Didn't pay my credit card today....

[BrokeInCali]

So I guess I took the final step... For the first time in my life I didn't pay my credit card bill. It was due today.

I found a lawyer and am planning on filing Chap 7 in the next month, but not paying a bill, just seems so wrong or something... It's hard to explain, but I figure you guys would get it...

[DYLAN150]

You will get over it. Phone calls start next.

[disconapper]

Yup, you'll learn to live with it. The calls will start soon, prepare yourself for that.

[IamOld]

Yup, you'll learn to live with it. The calls will start soon, prepare yourself for that.

disconapper is right - you'll also find that half of your creditors have no employees in the US, the other half have machines that call you :-)

[keepsmiling]

How well I remember that feeling. Nerve wracking but IT WILL PASS. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do and it's just silly to waste any more money. Stopped paying in August and the calls started the next day. Prepare for that by changing your phone numbers on the websites and think about setting up Google Voice.

[BrokeInCali]

In a cost saving move I cancelled my land line in March and got Vonage. I didn't keep my old phone number, and I'm pretty sure that I never updated my phone numbers with my credit cards.. So... I think I may be okay in the phone call sense!

[alibaba]

You'll learn to get over it. I had one heck of a time when I defaulted on my house. Now that I have already done something like that I can say it was easier to quit the credit cards too.

[DYLAN150]

BrokeinCali: Well, you made it thru the first day. You and about a million other people. Have you seen some of the profits some of the banks are making? It's my understand that even General Motors has it's own credit card now.

[andy158]

Cold turkey is thge way to go. Now start saving the payments you would be making on the cards for your lawyer fees.
Get a game plan going and everything else will fall into place.

[steveok]

Don't take it personal...it's a financial decision YOU made..Heaven knows that the credit card companies and other creditors make financial decisions daily in THEIR best interest! You'll get through it fine!

[malf1204]

I was like you I always paid. I felt bad about not paying and then I thought back to all the times my credit cards raised my interest on existing balances and charged various fees. I called and begged each one to lower my rate. They laughed at me. If I would have been allowed to pay them I would but they left me no choice. They do not think twice about screwing you so do not give them a second thought. I sleep much better now that the financial burden is lifted.

[WhatHappened]

As soon as you do like your creditors do, which is to think about you as just a number, you will feel better about not paying. CC companies are not your friends. CC companies would steal the boogers out of a dead man's nose, if they thought they could make money from it.

They won't lose sleep over your failure to pay, and neither should you. They have telephone robots that do that for them. Caller ID is your new friend.

[BrokeInCali]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the posts

[bcohen]

Depending on how "poor" you look on paper, it may take years--if ever--before anyone sues you. I quit paying on all my unsecured debts back in March of 2009, when I became concerned that I'd probably lose my job soon, and therefore needed to conserve my money to pay for food, rent, and utilities. By the time I got fired in August of 2009, all of my credit cards were seriously past due, and sending letters warning that I needed to "set up arrangements immediately" to prevent the accounts from charging off. Also, by then my cellphone was disconnected, because I quit paying on that back in March, and it worked for another 2 or 3 months until they finally "pulled the plug" on it.

Since I do not own any real estate, have no motor vehicles titled in my name, and have numerous charge-offs and collection accounts, none of my creditors have filed a lawsuit yet. In fact, my two largest creditors--Citi and Discover--who are together owed more than $30,000 have sent my account to various law firms--even some in the same city as me--and none have thought it worthwhile to sue.

Insofar as phone calls, I haven't gotten any. I have a landline phone with an unlisted number, and so far none of the creditors have been able to pierce it. Collection agencies frequently call my parents' house, even though I haven't lived there in years, but they do not answer (or hang up) when they know it's a creditor.

I am hoping to make it until March of 2012, when the 3-year SOL will be up. Then, I will hopefully be "home free" without the hassle and expense of filing for bankruptcy. But in the event of a creditor lawsuit, I will definitely pull out the BK card. I am now a college student, and therefore do not have the will or the ability to pay anything on these debts again.