16 to 18 hours a day for years after we moved here trying to get our business going, we invested heavily in it as well and just about the time it was barely making head way everything went to cr*p here, so then we spent over two years liquidating a business that no one wanted to buy anything from.

I think just the whole bankruptcy thing is hard for any of us to get through and right now I just want to make it to the filing and the 341 hearing, and I guess now hope the Trustee does not find something to hang us on as well.

I was telling the collectors when they call that we are working on the situation and hope to have things dealt with soon, please call back in a couple weeks when I may know more, yet they call every single day. Repeat, over and over again. After while the "are you such and such" we are recording you gets old. Then they want to know what has happened, then I hang up as they push further and further every time. I am not telling them anything so I get off quickly.

I think we are on the right track, and hopefully things will just move along and we can get a bit of peace back in our lives. I am going to have to at least turn off the ringer on the phone and maybe just dump the calls without listening to them as it is just making cringe every time the phone rings.

Thanks for the answers given.

[Dee]

panda - so sorry for everything you are going through. Believe me, everyone on this board can relate and knows exactly where you're coming from. The phone calls were the most stressful thing for me. At one point we were getting about 40-50 every day. That's when I got so stressed out that I ended up in the hospital for 3 days because they thought I was having a heart attack. First thing we did after that was change our phone number to an unlisted number. Second thing we did was see an attorney. Some of our bills have gone 12+ months without being paid. Maybe we've just gotten lucky on not having a judgement yet, maybe it's that we told them all from the beginning that me husband had lost his job - I'm just thankful that it hasn't happened so far. We met with our attorney yesterday to complete our paperwork and make our final payment to him, so our case is being e-filed today.

It sounds like you have a good case and a good attorney. Try not to panic and rest assured that it will get better.

[Pandora]

Hang in there panda - it gets better If you have an answering machine, just re-record the message to state something to affect of everyone is being recorded, i.e., "You've reached XXX-XXX-XXXX - please note your call will be recorded in its entirety. Leaving a message constitutes your consent and authorization."

Then dont pick up the phone. If friends / family call they'll leave a message - they may ask why you have the message as you do - then its up to you to decide if you want to delve into it or not.

[SunshineGal]

At this point, it will be nearly impossible for the creditors to get a judgment before you file. Even if they were to file suit, you first have to be served and will then have a chance to appear or file an answer.

[backtoschool]

At this point, it will be nearly impossible for the creditors to get a judgment before you file. Even if they were to file suit, you first have to be served and will then have a chance to appear or file an answer.

I agree with SunshineGal. And even if they get a judgment, you will be able to have it vacated after you are discharged. I would get an answering machine, turn your ringer off, and let the calls go to vm. Use your cell phone for your family calls and/or check the vm and return the calls you want to return.

[tcreegan]

Hi Panda,

house that is barely above water....since you live on a island, this might have a different meaning.....

If you want a good laugh about all those calls, try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s898wpcgcJM

(Tom Mabe, telemarketer prank call)

Hang in there, keep thinking ahead and the peaceful silence when the phones stop ringing,

Tom in Colo

[Okieblue]

I hear you! So tired of it. I get depressed, have bad thoughts. The cloud of something hugely wrong hanging over my head is the worst feeling ever. Then other times, feels like nothing is wrong. I gave the CU permission to take out very large payments twice this month. They made me do, since I didn't want to confess we *may* be filing. So I tried to cancel, said no, husband had to call in, well, he couldn't. So more stress, babysat my acct., they didn't take out anything. Was told by them I had to give them next of kin info and husbands work phone and they'd cancel those payments. Weird.

[Pandora]

I hear you! So tired of it. I get depressed, have bad thoughts. The cloud of something hugely wrong hanging over my head is the worst feeling ever. Then other times, feels like nothing is wrong. I gave the CU permission to take out very large payments twice this month. They made me do, since I didn't want to confess we *may* be filing. So I tried to cancel, said no, husband had to call in, well, he couldn't. So more stress, babysat my acct., they didn't take out anything. Was told by them I had to give them next of kin info and husbands work phone and they'd cancel those payments. Weird.

Do what?! How on earth can they make you pay them? Sounds like a class act scare tactic to me. If you know you're going to file and will include your CU in it - the payment may be taken back by the trustee as preferential payment. I dont know what your payment is for (house, car, credit card) but I'd really question the tactic used.

[panda]

Thanks for the support everyone. Today is a new day and the anxiety is not kicking in yet. I have two hours before the phone begins ringing and I am going to just turn it off. The worst part for me right now is the fact they are leaving the messages saying we must call by tonight, this had happened the last few days with AMEX and Chase started this yesterday. It is not just the regulars who were calling with there 800 numbers and not leaving messages, now it is direct calls from AMEX and Chase. Amex has been the worst since the beginning, Chase had stupid people calling who were easy to get off the phone, but not so any more. So by the time evening hit yesterday I was a basket case.

I am so thankful I found this place, at least people here are going through the same thing we are, even though it is not a good thing to be where we are, the support here is wonderful. I felt that the first time I found this place.

Thanks everybody.

Oh, and I got the funny about barely being above water, but the water is far below us, it is the flowing lava that one tends to worry about.

[SunshineGal]

Yeah..."You must call tonight!" If I had a quarter for all those messages I ignored I could settle my accounts, lol. Hang in there and enjoy the popularity, once you file you'll be wondering why the phone hasn't rang. (really....it's almost scary, lol)

[ryan]

PANDA, STOP TALKING TO THEM....let everything go to VM... only return calls you know. It sounds like they are driving you nuts....You are only 3 weeks away from filing. Screw them. They can do NOTHING to you at this point. Even if you were 2 months away from filing BK, they would not act that fast. I have dealt with every one of your creditors. After talking with them initially, I stopped and am glad I did.

[rjmwx81]

When they say "It's urgent that you call by the end of the day" what they really mean is "You must call by the end of the day because I'm behind on my collections quota and if I don't get a certain number of people to pay up I'm going to get fired." That's why they sound so urgent. Don't lose any sleep over it. Even if they were able to somehow magically file a lawsuit and get a judgment before you file, collecting on that judgment is yet another process and takes time as well.