Dont know what to do

[iamsamantha]

Hello!

I recently retained an attorney, the retainer isnt paid in full, but i dont know what to from here. I had originally thought I'd be a chapter 13 but my attorney stated that it would be a chapter 7.

Can i stop paying my debts? I can no longer continue to pay them.

I was current on everything until the 14th of this month. My income got reduced by about 400 dollars and I'm expecting a flury of harrasment. To try and avoid this I sent out letters telling them that I had retained council, will that help? Or will that not help?

There are ACH's that are due to come out of my account on Friday and Chase is not willing to help me put a freeze on my account so that the it wont go negative. And it wont close it because something's pending, and it has been pending for about two weeks now.

I litterally dont know what else to do.

[scorpion35]

1st STOP paying ALL your credit cards( u are going to file BK no sense in making any more payments)
2nd go to any ATM and take your money out of any accounts u have
3rd open a new checking account at any back u don't bank with right now(credit cards,loans etc etc)
telling your creditors that u retained council can backfire,(if you're not filing right away )now they know you're filing BK ,and they might get nasty

[tcreegan]

Hi iamsam,

scorpion has it right...if Chase won't close it, drain it. Put the $$ somewhere else.

The account will overdraft but you will include it in the BK.

Agree w/ the don't tell them you are filing BK. And don't divert the calls to your attorney w/o clearing it with them first.

Use caller ID and screen your calls. If you talk to them, tell them that your income just dropped and you can't do anything until March. Keep it vague, "can't do anything" "I can't do anything, I can't keep food on the table, the earliest I can do anything would be March" "Can you call back on March 15, I should know something by then."

Good luck w/ this,

Tom in Colo

[pikaroth]

Sounds more or less exactly what I went through. The advice given so far is great, and I cannot stress this enough: close ANY accounts you have at any banks you have debt with. Do this immediately. Go into your bank and tell them you wish to close the account, take the money, and head to a bank, any bank really, that you have zero debt with, no credit cards, nothing. I wish I would have done this sooner, but I learned quickly and got it done. I was with Chase and also had two cards with them. When I went in, they spoke with me, did what they could about keeping the account, etc. Just stay firm and tell them that, no, you are in fact closing the account. I found a much smaller bank with a branch right across the street.

Also, stop paying all your credit card debt right now. I almost find it funny I am saying that because about three months ago I was here getting told the same thing and being scared to death just thinking about it. Now it's good. Again, STOP PAYING. Once you fully retain your attorney, I am going to assume he'll tell you to give any phone calls his name and number. All I can tell you is from personal experience, but for well over a month the phone calls came in, but on the rare time I would answer, I'd get a recording or no one. Then a little over two weeks ago two of them actually had a real life person, and I told them I was going through bankruptcy, gave them the name and number of my attorney, and they have not called back at all, not once.

So again, close all accounts with banks you have debt with ASAP, do not hesitate, just do it. And also stop paying the debt right now.