Stopped paying in May, received summons in Oct.

[midnight]

My husband lost his job in May. Luckily he found a new job in August. But for that three months he didn't have an income because his previous employer fought his unemployment. Thankfully we won on appeal. We had been with CCCS and when DH lost his job, we couldn't afford the $900 payment anymore. Even though he's got a new job, it's for slightly less pay and we're still struggling (although luckily they're approving OT). Also in the middle of a loan mod.

The calls started fast and often. At first I talked with the CSRs, some were great, some not so great. We had been contemplating bankruptcy right before DH lost his job. We spoke with 3 attorneys, one who said we should try to do debt settlement ourselves, a Chapter 13 lawyer who said that we would pay back 40%and finally a Chapter 7 lawyer in May who said we like $5 over the means test. Talk about confusing. I was about to get a 10% paycut at work and the 3rd atty thought that that would help us pass the means test.

So I thought we'd have maybe a few more months before having to file or possibly receive a summons, but I was wrong. Got served today from Chase for 8,400.00. So now I guess I'll have to see if we can file a 7 or a 13. So for those out there that went a year w/o hearing anything, you got lucky! Our experience is 5 months. I thought maybe Cap 1 or Discover or even Citibank might be the first to initiate something but Chase beat them all.

I'm worried with the lump sum for the unemployment and his accrued vacation that we'll still be slightly over the limit.

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know my experience thus far. It's so embarrassing and depressing to be in this situation. We were with CCCS for almost 1.5 years and were really trying to pay it all off (paid almost 10k of 40k), but it was too hard. We haven't used credit cards in over 2.5 years. We pay cash for everything now, which is why we don't have anything of value in our house (all our TVs are at least 7-10 years old).

Anyway, there's my depressing post. Just couldn't believe I got the summons so fast. I was an excellent customer up until May (never missed a payment with any CC, ever). Sigh.

[ace13]

Thanks for sharing. I had recently started a post curious about how long it takes for a cc to sue. I received great replies and everybodys situation is different and I am someone that has no luck. I just recently stopped paying in September so I'm hoping I'm safe until December or January when some charges have aged. Hope things get better for you.

[markdel16]

I'm on 7 months with no summons yet. Wife and I owe about $80k now with all the late fees + interest. One of those is Chase, and they still call constantly.

[midnight]

I wonder how they determine who to sue. They must think we have assets. Ha. If only.

[DeadManCrawling]

Three years here, for me.

Wife was sued after 2 years, and has one judgment. It is a roll of the dice, and a guess, on the creditors part, as to your ability to pay or be frightened into trying to pay.

[DownNotOut]

So sorry to hear that! I stopped paying Chase (two accounts) in February. They charged both off a last a couple of months ago and I was contacted by the same collection agency for both. I just DV'd them and haven't heard anything back yet. I owe them about 20k total with all their fees, but I'm unemployed, have a house in pre-foreclosure and no other real assets, so that could be why I haven't been sued yet. Who knows? Like ace13 said, everyone's got a different story. May to October just seems really fast.

[Dst1]

May to October just seems really fast.

It does to me too.

The one thing I do believe is that the decision to sue is not random. It may be, from the outside looking in, mysterious; but the creditors do have their reasons.

[StartingOver08]

Well if you read the OP's post she indicates that she has been in a debt settlement program for 1.5 years and then stopped paying in May 2009. So really Chase did not serve fast because she was on a program for 18 months and then didn't pay for 5 months - that is almost two years. The way these programs work is a very small portion of the payment that you pay to CCCS actually goes to the creditor.

It would be interesting to see how much Chase received in the "CCCS program" as compared to what the regular monthly payments were scheduled to be. I am not defending the creditors one bit. But I would think that Chase and the other creditors would have the debtors that are on these DMP's on a short leash so you are more apt to be sued quicker once the DMP program fails. JMO. One more reason not to go into a debt settlement program with a third party.

[OhioFiler]

Well if you read the OP's post she indicates that she has been in a debt settlement program for 1.5 years and then stopped paying in May 2009. So really Chase did not serve fast because she was on a program for 18 months and then didn't pay for 5 months - that is almost two years. The way these programs work is a very small portion of the payment that you pay to CCCS actually goes to the creditor.

It would be interesting to see how much Chase received in the "CCCS program" as compared to what the regular monthly payments were scheduled to be. I am not defending the creditors one bit. But I would think that Chase and the other creditors would have the debtors that are on these DMP's on a short leash so you are more apt to be sued quicker once the DMP program fails. JMO. One more reason not to go into a debt settlement program with a third party.

This statement is so important it requires highlighting.

[Bell30656]

Midnight, a summons is not the end of the world but rather the start of a long road for the creditor. Check you local civil court procedures and then file an answer. There are many examples on the web that make this pretty simple. My answer admitted the first accusation which was who I was, admitted the second which stated the jurisdiction and then denied all remaining accusations.

Without using an attorney (My bankruptcy attorney advised me that it was simple enough that anyone could do it.) I fought off three civil suits long enough to get to the point that I could file. (1 served me in Nov 2007, 1 served me Feb 2008 and the last Nov 2008... I filed in Dec 2008) File your bankruptcy on your timetable, not the creditors.

[DeadManCrawling]

One other potential factor:

Creditors MAY have more info than mosst people know. Last year, FICO bought one of the most successful predictive analysis companies on the planet. They specialize in predicting, based on past behaviour, what an individual person will do in a specific set of circumstances.

This is called Data Mining, but goes deeper than many know. The neural net analysis programs in use by such companies can put together your past spending habts. They can then deduce whether you have, in the past, panicked and overpaid a debt to get caught up, discern whether you are likely to spend more money in a certain season, and guess what the reasons for this are.

This is a powerful predictor of who is likely to pay debts or parts of dets. Sort of separating the chaff from the wheat, in terms of who to target for intense collection activity or lawsuits.

It sounds farfetched, perhaps, but the PR statements from FICO and the news reports are out there for anyone who cares to look.

Big Brother has come home to roost, just not in the manner people expected a few decades ago.

[optimistic1]

Thanks for sharing. I had recently started a post curious about how long it takes for a cc to sue. I received great replies and everybodys situation is different and I am someone that has no luck. I just recently stopped paying in September so I'm hoping I'm safe until December or January when some charges have aged. Hope things get better for you.

lol you are ridiculously safe, unless of course you have a ton of assets.

[ace13]

lol you are ridiculously safe, unless of course you have a ton of assets.

Nope...nothing here and I THINK my wages are safe too...I'm in PA. My attorney didn't mention anything about wages. I owe a little more than house is worth and my vehicle has 3.5 years of payments to go. There are more ppl out there with alot more than me...thanks

[midnight]

I'm not sure what Chase thinks we could possibly have in assets, since we have nothing. Half the time we have less than $50 in our checking, and we have no savings. Hubby does have a 401k but we haven't touched it (think it has like 16k). As far as the DMP I think they received about 200 per month for over 18 months. They lowered their interest rate to 9%.

[BigJohn]

One other potential factor:

Creditors MAY have more info than mosst people know. Last year, FICO bought one of the most successful predictive analysis companies on the planet. They specialize in predicting, based on past behaviour, what an individual person will do in a specific set of circumstances.

This is called Data Mining, but goes deeper than many know. The neural net analysis programs in use by such companies can put together your past spending habts. They can then deduce whether you have, in the past, panicked and overpaid a debt to get caught up, discern whether you are likely to spend more money in a certain season, and guess what the reasons for this are.

This is a powerful predictor of who is likely to pay debts or parts of dets. Sort of separating the chaff from the wheat, in terms of who to target for intense collection activity or lawsuits.

It sounds farfetched, perhaps, but the PR statements from FICO and the news reports are out there for anyone who cares to look.

Big Brother has come home to roost, just not in the manner people expected a few decades ago.

I will not be surprised that these programs predict [think] what you are going to do before you do it.

Imagine the server waiting outside your door because he knows you are going to be running out the door in 5 seconds..... 4 seconds........ 3 seconds..... 2 seconds ......... 1 second ....... and here you come!