Please I need help (maybe comfort) ASAP

[brokemomma]

My husband and I paid a retainer on a lawyer over a year ago. We also quit paying our credit cards. I know by know we should have been able to pay the balance to the attorney, but life keeps happening. Everytime we have some money to give him something comes up with our house, our cars, or our kids. Anyway, our attorney at the time we paid him our retainer, told us that if a collector called we could give them his name and number as he would handle all of our accounts.
We were just in contact with the attorney last month, gave him a bit more money and was assured all was good.
Well, tonight I got home and answered the phone to find it was a debt collector collecting for a dept. store credit card I owe $1,500 on. I gave him my attorneys name and was told that my attorney told him that if we haven't filed by Nov. 19th they should go ahead and persue collections.
I know I can call my attorney tomorrow, but I'm so anxious about this and BK has been heavy on my heart for over a year, that I can hardly take it anymore. Do you think my attorney would have actually said this or do you think she was faking me out. She also said she had to decide what to do with my account by 10:00 tonight. I was too afraid to ask her what that meant, but what did she mean? Also, wouldn't my attorney told me his intentions before a collector?
We had planned come hell or high water to have this filed by the end of January, but do you think we know have to put it in high gear? Please give me some insight. Because right now I'm just in a panic. Tahans

[shark66]

No reason for panic.

Regardless of the situation with your attorney (which you should address ASAP) the whole "have to decide what to do with your account by 10pm" story is BS, plain and simple.

If you have to file, you have to file. There's absolutely nothing that any unsecured creditor can do to you by the end of January, even if they were to file a lawsuit first thing tomorrow morning.

Unless you expect more debt to accumulate over the holiday season, you should file sooner than later, but not because of the particular phone call that you've just received.

Good luck.

[despritfreya]

The job of a collector is to scare the crap out of you. Your job is to ignore him/her. Chances are your attorney made no such statement and the collector is lying. However, you need to understand that until you are under the protection of a bk any creditor can file a suit against you and, if you do not defend, get a judgment. The quicker you file bk the less you will have to stress over it.

Des.

[clevelandmom]

Wow! Those motherless blood suckers stop at nothing!! DO NOT BELIEVE THEM!! Absolutely did your attorney NOT say that to them. (I actually think there would be about 400 ethics violations involved if he did). I am continued to be amazed at what lengths these people go to to scare people. I'm surprised they haven't figured out ways to take the gold fillings out of dead people. Wait. . .maybe they have. . ???
Anyway, do not panic. The previous posters are absolutely right - even if those boneheads file tomorrow morning, it will be a MINIMUM of 3 months before they could even get a dime out of you. If they do sue you, find out how long you have to respond to them (according to the local rules of where you live). On the day before your response is due, file a Motion to request an extension of time to respond. You can easily buy yourself time, too. Oh, and I don't know how it works in your State, but if they send you a Certified letter, don't go to the post office to pick it up. Go onto the Court's website and search your name - you can find out on there what it says. They have to get good service on you before they can move forward with the lawsuit. Best of luck to you!!

[chicagoannie]

I didn't read everyone's replies - just want to tell you to please don't worry. You still have quite a while before anything happens as a result of that collection call! Worst case scenario - they still have to file suit, obtain a judgment, then attempt to actually collect payment. You have a LOT of time to get your bankruptcy together.

Regarding your attorney - I don't know how many calls he's gotten from your creditors since you gave him the retainer...but I'd think his office would call you and let you know to either file or stop referring collectors to them. So the CA (collection agency was probably lying to you - they ALL LIE)

I waited 3 years too long to file; may I ask why you are delaying? I did NOT want to file and it felt like failure not to cover my obligations. It is paying the attorney or are there other factors?

[catleg]

Don't panic, this is just typical bill collection hustle.
Once you stop making payments you are in charge of how you spend your money not them.
By the time I filed with my wife we had 10 total lawsuits inbound.
None of them got a penny and wasted at least $1200 in filing fees and legal time.

[Peeps]

Admittedly I know zilch about this because I'm just starting the dreamy phase of collection calls, where everything gets put into the happy framework of being a "courtesy call." (right.)

Despite my lack of experience, I must agree with the others... odds are the person on the phone was lying their hiney off. It's pretty doubtful your attorney would have said anything of the sort to them.

Here, you can have my "silver lining" for the day: I had just scheduled my first-ever meeting with an attorney this afternoon and was hanging up the phone when I looked out the window. A small brush fire had started in the park across the street. And then the best thing happpened! A dozen buff, tuff, hot-hot fire fighters showed up!! Is that great, or what?!? Just when I really needed some cheering up (hey, it was a tough call to make). Trust me, a dozen buff fire fighters is soup for the soul. Or maybe you already knew that. And I give them to you in this moment of comfort. They're all yours. There! Feel better yet? At least a smile?

[frogger]

The collector done exactly what they wanted to get done. They made you panic.

Answering machines and voice mail were invented for a reason. Just chill......

[clevelandmom]

Ah Peeps. . thanks for the VISUAL!! Definitely soup for the soul!!! LOL I'll take 2 dozen to go please. . .

[Freddy03]

I agree with everyone else. They are out to scare you. I had a collector call me last week and tell me they called my attorney's office and said my attorney told them they never heard of me....LOL

Well my attorney called them directly. The calls have stopped.

[JEM]

I just wanted to say I can totally relate to your situation. We're a year out from when we stopped paying our creditors also. We thought we'd have filed by now also. And same story as yours, life. The house, the cars, the kids, medical, dental...you name it. Anytime we've had extra money, something has come up. It's almost gotten to be a "joke" between dh and I. Yesterday I woke and we had to turn on the heat for the first time this year (we're in TX). Guess what? No heat. C'MON! Are you kidding me?! LOL. I was a wreck yesterday worrying about how much it was going to cost. Well, it cost nothing to fix. Long story short, it was the fault of the AC repair person this summer, so the company fixed and replaced what needed to be without cost. I told dh maybe our luck was turning around.

This weekend we're having a garage sale (supposed to be beautiful weather in the 70's), hoping to scrape together some more money for the lawyer. We only owe him another $850. (Total cost for the lawyer was $3000)

We've already been served a summons back in October, so we really are running against the clock here.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know you aren't alone. Sometimes I get so down because I feel like we're probably the only people out there that can't even scrape up money to file for bankruptcy and I get really anxious.

[pikaroth]

I know everyone has already said it, but don't worry. I seriously doubt your attorney said that, and if he did, then there are much bigger issues. Please keep us updated and advise what the outcome is!

[brokemomma]

Thanks everyone. I'm in a much better mood now, I've talked to my attorney who put me at ease. Also, visions of buff firemen are dancing in my head. Anyway, I'm not in as much of a panic anymore. I guess what has kept us from actually coming up with the money isn't so much that we absolutely couldn't, I was just in denial thinking there was another way out. This was a great wake-up call for me. I need to just bite the bullet for a few months and pay my lawyer. My attorney described bk like a root canal. No one really wants one but once you do it, the relief was well worth it. And again he reminded me, It's money we can fix it. Anyway my lawyer absolutely said he would never tell a collection agency when to begin collecting.

[GoingDown]

This should be a good reminder to everyone that you should be very suspicious and skeptical about anything a debt collector says to you on the phone. They lie for a living. Their job is to lie to you and try to scare you into paying them. Just keep that in mind, if you choose to talk to them on the phone. And remember it really is your choice. You don't have to talk to them. You don't have to answer the phone when they call.