not paying on cc for a few months before bk??

[greenfaery]

Hi, I'm new to all this. We need to Bk, probably chapter 7. We can not pay all of our cc min. this month. Most our cards went over the limit when they tacked on interest this month, so our min. payments went up. I would like to bk asap, but we are refi'ing our home, our first new payment will be in April, but the paper work should be done much sooner. They pulled our credit reports a few weeks ago for the refi...no late payments, credit in the 700's, and will not pull it again.

So, if we can't make all the min. payments and will be able to file at the latest by April, why pay any of the cards? We need to save up for the lawyer anyway! What will happen if we stop paying for a few months? Will they just call us all they time? Will they sue us? Anything scary???

We owe about $40K in cc debt, make just under the median amount for our area, our home is $80k underwater but we are able to do a refi through one of the Obama plans, but it only lowers our payments $175 a month (just got the paperwork today), if for some reason the loan doesn't work out we will still file by April...

Oh, and one other question, our 2nd mortgage is for $36k (1st is for 360K), you can't BK that because it's no longer secured can you (we are in Ca)?

Thanks for any info, so glad I found this forum!

[DebtHater]

What will happen if we stop paying for a few months? Will they just call us all they time? Will they sue us? Anything scary???

Yeah, they will get to know your phone number very well starting about 30 days past due.

They won't likely sue until you're over 180 days past due (if that soon).

[momofthree]

If you file a chapter 13, then you can have the lien stripped off of your home if it's unsecured, and it will be discharged at the end of your payment plan...

[pa308]

Hi, I'm new to all this. We need to Bk, probably chapter 7. We can not pay all of our cc min. this month. Most our cards went over the limit when they tacked on interest this month, so our min. payments went up. I would like to bk asap, but we are refi'ing our home, our first new payment will be in April, but the paper work should be done much sooner. They pulled our credit reports a few weeks ago for the refi...no late payments, credit in the 700's, and will not pull it again.

So, if we can't make all the min. payments and will be able to file at the latest by April, why pay any of the cards? We need to save up for the lawyer anyway! What will happen if we stop paying for a few months? Will they just call us all they time? Will they sue us? Anything scary???

At the point when you know you are definitely going to file chapter 7, you probably want to quit paying charge cards. The only reason you might want to pay up until filing is for credit score from what I've read here. Your score might not suffer as much if you pay up until filing basically. Of course if you can make the minimums not sure why filing?? And I wouldnt make a partial payment as the credit card company wont cut you a break on that, it will still be a late payment.

When I knew I had to file my atty told me to quit paying any unsecured debt right away. That money I used to pay the attorney over 6 months, at which point I filed. If you are paying the atty over time he/she should tell you to refer the creditor calls to them. This will make it easier on you, and you wont hopefully have them calling your family and at work...Just my .02