So how long is too long to stop paying creditors?

[ltrain823]

Hello all, I first want to start off by saying how wonderful everyone on this forums are. It has been 2 months since I paid a creditor and I was just curious to know how long everyone waited. I have a Blackberry and it has a great feature that literally ignores a specific # I want to so I have collected about 9 different phone numbers and put them on ignore it takes them right to voicemail...I only know they call if they leave me a voicemail which is no big deal.

Anyway, it has felt great to not pay them and the little money that I had left over came through great for me to fix my AC in the house before the summer comes. I know it really depends on the creditor but I would like to hear from others how long have you gone without paying the creditors before any legal actions occur? I look forward to hearing from many of you...take care.

[jp2861]

Hello all, I first want to start off by saying how wonderful everyone on this forums are. It has been 2 months since I paid a creditor and I was just curious to know how long everyone waited. I have a Blackberry and it has a great feature that literally ignores a specific # I want to so I have collected about 9 different phone numbers and put them on ignore it takes them right to voicemail...I only know they call if they leave me a voicemail which is no big deal.

Anyway, it has felt great to not pay them and the little money that I had left over came through great for me to fix my AC in the house before the summer comes. I know it really depends on the creditor but I would like to hear from others how long have you gone without paying the creditors before any legal actions occur? I look forward to hearing from many of you...take care.

Could be anywhere from a few months to never. I'm sure you'll hear many different answers, and all will be correct. If you're filing it doesn't matter, as long as you get filed before any garnishments or levies happen. If someone isn't filing, it really depends on how easy they are to hit. Way too many variables to list in a single post.

[parsoc48]

know it really depends on the creditor but I would like to hear from others how long have you gone without paying the creditors before any legal actions occur? I look forward to hearing from many of you...take care.

With Chase it was pretty quick..we stopped paying everyone last May, got a summons from Chase in Oct....by the time the CMC (Case Mgmnt. Conference) was held in March I was able to get a continuance until after we filed 4/04. No other action by Cap One or BoA....and BoA was willing to settle for $3k on a $10k debt. It really takes a long time for legal action, but it's still unsettling and nervewracking! Good luck

[gophermn]

With my rental house I stopped paying 08/2007 and most credit cards were late Sep early October 2007. Met with my 1st attny 10/07 - fired attorney - and then re-filed with a different attny 01/08.

So roughly it was about 4 to 5 months I decided to ignore phone calls.

[FreshLikeADaisy]

Ltrain, JP is right: there's really no rhyme or reason for it. Some people with very small debts have been sued many months sooner than people with large debts, which makes no sense, but there you have it.

The first thing you want to consider is how judgement proof you are: do you have a steady income or easily located assets (bank accts, for example) that a creditor could garnish and/or levy? If so, expect a suit sooner rather than later. I myself went for over a year, but I had no income and no assets so any suits would have been utterly pointless and a wasted expense for any creditor that tried. This is known as being "judgement proof", which is great, but it generally doesn't last forever. If I had gotten a steady income or other fluid assets prior to filing Ch7, I have no doubt that I would have been quickly sued.

There are some creditors who are much more prone to suing than others, as well, and creditors that are hard to work with, but all in all your best indicator is whether they think you have anything worth going after. Good luck!!!

[ssdsco]

[scaredneko]

I stopped paing in August of 07, Just filed April 6th. 341 May 2nd /stress

Had messages of threats to sue or would be sued. Typically they would tell me its going to a lawyer or say they were a lawyer and then give me my account number and say it was a court docket number ect. I never picked up the phone once or talked to any of them.
Never recieved an actually summons or court docket. Wells fargo did send there account to an attorney after I filed so will see how that turns out tomorrow.

BoA 49k
Disc 12k
Chase 10k
Citi 9k
Wells Fargo 18k
Wamu 9k
GE 9k

[Cali]

WOW, you went that long without being sued.

I stopped paing in August of 07, Just filed April 6th. 341 May 2nd /stress

Had messages of threats to sue or would be sued. Typically they would tell me its going to a lawyer or say they were a lawyer and then give me my account number and say it was a court docket number ect. I never picked up the phone once or talked to any of them.
Never recieved an actually summons or court docket. Wells fargo did send there account to an attorney after I filed so will see how that turns out tomorrow.

BoA 49k
Disc 12k
Chase 10k
Citi 9k
Wells Fargo 18k
Wamu 9k
GE 9k

[schel]

Ok, so if we wait till the end of August to file, it will take longer than that to sue?
Schel

[Dirk Squarejaw]

Ok, so if we wait till the end of August to file, it will take longer than that to sue?
Schel

Not necessarily as there is really no rhyme or reason to how it works. Some people get sent to collections or sued fairly quick some don't and sometimes its for small balances. Hope it works out for you, though.

[sillyme934]

I am filing ch 7 in a few weeks. I received a letter from my mortgage company yesterday, pertaining to my second mortgage. It says that if I dont pay the past due balance, which mind you is only 313.00, now they will start pre-forclosure action. Scary huh.

[Keebler]

I stopped paying last year and the closest thing that has happened is one "Letter of Intent to Sue" from a collection agency and a Dunning Letter from an attorney near here that has sues regualrly in my county. In both cases I responded with a Debt Validation demand letter and I've heard exactly ZERO from either one.

Here in Texas a judgement doesn't let them garnish wages but they can go after bank account balances and place leins on property. It seems like you'll get sued if they think you have anything worth going after and if you have little or nothing they tend to not sue.

I'm approaching the one year anniversary of when I stopped making payments and I'll use my Tax Rebate to hire an attorney. The odds are good that I'll file within 90 days or so.

[tay666]

It took over 14 months for someone to finally take legal action.
Some debt buyer who bought our HSBC CC debt filed against us in April.
Still settling on a lawyer here, so I am working on stalling the procedings until we can actually get filed.

[sisterfunkhaus]

We have over $100,000 in consumer debt and we were sued close to two years after our last payment by Citibank. It was a very small balance. They got a default judgment the day we filed our chapter 7. Needless to say, they can't collect right now and will most likely be discharged. Someone wanted to serve me after our Bk was filed but I told the person no way, that we filed and gave him my attorney info. If he would have served me anyway, I could have sued since he worked for a creditor. It could have been a discovery or something like that for the Citibank judgment. It may have been a new suit. Who knows??

[sisterfunkhaus]

Here in Texas a judgement doesn't let them garnish wages but they can go after bank account balances and place leins on property. It seems like you'll get sued if they think you have anything worth going after and if you have little or nothing they tend to not sue.

We have nothing and got sued. We have no house, one dumpy car, one newer car and very little property. My husband is a teacher. We live paycheck to paycheck and have no savings. I'm not sure what they thought they could get.