how they discover accounts to levy

[Minnymouth]

VERY WELL EXPLAINED...... JRScott and GoingDown, Thanks for hitting the "highs" and "lows" of the aspect of not doing anything......

[HHM]

While it is true that MOST people on this forum have assets and income to protect and SHOULD file bankruptcy as soon as possible, there are some of us who have nothing to lose and doing nothing is a realistic and viable alternative to bankruptcy, at least for awhile. If a person does not own real estate, has exempt income (such as social security disability, etc.) or income that is difficult to garnish (such as temp jobs, etc., etc., etc.,-- I won't go into much detail here on the open forum), uses money orders to pay bills and doesn't use a checking account, then there is very little that a creditor can do to them other than huff and puff and try to scare them into complying. Even if the creditor gets judgments against them, if they don't have any assets the judgments will be wiped out by filing bk. I won't go into any details, but some people on this forum and on other forums that I'm on are waiting to file bk until enough time has passed to make their bk filing actually work without having any challenges from creditors. In those cases, making themselves as judgment proof as possible and using the FDCPA cease and desist methods are about all they can do until they can ride it out long enough to file bk. Debt collectors are as corrupt as humanly possible, so I feel no moral guilt over not paying them a dime voluntarily. And while there are many horror stories out there to scare debtors, you need to keep in mind that debt collectors want to make money. If they figure out that a debtor is truly judgment proof, they are NOT going to waste much time on them. They will go after the easier targets instead-- people with real estate, people with steady, garnishable jobs, and people with stocks, bonds, CDs, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I do believe there is some legitimate use of the "do nothing" approach...my concern is, too many people try that approach who really shouldn't. Others are just grossly misinformed and end up screwing things up more...and I think the ones that actually go out of their way to delay filing are in the worse position because they aren't realizing how much control that debt is having over their lives (i.e. using only money orders, getting rid of checking accounts, going through temp agencies for jobs to prevent garnishment, etc, that is NOT freedom from debt, that is slavery).

You are correct, if you file BK, the result of a BK should have a positive impact on your bottom line...if it does not, then you should not file.

[jp2861]

I'm new and a little late on this thread. It's amazing how much I don't know about credit. Anyway, I find the whole judgement proof concept very interesting. I'm in the beginning stages of filing a Ch7. This is something that I should have done years ago, but I thought I was saving my credit rating by playing the shell game and transferring money back and forth from one card to another. Little did I know I would end up where I am now. I have a few cards with some high balances, that I'm sure the creditors will object to. I have no real estate or assets to speak of. My sole income is a military retirement pension which is protected under Veterans Benefits in my state. Would that put me in the judgement proof category? If something happens to go wrong with my Ch7 I'd like to start educating myself on what to expect and how to protect what little money I do have.

[HHM]

that I'm sure the creditors will object to.

First, you need to do is educate yourself on why creditors would or would not object, simply having high balances does not yield objections. Objections are a matter of timing, not amount.

1. Stop using your creditor cards
2. Wait 6 months from the last time you did a balance transfer, or took a major cash advance on the credit cards.

If you do those 2 things, the odds of a creditor objection is relatively slim.

[GoingDown]

I'm new and a little late on this thread. It's amazing how much I don't know about credit. Anyway, I find the whole judgement proof concept very interesting. I'm in the beginning stages of filing a Ch7. This is something that I should have done years ago, but I thought I was saving my credit rating by playing the shell game and transferring money back and forth from one card to another. Little did I know I would end up where I am now. I have a few cards with some high balances, that I'm sure the creditors will object to. I have no real estate or assets to speak of. My sole income is a military retirement pension which is protected under Veterans Benefits in my state. Would that put me in the judgement proof category? If something happens to go wrong with my Ch7 I'd like to start educating myself on what to expect and how to protect what little money I do have.

No real estate
Exempt income from the government


You're about as judgment proof as possible.

Just keep that money out of a checking account, and there's not much they can do to you.

One last thing... look up the motor vehicle exemptions for your state. Make sure that your vehicle doesn't have too much equity in it, or it might become a target. Either downsize to a cheaper, older car that would be of little interest to them, or trade it in for a new one that would be upside down in value so they can't seize it and sell it at an auction.