When should you stop paying credit card bills

[Rona123]

To Foolandhismoney about paying my ccs up to my date of filing:

My situation was somewhat unique in that I had massive student loans coming due and while I was barely able to make my minimums up to that point, once the loans were due, I was sunk. So, I filed at the exact time they came due and that showed me as being totally in the red, and therefore kept me from being pushed into BK13. You do make a good point though that unless you are in a certain situation, it might certainly raise more questions about your ability to move into a BK13.

Good point...

Ron

[Rona123]

I may be a little late in replying to this topic as we've moved beyond the original point, but while Rover may have asked the question in a less than diplomatic way, I think he/she raises a good point. Having been a noob not so long ago myself, I know that when a new person joins the forum, they are in most cases very confused and are looking for concrete answers that in most cases, don't exist.

Because the vast majority of us who post on this board are NOT legal professionals, we don't have the resources to give firm and certain answers. Instead, we can only draw on our own personal experiences AND on the collective experiences of this board. While this is the most amazing resource I've found and the most helpful one I've had in my BK process, I realize that this is still an imperfect science.

Rover, since I was the one who made the comment first about credit scores being less affected if you're current when you file, let me give you MY answer. For me, it was totally anecdotal and not based on any hard evidence. Reading this board over the past several months, I've read many stories about how credit scores have been affected by credit problems and resulting BK. In my case, I was current, but still deeply in debt, and had a credit score of 620. It's been almost 3 months since I filed (awaiting discharge), and my credit score has dropped a total of 22 points. The fact that this is far less of a drop than the scores of others I've read about who weren't current when they filed, combined with common knowledge of credit scoring, is what led me to make my comment.

As you read more and more postings, you'll get a cumulative sense of how things seem to work MOST of the time, but unfortunately, you'll probably never find clear-cut answers to all of your questions all of the time. Nevertheless, there are a ton of great folks here trying to help each other out as best we can, and I've found that in most cases, they've been very successful.

Good luck!
Ron

[Rona123]

That's a dumb quote. If it were true, that would mean that homeless people have the most options since they have lost everything. It would make more sense to say that if you're a billionaire, you are free to do anything because you don't have to find a job to feed, clothe, and house your family.

Jenny,

I think you missed the point of my inclusion of that quote.

First off, if you had read the entire thread, you would see that I was replying to a previous post suggesting that in a perfect world credit scores would be meaningless. That reminded me of the closing scene of "Fight Club", which, in turn, reminded me of how I want to feel after my BK is over.

Of course it's not to be taken literally, and I never made that suggestion. I'm referring to the sense of hope and freedom that I have started to feel as I've gotten closer to the day when my future is not determined by the stupid mistakes of my past.

It's about starting over and it's about a second chance, which I think is the whole point of bankruptcy.

Besides, that's just an AWESOME movie that I like quoting!

Ron

[greengoddess]

Let me interject this thought...
I have always had the best credit score. Never missed a payment ever! What has it earned me? I'm still a renter who has never rented from a property mgt co, only indepedent landlords who've never checked my credit..I'm way too poor to ever purchase a house in Oregon. Even with a second person's income back in the days when I was earning 30K/yr..

all my great credit score has gotten me is credit cards that have allowed me to pay for emergencies like my dental work above and beyond what my old medical insurance paid, and my emergency vet bills and emergency car bills since I drive a vintage car (can't afford a new one)

So what is the big deal about my great credit score?? I'm looking forward to filing BK now! I'm nervous in the event of an emergency, but going forward, I will start a saving account.

Green Goddess

[river147]

stop paying credit cards?

Need some advice please. I just completed my 4th trial modification pymt with boa. Its a struggle for me to keep paying the minimums on cc. My question is, if I stop paying the minimums, will this effect my chances of getting my mort. modified. I included the cc pymts in my pymt plan to my lender but will not be able to continue making pymts to the cc. I'm planning on filing bk once the modification is finalized. My other question, if I stop paying cc now, at what point do they turn me over to outside collections. I'm concerned about my checking acct. being frozen or wages garnished. May be another 4 months before i can file bk. Currently behind 2 months in cc. Not sure what to do.
Any advice is appreciated.

[newbie2]

Need some advice please. I just completed my 4th trial modification pymt with boa. Its a struggle for me to keep paying the minimums on cc. My question is, if I stop paying the minimums, will this effect my chances of getting my mort. modified. I included the cc pymts in my pymt plan to my lender but will not be able to continue making pymts to the cc. I'm planning on filing bk once the modification is finalized. My other question, if I stop paying cc now, at what point do they turn me over to outside collections. I'm concerned about my checking acct. being frozen or wages garnished. May be another 4 months before i can file bk. Currently behind 2 months in cc. Not sure what to do.
Any advice is appreciated.

River, it would be helpful to you if you could repost your question in it's own thread. This one is almost 4 years old. You'll get much more helpful and timely responses!

[daytona]

Need some advice please. I just completed my 4th trial modification pymt with boa. Its a struggle for me to keep paying the minimums on cc. My question is, if I stop paying the minimums, will this effect my chances of getting my mort. modified. I included the cc pymts in my pymt plan to my lender but will not be able to continue making pymts to the cc. I'm planning on filing bk once the modification is finalized. My other question, if I stop paying cc now, at what point do they turn me over to outside collections. I'm concerned about my checking acct. being frozen or wages garnished. May be another 4 months before i can file bk. Currently behind 2 months in cc. Not sure what to do.
Any advice is appreciated.

Usually they don't "charge off" until 6mo of no payments (some "Chase" will turn over to CA in 3-4mo), then it goes to collection agy a month or so later, next CA sends debt collector letter, you can wait until ~30 days then DV them to buy another 30-60+ days...Assuming they answer DV then they will probably sue 30-60 days later (if you tell CA you are going to file they may not sue right away), to which you can answer suit and usually buy another 3-6mo before going to court and getting judgement, obviusly a BK, even post judgement, will trump the judgement. You should have lots of time....Your home lender could care less about your cards, especially if going HAMP.