What do you tell creditors?

[iv65536]

I went for an initial consultation as well - the firm I found is a one-attorney operation, no other staff. This attorney comes across as genuine, does not mince words about creditors, and even though I am not a lawyer, he is researching my ideas on our plan, including mortgage-related gambits.

[killinstinct]

When I was seeing my attorney for the initial consultation, he had 2 large waiting rooms loaded with people all waiting to see him. There was a lot of well-to-do people who came in wanting to file or coming in to bring in additional documentation for their cases.

My wife and I found an attorney we were comfortable with several months ago. The first couple times we went to see him he was in the back office (still pretty nice) of this building, sharing with another lawyer.

Last month when I dropped off the last few items for our 341 I was surprised to see a note on the door that he had moved, directing me down the hall to one of the HUGE office suites at the front of the building. That place was like grand central station. There were dozens of people in there, the phone was ringing off the hook, all the meeting rooms were full. It was amazing.

[debtmonster]

When I was seeing my attorney for the initial consultation, he had 2 large waiting rooms loaded with people all waiting to see him. There was a lot of well-to-do people who came in wanting to file or coming in to bring in additional documentation for their cases.

[ForumReader]

* HIGH FIVE * on that (re: item in bold!)

SMART THINKING! Good job.

Yep, I agree. Whoever fed the idea to the creditors to raise minimums, lowered credit limits, raised interest rates, etc was/were brilliant. These creditors have got to thank the geniuses for that. When I was at my attorney's office, the paralegal pulled up my name to print out the post filing counseling certificate, he scrolled down many pages to get to my name from the computer. That told me alot more than we think out there are now filing for BK.

[debtmonster]

Nice to read that so many other people are in the same situation. We were doing good at paying down our debt until they took away any remaining credit we had left and rasied interest rates to 25% or more. They closed accounts and dropped available credit on nearly every card. We had already pretty much quit using the cards and looked at remaining credit as emergency funds only. Now with nothing left for emergency funds, we decided enough with this crap. Once we get BK filed in December our money that was used to pay our CC's will be put toward an emergency fund savings account.

* HIGH FIVE * on that (re: item in bold!)

SMART THINKING! Good job.

[killinstinct]

Nice to read that so many other people are in the same situation. We were doing good at paying down our debt until they took away any remaining credit we had left and rasied interest rates to 25% or more. They closed accounts and dropped available credit on nearly every card. We had already pretty much quit using the cards and looked at remaining credit as emergency funds only. Now with nothing left for emergency funds, we decided enough with this crap. Once we get BK filed in December our money that was used to pay our CC's will be put toward an emergency fund savings account.

Good plan. Sounds like so many people are better able to deal with BK nowdays...there's so much of it going on!! We're not deadbeats or flakes, we're good, hardworking people who have fallen on hard times. The law was intended to protect us!

We quit using CC's almost a year ago and began aggressively paying down debt. HOWEVER, income fell, expenses went up. As others have stated our CC limits fell and interest rates increased for no reason. The CC companies would do nothing to help when you called. I was already planning on filing, but when I found out Chase was going to double their minimum payments on CC's, I was sure glad we were prepared. That would have pushed us over the edge if nothing else (we had 3 cards with them).

[LimpDisc]

Nice to read that so many other people are in the same situation. We were doing good at paying down our debt until they took away any remaining credit we had left and rasied interest rates to 25% or more. They closed accounts and dropped available credit on nearly every card. We had already pretty much quit using the cards and looked at remaining credit as emergency funds only. Now with nothing left for emergency funds, we decided enough with this crap. Once we get BK filed in December our money that was used to pay our CC's will be put toward an emergency fund savings account.

[bktmom28]

I too was feeling really guilty about filing. I just had never thought in a million years we would be in this position. We never missed a CC payment, never missed a mtg payment, but once we realized that we had exhausted all of our resources and that neither our mortgage company or the CC companies were going to ever help us, it was our last resort. Every single one of our credit card companies dropped our limits to within $250. Our payments shot up and so did our interest rates. When I called to ask for relief, they pretty much laughed at me and told me that due to economic state of affairs, there was nothing that they could do. Now I tell them, that due to our economic state of affairs, there is nothing that we can do. I will be so relieved when this is over. We sold my husbands truck this past weekend. Now all we have to do is pay our attorney fees and we will get this ball rolling. I am ecstatic! Never thought I would be in this position, but I am so thankful that it is an option. Otherwise, I don't know what we would do.

[debtmonster]

Yes. Any guilt you may feel about filing quickly goes out the window once you see how awful the banks are once you're late. They go out of their way to quickly bury you and harass you mercilessly. Doesn't matter if you've been with them 20 years or 2 months.

This is making me happier about filing bankruptcy!!

[killinstinct]

Yes. Any guilt you may feel about filing quickly goes out the window once you see how awful the banks are once you're late. They go out of their way to quickly bury you and harass you mercilessly. Doesn't matter if you've been with them 20 years or 2 months.

[weRN2deep]

Same here, as soon as one creditor (AMEX) lowered my limit to $200 above my balance (thus creating a "maxed out" card), ALL my other creditors jumped on the bandwagon by increasing my interest rates (from 3.99%-9.99%) to over 29% because I was "at my limit"...Yeah, I don't feel guilty either

OMG They did that to me too... chased my balance for the last 2 years, and everyone I was in 'good' with joined the team and universally defaulted me. Until AMEX messed with me I was actually getting a little bit of my ccdebt paid down. We have a saying in our house F.AMEX!!!

[killinstinct]

Generally speaking, it will be at least six months without payment before a creditor takes legal action. All they can do is call and harass you.

And if you tell them to stop, or send them a certified letter telling them to stop, they have to stop or you can report them to the FTC for violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practicies Act. I had this happen with Cap 1 and once I complained to the FTC they stopped immeidately.

[iv65536]

1. Turn your speakers up on your computer.

2. Go here: http://www.crocopuffs.com/soundboard/southpark.html

or here: http://www.aeonity.com/ab/soundboard...ling-blade.php

3. Hold the phone up to your speakers.

4. Use your imagination

5. Have fun.

"You WILL respect my authoritah!!"

"They turned me aloose from the nervous hospital. Said I was well. Mmmmhmmm."

Me? I'm kinda partial to this: http://www.cnbc.com/id/18724672/

[pcn]

To fully perfect the lien, a financial statement would also have to be filed with the secretary of state.

Can you explain more about this financial statement? Here in AL the title is sent to the state, which adds the lienholder to the title, and then mails the modified title to the lienholder. That is how the lien is perfected. Where are you located?

[Chowder]

This is a district/Trustee specific scenario that would absolutely not fly in my area. I wish it did.

To fully perfect the lien, a financial statement would also have to be filed with the secretary of state.