Legal Collections???

[feelingnutsy]

Just got a letter from Citibank saying that if I don't call them within
30 days to make arrangements for payment---my account will be turned
over to an attorney licensed in my state(Virginia) for further collection
efforts including a possible lawsuit to obtain a judgment.

Is this a new thing---to go directly from the OC to an attorney?
I guess I thought that it would go to what I call a regular CA first?

Does anyone have any insight on this?Thanks.

[MrBankruptcy]

Yes, this is pretty standard practice nowadays as creditors are aggressively going after debtors. It used to be they would ding your credit and call once a week. I've heard stories being harassed multiple times a day. They threaten to take away their firstborn child and everything you own. Of course they can't do this but they will tell you whatever to try and get money out of you. If this is a huge problem with multiple creditors and you have no way of paying them you should consider filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy. This will wipe out all of your unsecured debts and stop those judgments. If you're working and Citibank gets a judgment against you they will garnish your wages to recover the money owed. These days all the creditors are getting nasty.

[feelingnutsy]

Thanks for the info---MrBankruptcy---I'm planning on filing---
and just now entering the phase where the nitty-gritty really starts.