Creditor Call Hell

[LeslieF]

i am in the midst of trying to come up with the money for the attny so that when i do i can file chap 7 asap. in the meantime i do not want to 'tip' off the creditors because that would hinder me from raising cash for the attny. so, i am still in contact with them letting them know that if they have to send the account to collections then that is okay and letting them also know i am hoping for some kind of turnaround in business by this summer. do you think that is a wise attitude to take with the creditors until i file?

[junker]

the first time i defaulted on cc,s.....i told every one that called...i am in the PROCESS.. of filing bk..many accepted that and said they would not call for 30 days...or asked if i had a atty yet....i did this for over a year...to anyone that called....i had one sue me....but only after 3 years.....btw i never did file bk...that time....

[LeslieF]

i believe in rigorous honest in my life but i am reluctant to tell the creditors i am filing especially the landlord of my retail business in which i owe lots in back rent. i operate my business in a small town and if word gets around i am afraid my landlord will lock the doors which will keep me from making money to get thru this process.

[mtngirl47]

There's lots of good info in the Collections forum. Caller ID is your friend...don't answer a collection call if you're with a customer or someone that you don't want to hear your problems....or it you've had just one call too many and you can't handle the stress.

When I did answer, I would politely tell them that I didn't have the money right now due to a reduction in income. They would push for a check by phone to be set up....but I would tell them that I didn't feel comfortable doing that.

Funny but the one's with the smallest balances were the pushiest!

[frogger]

i operate my business in a small town and if word gets around i am afraid my landlord will lock the doors which will keep me from making money to get thru this process.

And you just hope he does this without going thru due process. That could help solve your money problems.

[mikeyisbroke]

Once I retained an attorney I started answering the phone when the creditors would call and simply tell them I had retained an attorney. All they asked for was the name and phone number of my attorney and each one was very sympathetic and understanding. One rep from Citi said and I quote "I'm sorry you're going through all this and hopefully this will take a lot of stress out of your life and good luck going forward."

[Bell30656]

Times are changing are so creditors. More creditors are filing suits than ever before. Personally, I believe that alerting any creditor that you MAY be filing bankruptcy in the future is probably a bad thing. A savvy CA, JDB or even OC could then file against you especially a LOCAL creditor like a landlord getting a judgment before you save up enough to file.

Then you are busy fighting garnishments, bank account levies and the like. Think about it from a "What would I do if someone owed me money and wasn't paying me" train of thought. Especially, if you thought that person might file bankruptcy leaving you with nothing on your debt.

[fireworks]

I followed the same strategy as mikeyisbroke. It was almost exactly a year between the day we retained an attorney and the day we filed. I gave the attorney's name and number to every collector I talked to, VERY few called again after that.

The landlord could be tricky - I had a similar situation, but we closed the business and moved out pretty quickly so there was never much chance that they would lock the doors on us. We paid our rent through the day we moved out of the building. They were pretty pissed that we left in the middle of a lease, but I gave them plenty of notice and they had a new tenant in pretty quickly.

Even if they do sue you, the time it takes to go through the process, get a judgment and begin collecting on it takes months.

[LeslieF]

thanks so much everyone. it IS tricky because i am trying to save up the money to file. in the meantime i am operating my business as business as usual hoping to sell enough to not only keep the lights turned on so to speak but to pay the attorney as soon as possible so that i am protected. the biggest problem is that sales are ultra SLOW--recession, shoulder season in my resort town etc. 20-30-50 dollar days are not adding up very quick.