What point do I stop paying my credit cards??

[greengoddess]

I've been receiving some assistance from my mom but she is buying a house and will be unable to continue helping me from now on? I plan on filing BK since my credit card debt is 30,000. I was unemployed from 2002-2004 and I still continued to scrape buy every month and pay on time. My new job pays less than I earned 10 years ago and the cost of living/rent in Oregon is much increased since then, When do I stop paying my bills since I plan on filing?

Thanks.
green goddess

[FilingOnMyOwn]

You can stop anytime. But a couple things you want to consider 1) If you go too long between paying & filing, they may start the process to sue and possibly garnish your wages & 2) The late payments and chargeoffs resulting from non-payment may appear on your credit report even after you file and include those accounts in bk.

If you can develop a solid plan to file within 3-6 months, you shouldn't have any major problems from not paying, other than the phone calls. Might want to change your phone in the meantime.

[SinkingFast]

We stopped paying 10 months ago when we ran outa of money. When you can't pay, you cannot think about the Credit Report. At that point, you've just gotta do what you gotta do.

How long you'll get really depends on lots of variables we don't really have answers to. I've seen people go years and no Law Suits. I've seen others tagged within months after stopping paying.

I think the best explanation I read is the Creditors look at you, see you don't own a house, own crappy old beaters, know they're gonna run up significant legal fees with little or no return on investment. So they don't come after you. Whereas if you look ripe for picking, then they move to recoupe some losses.