A rock in a hard place!!! Need advice!!!

[blockhead]

It's good to have this insight. Thank you.

How long after not paying will credit cards before somebody can get served?

Well my balances were high but I got served after 5 mths with Amex (25K) and 6 mths with Citi (48K)

[pepperoncini]

I stopped paying Chase in July 2009. They've charged off but I haven't been served yet. Total between two accts is $16K. We're planning our BK13 right now.

[drestless]

By 'forced' I don't mean that anything will happen overnight. As someone else explained, there are procedures that take time. If you get a notice of a lawsuit you'll have 30-60 days (possibly more) to file. In the meantime, you can meet with a few attorneys to decide who to hire and from there decide how its best for you & your family to proceed.

How long to get served? Very unlikely to happen before 3-6 months of nonpayment. Other than that it is impossible to say as there really does not seem to be a predictable pattern. Some people never get served.

As to withdrawing cash to hide - there is no need to hide things. Trying to do so could cause more harm than good. As I've mentioned in this thread multiple times: your assets really are not in danger. People file ch. 13 because it allows them to save/keep assets. Trying to hide things, especially when you don't need to, could just make a trustee look deeper and could result in fraud allegations.

Atty fees for a ch. 13 will (at best guess) be in the $3000-7500 range. Some require it all upfront, others require some upfront and put some into the plan. It varies from district to district, and of course complicated cases may be in the higher range. A competent atty will anticipate putting more work/time into a complicated case than a basic one so should charge accordingly. If you choose an attorney simply based on price, you may regret it!

This makes sense. I will stop paying now but will work on finding an attorney. Any suggestion where I can find competent and tested atty's? I already searching through our district bar and the bankruptcy atty association BUT first hand experience from you guys may give me a better route. Thank you.

[drestless]

So far, interest accruing and late fees in the range of $39. We have quite a bit of unsecured debt though, probably nearing the $100K mark when fees are all said and done at the end. Even IF we got pushed into a Ch13, we'd never be anywhere close to a 100% payback, so I'm not too worried about it.

We stopped paying in December, so I'm nervous because we're getting to a critical area. We live in a no garnish state, but I worry about bank accounts though.

I assume it's around $39.00 each card per month. Yeah with my unsecured debt and disposable income if I stop credit card payment, I may end up with 100% payback....

What cards did you stop paying since December and how much debt? I would like to have an idea when they might do something with mine if we similar cards... Thanks.

[drestless]

Well my balances were high but I got served after 5 mths with Amex (25K) and 6 mths with Citi (48K)

This is a good insight for my Citi card though my balance is only $2,500 on this one.

Did you file BK already? What chapter? What's the current progress on it? Thanks.

[drestless]

I stopped paying Chase in July 2009. They've charged off but I haven't been served yet. Total between two accts is $16K. We're planning our BK13 right now.

What do you mean by charged off? How many months before you got charged off?

Looks like Chase is pretty slow on pursuing on your case.

[SMinGA]

In my opinion 'charged off' is primarily an accounting reference for the creditor. At some point they have to admit to low likelihood of the account returning to paid as agreed. They must move the account from their 'accounts receivable' detail to 'bad debt'. Generally, 3-6 months of nonpayment.

It does not change the fact that you still owe the debt - but at that point they normally stop charging late fees (interest likely still accrues) and the account may move from inhouse collections to be handled by 3rd party collection agencies. Some creditors also sell the accounts at this point, meaning you would owe the debt to the new owner.

[JEM]

I assume it's around $39.00 each card per month. Yeah with my unsecured debt and disposable income if I stop credit card payment, I may end up with 100% payback....

What cards did you stop paying since December and how much debt? I would like to have an idea when they might do something with mine if we similar cards... Thanks.

Sadly, I think we have them all. Chase, Discover, Citi, Amex and a few store cards...Sears, JCP and Target.

We stopped paying some in Nov. Discover and the store cards were paid in Dec. Nothing after that.

So far--crossing fingers--knocking on wood--and praying---it's only been a lot of phone calls and a lot of nasty grams in the mail.

[JEM]

In my opinion 'charged off' is primarily an accounting reference for the creditor. At some point they have to admit to low likelihood of the account returning to paid as agreed. They must move the account from their 'accounts receivable' detail to 'bad debt'. Generally, 3-6 months of nonpayment.

It does not change the fact that you still owe the debt - but at that point they normally stop charging late fees (interest likely still accrues) and the account may move from inhouse collections to be handled by 3rd party collection agencies. Some creditors also sell the accounts at this point, meaning you would owe the debt to the new owner.

Yes, everything I've read says that "charge off" is just the action of the creditor taking it off their books so to speak.

[blockhead]

This is a good insight for my Citi card though my balance is only $2,500 on this one.

Did you file BK already? What chapter? What's the current progress on it? Thanks.

7, just passed UST audit - I kinda doubt they'd go after you soon for $2500 but you never know I guess with them.

[dancersmom22]

We stopped making payments on credit cards July/August of 2009. We pretty much had all the usual cards -- Chase, Discover, Citi, etc. Last month (April 2010) we received our first summons from GE Money Bank for a care credit card. It was not our biggest balance, right around 3K. We're planning to file chapter 7 later this month or early June. We needed to wait as long as we could for my husbands OT to fall off the 6 month look-back on income, so we'd be under median on chapter 7, and we just made it!

[drestless]

In my opinion 'charged off' is primarily an accounting reference for the creditor. At some point they have to admit to low likelihood of the account returning to paid as agreed. They must move the account from their 'accounts receivable' detail to 'bad debt'. Generally, 3-6 months of nonpayment.

It does not change the fact that you still owe the debt - but at that point they normally stop charging late fees (interest likely still accrues) and the account may move from inhouse collections to be handled by 3rd party collection agencies. Some creditors also sell the accounts at this point, meaning you would owe the debt to the new owner.

Yes, everything I've read says that "charge off" is just the action of the creditor taking it off their books so to speak.

Thank you both for explaining this to me. I feel so uneducated on this stuff but now starting to be...

[drestless]

Sadly, I think we have them all. Chase, Discover, Citi, Amex and a few store cards...Sears, JCP and Target.

We stopped paying some in Nov. Discover and the store cards were paid in Dec. Nothing after that.

So far--crossing fingers--knocking on wood--and praying---it's only been a lot of phone calls and a lot of nasty grams in the mail.

That true. Did you receive any letter stating the the account is being charged off? Did it indicate which agency bought your loan and will be the collector? Thanks.

[drestless]

7, just passed UST audit - I kinda doubt they'd go after you soon for $2500 but you never know I guess with them.

Yeah I know. I really wish I can be categorized for Chapter 7. Is there any strategy on this aside from getting myself fired...

[drestless]

We stopped making payments on credit cards July/August of 2009. We pretty much had all the usual cards -- Chase, Discover, Citi, etc. Last month (April 2010) we received our first summons from GE Money Bank for a care credit card. It was not our biggest balance, right around 3K. We're planning to file chapter 7 later this month or early June. We needed to wait as long as we could for my husbands OT to fall off the 6 month look-back on income, so we'd be under median on chapter 7, and we just made it!

It is ironic that the lowest balance credit card is the one prusuing sooner which tells me that I can't guess when depending on the loan amount I have.

How can I determin if I can be in the median? What online calculator did you use? Let's say the remaining balance on a car and house have more value than what you owe and submit a Chapter 7 file, will you lose your house and cars eventhough you continue paying them?