Good faith payments?

[CaliforniaGirl]

Last year I stopped paying 4 of my credit cards because I could simply not keep up, each card had a $250 monthly minimum payment, but I continued to make payments on the other 5 cards I have, which have a much smaller balance and a much smaller minimum payment. Those 4 cards are now in collections and I've decided to file CH7 as I probably won't be able to repay the $30,000+ in CC debt. Will the fact that I haven't paid those 4 credit cards in about a year now be a problem? I spoke to an attorney yesterday and I didn't think to ask about this. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[StaciMM]

The good faith payment issue involved recent transactions on your accounts, such as if you use your cards intending to file bankruptcy. If you stopped paying a year + before filing, I don't think the creditors can claim that your last purchases were done in bad faith.

[sunshine08]

I concur. We were bsically in the same ballgame. No payments of several cards for about 9 months, minimum payments (+) on the others. Basically the ones that were in with credit counseling.

[hhou812hh]

I concur. We were bsically in the same ballgame. No payments of several cards for about 9 months, minimum payments (+) on the others. Basically the ones that were in with credit counseling.

WOW, 9 Months! I was always under the impression they try to get judgements after about 3 or 4 months. I guess it just depends on the bank.

[sunshine08]

I went back and checked to make sure of the time frame and it was 9 months. While we were in the process of signing up with credit counseling (they tell you not to have any communication with the creditor) we sent them 1st months payment via western union, completed a bunch of paperwork, made 2 more payments and then we were "accepted" into the program. Shortly after that we were served with papers from one of the creditors that we thought were in the program (according to the pay plan they were included) We contacted the credit counselors and they told us that we were too far behind to get that account into the program (wonder when they were going to tell us) and there was nothing they could do. We ended up doing a balance transfer on that to clear it up. After being served, we contacted the creditor and they told us had we shared the information they had "their own" credit counseling and could have offered probably better terms on repayment than most credit counseling organization, if only we had talked with them about the situation.
Chase and MBNA were the worst to try and work with.
I know that within a fews days of missing payments, the creditors started calling, all day, every day. My phone hardly ever rings now, I sometimes check it to make sure it works.

[StaciMM]

There is probably not a set pattern for credit card non payment and judgements... Will depend on too many factors: balance, whether or not you are in a stable job, own a home, etc. (Can't get blood from a turnip...) The credit cards that were included in our BK were charged off Dec 04-Jan 05 (my 2) and Jan 03 (Dh's). No judgement activity, just standard collection agencies. Total of all 3, including interest to date, is about $5k though so none were huge, we rent, and I've changed jobs a few times in the past few years.

[AMISLANDER]

I haven't paid on my credit cards since 2001!

Hmmmm....I had a Citibank, an MBNA, Capitol One, BOA, Best Buy & Circuit City. My Citibank balance is somewhere around $25K, I paid off $4,800 on the MBA (they cut me a deal two years ago), the Capitol One is around $2K, I paid off $5K to BOA as they're my bank & I have my debit card through them, Best Buy is around $6K and Circuit City I paid $1K off two years ago. OH, and I think my other biggie is a Chase Manhattan...I've forgotten that balance...it's all totaling out at about $50K.

BUT I had not received any collections letters until about a year ago...moving around and not working might have kept me out of the system. I think I just started throwing away the bills when they came. Then the bills just stopped coming. Best Buy used to call and I put them off for as long as I could. For the past nine months I've had bill collectors calling me every day at least three times but the phone finally died. I never gave my cell # out so now I can't hear it ring at home but we have the phone cord plugged into the satellite system and I do see the phone calls come up on the caller ID. And I STILL get those stupid "you have been approved" for a cc, line of credit, whatever mailings in the mail......I think they really were able to locate me since I paid off the IRS