When will they sue me?

[IOEveryone]

In 2009 I was phased out of my corporate america job and purchased a business to keep myself alive. In a year, I had to close the business. I continued to make payments as long as I could until I simply had to stop in order to continue to live. My home was forclosed upon and I have since moved to two (2) different states from when I opened the accounts. I was proactive in dealing with each of the four creditors before becoming delinquent. None of them wanted to deal with me because I hadn't missed a payment yet.

When I did stop making payments and explained I was unemployed and could settle for pennies on the dollar, they each wanted 50%. No way that could happen as I didn't have that kind of money. Here are the debts:

B of A $7264.00 Last payment was Nov. 2010 CHARGE OFF May 2011
B of A $41,471 Last payment was Oct. 2010 CHARGE OFF April 2011
US Bank $61,144 Last paymet Sept. 2009 "CHARGE OFF as of MAR 2010 to OCT 2012" This was a HELOC
Wells Fargo $15,041 Last paymet Nov. 2010 CHARGE OFF as May 2011 / CLOSED as of July 2011

Each and every penny was used to purchase, and eventualy support the business. I have not lived in a State for the necessary two years in order to file for bankruptcy. Although I've held two contract jobs that pay six figures, I am once again unemployed. My wife is self-employed and makes good money so we can survive ok.

I collect unemployment (which will end very soon) so there are no large amounts of money in my account (under $300 at any given time). My wife has her own personal account (we no longer co-mingle accounts or money until this is all resolved).

In checking my free annual credit, there is no mention of a suit against me. I haven't heard from anyone in a year and someone just left a message on my home phone (registered to my wife) so I thought I would check my free report for details.

I cul type on forever with details, questions and the such, however, I cannot file for bankruptcy until April of next year. Based on the information above and the size of the debts, and guesses on when they will begin litigation? Typing this all on a tablet so hope it looks ok.....

Thanks.

[TheBajan]

If they haven't started litigation yet, you should be able to push anything out until past your April deadline. I could be wrong but based on different threads I've read here, there are ways to slow down the process. It sounds like even if they do begin to sue you, there's nothing for them to take so I would say just hang in there. April will be here before you know it.

Best wishes,

The Bajan

[frogger]

Will they? Who knows.

Can they? Indeed.

Understand that they don't care about your problems or financial position. Prepare and get yourself ready to file if and when needed.

This is not personal for them and should not be personal for you.....

[GoingDown]

If they haven't started litigation yet, you should be able to push anything out until past your April deadline. I could be wrong but based on different threads I've read here, there are ways to slow down the process. It sounds like even if they do begin to sue you, there's nothing for them to take so I would say just hang in there. April will be here before you know it.

Best wishes,

The Bajan

Yes, IOEveryone could easily prevent them from getting a judgment long enough to file bankruptcy in April 2013.

You would simply file a written answer to the lawsuit with the court, make a motion for discovery, and make a motion for a continuance. That would most likely push the date of the hearing out past April quite easily. If this is something that is very important to you, that you must not have a judgment against you, then you could pay a paralegal or an attorney to write your response to the lawsuit (to make sure it is written correctly, so the court will grant the extension of time) and then you simply file it with the court and pay the filing fee, and then serve it on the opposing attorney. Then once you file the bk, you officially notify them of the bk filing and that will kill the lawsuit before they get a judgment.

I looked into it locally, and found out that using a paralegal to do the necessary paperwork to file a written answer to a lawsuit here in Phoenix was about $360, plus the court filing fee. That is significantly cheaper than using a lawyer.

Now, if you have nothing significant to lose-- nothing for a judgment lien to attach to-- then you could simply wait them out, and save that money for filing BK. Even if they get a judgment, you can get the debt underlying the judgment discharged, and then you just go back to court after the bk and make a motion to vacate the judgment.

That only works if you don't have any assets such as real estate where they could put a judgment lien on it. Or if you are losing the real estate to foreclosure anyways, then you wouldn't care whether they put a judgment lien on it or not.

And of course, always keep in mind that they may not file a lawsuit against you before April 2013. That is actually a very likely possibility.

Out of the many credit card debts I owed, one of them for over $12,000 to Wells Fargo Visa, hardly any of them every filed a lawsuit against me. In fact only Capital One ever filed a lawsuit against me. Wells Fargo never filed a lawsuit against me. The sold it to a junk debt buyer, and they never sued me either.

[keepsmiling]

I don't think you need to be a resident of a state for two years to file bk. Someone will correct me if I am mistaken, but that would be a crazy law
You just can't use that state's laws. But you should be able to use federal law. A lot depends on what kind of exemptions you need.

Since one of those debts was a HELOC- does that mean you walked away from a house?
As to your q, it took two years for them to sue us- also self-employed. We filed an answer and even a countersuit. But I have the luxury (my only one lol) of a lawyer in the family.

[joshuagraham]

I don't think you need to be a resident of a state for two years to file bk. Someone will correct me if I am mistaken, but that would be a crazy law
You just can't use that state's laws. But you should be able to use federal law. A lot depends on what kind of exemptions you need.

Since one of those debts was a HELOC- does that mean you walked away from a house?
As to your q, it took two years for them to sue us- also self-employed. We filed an answer and even a countersuit. But I have the luxury (my only one lol) of a lawyer in the family.

There is a certain rule about where you are able to file, based on your residency history.

[keepsmiling]

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/which-exemptions-use-bankruptcy.html

[DebtEnder]

I assume your planning on doing a non-consumer chapter 7? Also it depends on what state you moved to and from as far as what exemptions you can use.