Scared

[inpain66]

LOL RAMAN noodles,

boy do i remember those days

I lived on them in college and now I live on them again so that I can pay my dumb student loans. Oh the irony!!!

[okiebk09]

We all know the position you are in...wanting to hury and hurry so the calls don't start. Let me tell you that first you need to go into all your credit card accounts online and take off all contact infor as far as your work. Make sure all contact is thru your home phone and home email address.

Then make sure you have copies of all cc statements I would say for at least 6 months if not a year becauase once you stop payments you will not have access to your accounts online and from what I hear you won't be able to get them by calling either. Then you need to look at the cards you have recently made purchases on. Pay only the minimum on those cards for at least 2 more payments if not three. No more credit card usage because if you want to file in 90 days then you need to stop the purchases now. You want 90 days between the last usage and filing so that the trustee does not presume abuse and the creditors do not object to your discharge.

You have got to prepare mentally for the phone calls. We had capital one and they called 4 times a day at least on every number they had for us. Citicards did the same. We had a loan with Citifinanacial and let me tell you those people are the biggest rats on the face of the earth. Hope you don't have a loan with them. And this went on for 90 days. We stopped paying all cc in sept 08 and filed Jan 23rd 09. We are now 5 days from discharge and I cannot tell you how life has changed for the better since we did this. We gave up both our cars, kept our house, and were $5000.00 over median income. We also have $20,000.00 in equity in our house still that no one was interested in or could take.
So what I am telling you is there will be days where you want to tell the cc companies off but you WILL make it through this but you must be patient in filing. I was the same way you are about the phone calls at work but you know what only the banks that I had loans with called me at work. We always found some way to put them off until we filed and then never heard from them again after filing. It is best to keep researching this forum and go by what they tell you because you do not want to take a chance on your case being thrown out. Best of luck to you!!!

[mamaof2]

You are all so great..thanks for the advice, i already cut up the last of the ccs, and will not use anymore, one question remains...2 of the ccs that i have used in the past 30 days, only have $150.00 balance on each of them, would i be screwing myself to just pay those off? It would be 2 less creditors trying to claim abuse for the cards, then i would only have 4 to really deal with, if we went ahead and filed before the 90 days would be up.....advice please!!!

[okiebk09]

If it were me I would just pay the minimum payment. I would not give anyone anything to use against me if possible such as preferential payments etc. Someone else can chime in here that may have more in depth advice but that is what I would do if it were me. I would pay the minimum on any card that I had charged on recently until at least three payments had been made if possible unless your attorney tells u different.

[chad9162]

one question remains...2 of the ccs that i have used in the past 30 days, only have $150.00 balance on each of them, would i be screwing myself to just pay those off? It would be 2 less creditors trying to claim abuse for the cards

I don't think paying off small amount cards would really benefit you. I doubt they'd spend the money to prove abuse for such a small amount of money. The money would be better spent on paying your Chase and Visa (the ones with charges more than $600).

If I was you I'd meet the attorney sooner. You're just gonna drive your self nuts for two weeks not knowing. He or she will know what to do. If you can't meet the attorney sooner just wait before making financial decisions (payments to creditors) and see what they think.

Like I said before I used a a CC in March for $223. The attorney did not care. Even if the creditor wanted to dispute it, it'd cost more than the get. He also said we could negotiate.

[willbfree]

Your cc companies will begin telephoning within a week or two of missing your first payment. Even with a spotless payment history it was extremely quick when the companies started calling with payment reminders. The early calls were autocalls and didn't have a person. Within the time period of missing that second payment there were humans on the phone. Understand the time period of missing that second payment you will be contacted at least every fourth day by each of your creditors. The telephone harassment arrives quickly once you miss that second payment.

[cantwait]

mamaof2, I could have written your post ( and yes I'm a mama of 2 too) We're keeping our house and cars, we have 50,000 in cc debt. We would be slightly over the median income, but my husband got a 1,200 month pay cut - another reason we want to wait just a bit. I felt the same way, and still do. We are curent on our cards and everything else. We are planning on not paying starting next week when our first due day is coming up. I have mixed emotions. Sometimes my stomache churns because it just doesn't seem right, and other times I'm relieved knowing that by skipping the cc payments we'll have cash to buy gas and food. I was the same way wanting to file quickly, (hence my screen name) but after reading these posts I think we're going to wait a little. ( Not too long, I'm thinking end of June) Anyway it's scary and freeing at the same time. It's nice to be able to come to this forum and realize you're not alone

[mamaof2]

I agree. Thanks cantwait...i totally hear ya- it sucks! I just watched the documentary Maxed Out on youtube.com, and it hit me...if i dont file ch 7, this will never end. And to see that some peoples family members commit suicide over debt.....is soooo sad, i know that after this little problem i am going through, i will raise my kids to know that you spend what you have in cash (obviously a car loan and mortgage are differant), but i want them to be smarter about credit than we were, and not just take it out and spend, just because you can....i wish i had started this all earlier, we have been struggleing our whole marriage, and am looking forward to not racking up stupid debt ever again!

[AfraidOfBK]

i told Chase that they could nto call my cell or my husbands cell and they stopped....they ahppily took the numbers out of the database or so they claimed. I didnt start getting calls till 30 days late, soi fyou miss may 1, you may be able to delay filing until june, then the automatic stay will protect you from there.

My attorney told me to put 3 months between any credit card charges, and I have NO cash advances...I am in NV

I know that cc charges over 500 might raise a red flag, but does anyone know how the trustee views cash (debit card) purchases over 500 dollars? THanks

[mamaof2]

Does anyone know...are there certin creditors that are notorious for trying to object your debt ( i dont know if this is the wrong wording or not), if you used your cc within 90 days of filing?? If so, which ones?

[MiSSMaGoo]

i told Chase that they could nto call my cell or my husbands cell and they stopped....they ahppily took the numbers out of the database or so they claimed. I didnt start getting calls till 30 days late, soi fyou miss may 1, you may be able to delay filing until june, then the automatic stay will protect you from there.

My attorney told me to put 3 months between any credit card charges, and I have NO cash advances...I am in NV

I know that cc charges over 500 might raise a red flag, but does anyone know how the trustee views cash (debit card) purchases over 500 dollars? THanks

For me there was no problem. To be completely honest the 4 days before me filing I had 4 seperate atm withdrawls in the amount of $500. I was soooo worried and then they didnt ask to see my bank stmts. I had received my tax return and all my attorney said was get it out of my bank account but then when I got my bank stmt I didnt even realize how suspicious that looked having it look like that. I'm in Denver, CO but just thought I'd let you know. Also, if anything it might depend on what the $500 charges were. I know I spend that at Walmart (on gorceries & household items) every two weeks and that's being on a budget for my family.

[chad9162]

My understanding its based on the amount of money they can recover....I believe it costs creditors around $250 or more to file an objection. So its a cost vs value thing.

[Floridagail]

Your Gut reaction is to file and get it over with. But you cannot.. Stop and consider what your attorney recommends. Stop charging and paying . Your Family is most important thing. Know that you are not alone in the world of debt. Good LUck .

[Vanda]

You can definitely tell them not to call you at work. Once I told them not to, they stopped.

[mamaof2]

I have satrted writing down all my questions for my lawyer...consol is one week from today, Also, since i have those few charges on a couple of those ccs within the last 90 days...what is the worst the creditor could do??? i would assume that they would try to make me pay those back, right? It wasnt alot, and if i am not making payments on anything else, i could pay the charges back...or can they really try to say i was being fraudulant (sp?)???? I would just think that if i was being fraudulant with my charges...i would have racked up ALOT more than that, and i would have been charging on all 20 credit cards... not just 4-6 small ones...please anyone let me know if i am wrong here..oh and i am in minnesota.