No Calls Today

[treehugger1]

Well, once again, I went through a Friday with no calls from CA's or creditors to office or cell phones. Two of my accounts are through Citi, and given the past two days news on this company, perhaps I am no longer a priority. I've already asked that the assigned CA's send me a written dunning letter.

Citi seems to be intent on building their cash situation and I would assume i am a risk. They could spend thousands of dollars to attempt to collect a total of $17K on two accounts and not see any results for the next 2 - 5 years. While they might get some return from my account a few years down the road when the economy improves, they run serious risk of chasing debt down a blackhole given my current situation.

Has anyone else seen a decrease in collection calls? I suppose that if you are first receiving collection calls they might be fast and furious. On the other hand, if you are willing to ask for written information and DV the info when you get it, you are not going to be a contributor to anyone's near-future balance sheet. I wish I knew more about creditor's and CA's business plans in this economy, I have to assume they are not going to waste time on folks who put up a defense.

I called a court clerk today and found out that in my rural county of Oregon, mandaotry arbitration cases are backing up for cases to be heard 60 -180 days in the future. Small claim's cases can have hearings requested going out to Feb 1, 2009. I asume much of this is due to the holiday season coming up and dockets are already full through december till mid-january.

At the current time, I have a wage garnishment that will be paid next week and no more summones to address. I'm taking a deep breath as the sonnest I might be served for anyting now would be 11/24 or 11/25. With a 14 - 20 day response/answer period (potential earliest I woul dneed to respond to small claims is 12/10 and I could ask for any mediation heaaring to occur beyond 11/15 or later.

Yee, Haw! I will receive a FUll paycheck the end of December! Its too late for any creditors to act before then. (jumping up and down, snorting, HAPPY). Who knows what next year will bring?

[laurannm]

Sometimes you can see a temporary decrease in calls as your account gets transferred from one dept to another, or if they are in the process of selling off your debt to a third party collector.

[landofpoor]

Sometimes you can see a temporary decrease in calls as your account gets transferred from one dept to another, or if they are in the process of selling off your debt to a third party collector.

How long does it take before a debt with original party get sold off to roughly?I havent paid on cards here since sept 1 and many calls but I never have spoke to em yet. 2 biggies they are one for 27000 now with late fees 30% interst min payment like 1700 now after 2nd statement like I got that lol.Other card roughly 20000 same deal

[BigJohn]

I haven't been paying since March. One card just got sold off. As far as talking to any of the creditors, I haven't.

[treehugger1]

I'll share (again) my experince as I think it can offer insight. I have defaulted on four CAP1 accounts (not proud of this, but they should have listened when I first asked for assistance.) I have not paid on one of these in approximately 14 months., one in over 8 - 10 months. One was for $6K and the other for $2+K. About 45 days after chargeoff they sent these accounts to ouside collections, I DV'd and noted that the CA's were not registered in my state. 30+ days later one was sent to a lowlife attorney in my state. I DV'd the attorney an dnever heard jack sh*t. I had a BOA account charge off ( 6 months,) and another 30 days later it was sold to a JDB who sent the account to a legal firm in a neighboring state. i DV'd them and it has been about 60 days with no reply and no further action. I have two citi accounts, one recent chargeoff and the other within 30 days of charge off. The older one appears to have been assigned to a CA that calls and leaves messages on my work and/or cell phone. I'll DV them in a couple of days and I'm guessing that since they don't own the debt they will table it and send it back to citi.

The bad news: I defaulted on several local unsecured debts. four of these sued me in small claims. I did what I could to show up for mediation. Monday, 3 of these accounts will be satisfied through wage garnishment/judgment. One creditor filed a small claim (inder $7500 in my state.) LOCAL folks can act quickly in small claims. I have one more local account that I can't pay on but they have yet to serve me after 180 days of no payment. When they do, I'll wait until day 13 - 14 and file my denial. This will put the earliest action of enforceable action at about 200 - 230 days after last payment. They call and I can tell them the same thing I told all of my local creditors, "Let's get it over with and you can get your money through wage garnishment."

There is no way to know how any big CA companies will approach a debt they've bought or been asigned. It probbaly has a bit to do with rather or not you have assets and they think they can "scare" you.

[sleeplessinohio]

treehugger, you are very gracious for sharing your story here. I, personally, have learned from your experiences.

Do you mind discussing your 'local' creditors a little more?

I can't quite figure out who my 'local' creditors are? For instance, I continue to pay on my overdraft account through my bank. I'm afraid they are a 'local' creditor. My bank has offices throughout Ohio. I do not know if I should really continue to pay them or not.

I am also not sure about a couple of store creditors who seem to be through HSBC. I guess I'm assuming they are not local, though.

Anyway, if you see this, I'd appreciate being able to understand a little more.

Thanks.

sleepless in ohio

[treehugger1]

Local (for me)

A credit union unsecured loan
A local (small business) collection agency (unsecured lender+medical bills)
A regional high risk unsecured lender with an office in my town
Another regional high-risk unsecured lender with an office in my town
American General unsecured loan with an office in a town about 60 miles away.

All of these went to small claims court as they were/are all under $7500. With the exception of one of these, they have now all been paid through wage garnishment. I suspect the last local creditor to serve me in the next 30 days and a wage garnishment in 60 - 90 days.

By local I mean those lenders and CA's who can simply drive down to the courthouse and file a small claim. These can be large companies at a national level, but they would have easy access to my local court and most tend to sue without going to collections. Small local offices of big companies (American General Finance, etc) have well-qualified folks in their local offices who know how to navigate small claims.

This is not the case with some big CC debt I have rotting out there. On the other hand, most of these could not be satisfied in small claims court.

I wonder if I lived in a large city such as Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento, Portland, etc if I would have been sued earlier by my larger CC lenders. I just don't know. I do know that in my small backwoods town, there are not that many attorneys who do collections. And those that do probably screen their cases carefully. I'm guessing that some of the modern collection attorneys charge a percentage of what can be collected. I don't think that would be the case in my town. I'm sure they bill by the hour and want to be paid up front.

Stay tuned, as I suspect I'll get a feel for my larger debt holders and lawsuits in the future.

At this point in time, I can withstand wage garnishments for the next 20 months. After that, if I'm tired of it, I'll look into a BK 13, or retire and hold out for a BK 7.

You should know that I once had secondary agreements with nearly all my creditors. But, it only took one local judment and garnishment to throw it all out of sync. Oh, well, life could be harder. With the exception of a credit card that I use for travel expenses, I no longer depend upon any credit. I have not used any credit for 18+ months.

I continue to pay aditional creditors on top of wage garnishment when I have a bit of extra money.

I probably sound like a deadbeat, but then again, I've paid off 6 of my creditors these past several months. As others figure out how to get in line, they'll get paid also. LOL

[treehugger1]

Sleepless, I doubt that your local businesses funding credit through HSBC would be considered local in my book.

Your bank might be set up to move forward on claims. I believe that US Bank is located in Ohio (or close to the state) and they could have collections protocol much different than US Bank in Washington or other states. Many large banks have centralized collection and recovery departments that are separate from the branch bank office. In such cases one deals with the collection department located somewhere out-of-state.

[ssdsco]

3. I think your going to see a ton of 1099-C's going out this year and for the next couple years. i think most lenders want the tax break and not the collection cost.

Does getting a 1099-c imply the debt is settled and the 1099-c is your defense against any further collection efforts ?



I'm 19 months since last payment, includes just about all the large national creditors, large debts, $10k + with most of the 20+ OCs, no local creditors, live near a large city. I only get calls when a debt transfers until I send the DV, do not call, I'm judgment proof letter.

I've had 3 lawsuits filed, 2 are 6 months old and none of the lawsuits have been served. I'd sure like to know what's up with that.

Based on my experience and the info from others in the forum the chances of being sued in the first 2 years of no payment are pretty low unless you have debt with a local creditor or Chase. Although I owe Chase a bunch and they haven't taken any action against me.

Treehugger, Congrat's on the full paycheck. Thanks for continuing to share your info.

[Flamingo]

I also am thinking about waiting for a year or so to file BK, wonder what will happen at the height of the BK's and when they will peak? Why not file then? Nothing like being in the middle of storm of people filing BK and you can skate through.

Being on this forum a while, going through BK and then seeing what is happening now with this economy and all the BK's and foreclosures taking place, we all need to think about the cost of all this out of our pockets also in the future as more and more folks file, lose their homes and businesses cave in. Someone/something has to pay for all the debt being dumped. You mentioned a "storm" of people filing BK. Just think of the repercussions to us all after this is over and the economy hopefully slowly improves. I personally saw a bit of this myself (after being discharged over two years ago from a Chapter 13) with a long-term surviving credit card with a zero balance for the past year (which survived our BK in 4/02 and stayed open until sometime in 2008 - almost 7 years since filing!) get closed out because of a "BK on my records." All creditors and lenders are cracking down and it will make things more difficult in the future for those in trouble now and also those that are not in trouble as to higher costs/fees for all and stricter credit.

Your experiences and postings are great, informative and to the point and I wish you well during this time before your filing.

[sleeplessinohio]

Treehugger, thanks for responding to my query. For now, I'm going to continue to pay on my bank overdraft account, and not pay on HSBC.

Someday this nightmare will end.

I hope.

[BigJohn]

Treehugger, thanks for responding to my query. For now, I'm going to continue to pay on my bank overdraft account, and not pay on HSBC.

Someday this nightmare will end.

I hope.

I stopped paying my bank overdraft account in March. The bank kept on trying to extract money out of the account til I believe it was July. The bank claims I default on the account, not in March but in July.

[ssdsco]

Thanks BB2.

[treehugger1]

I don't know how we arrived at this discussion on this thread (1099,) but keep in mind the following. A 1099 - forgiveness of debt is just that. As far as I know, once a 1099 is issued, the debt is "forgiven." While it is true that you are liable for taxes on the forgiven debt (if you are not IRS insolvent,) I see know legal reason that a third party CA or JDB has any claim on the debt. They might try, but I would certainly consult a competent CPA for your answer to a JDB or CA on a debt that was "forgiven." A 1099 relates to potentially taxable income to you. If the debt was forgiven, then the "income" has already offset the amount owed. Just my opinion. TH

[treehugger1]

One would think that if the IRS considers this "income," then one has a reasonably strong case against a JDB attempting to collect on a debt that has been essentially "paid." I know very little about how legal value of a 1099, but it is my understanding that a "charge-off" is a movment of an account receivable off the "books," where a 1099 is a statement that the taxpayer received a benefit of value; cash, debt forgiveness, etc.

If I received a 1099 for debt forgiveness and that was the intention of the 1099, I would certainly do more research if a JDB eventually attempted to collect.

I did a bit of web searching and it does appear that different states treat the issuance of a 1099-C differently. In some states, a 1099-C also implies a discharge of the debt, while in other states a 1099-C does not necessarily imply a discharge of debt. As BB stated, it seems quite complicated.

When I have time, I'll try to look through my state (Oregon) statutes and see what they have to say.