How long does it take CC companies to sue?

[ace13]

Beginning September I stopped paying all of my unsecured creditors - mostly cc - along with my 2 loans with my CU so I could save money to retain my attorney.

I was wondering if anyone knows what the average time is until the CC and CU will begin a lawsuit? Right now it's just the voluminous phone calls -none of which I have answered. I have also received one letter saying my account may soon be restricted.

Is there some guideline of time on lawsuits or does it just depend on when they feel it's time to sue? Any info from anyone who has been sued is appreciated.

Also do you think I should answer any calls and tell them I'm filing for chapter 7 or just continue to ignore?

[berrymom35]

I don't know if there is anything official, but we got served by one card 18 months after we stopped payment. Out of about 14 accounts that was the only one...then we filed about 3 days later and they dropped it. If you just stopped paying you've got a long time before you have to worry about it and if you go ahead and retain an attorney your golden for a long time.

[ForumReader]

Beginning September I stopped paying all of my unsecured creditors - mostly cc - along with my 2 loans with my CU so I could save money to retain my attorney.

I was wondering if anyone knows what the average time is until the CC and CU will begin a lawsuit? Right now it's just the voluminous phone calls -none of which I have answered. I have also received one letter saying my account may soon be restricted.

Is there some guideline of time on lawsuits or does it just depend on when they feel it's time to sue? Any info from anyone who has been sued is appreciated.

Also do you think I should answer any calls and tell them I'm filing for chapter 7 or just continue to ignore?

It varies with the creditors, typically after 120 months of non payments (they would become charge offs), letters start to go out with a minimum of 6 months from the last payment, lawsuits processes begin. Like I said it varies and depends on the creditors. Now you mentioned you have loans with the CU? Do you have a banking account with the CU? If so, I would strongly suggest switching to new banks asap to avoid offsetting your monies to your loans associated with the CU.

Maybe other more experienced posters will chime in with more tips/suggestions/info.

Good luck

[ace13]

Thanks for both of your input!

To ForumReader, I did have a savings account with my CU where the loans are but the balancebis 5.09. They can have it. I used that savings for my daughters child support from her father but a few months ago stopped DD into it so I could track all my monies in one account - it just made it easier to work on my budget. Needless to say didn't help much cuz here I am soon to be filing BK

do you think I should talk to any creditors and advise I'm soon filing or just continue ignoring? Thanks

[ForumReader]

Thanks for both of your input!

To ForumReader, I did have a savings account with my CU where the loans are but the balancebis 5.09. They can have it. I used that savings for my daughters child support from her father but a few months ago stopped DD into it so I could track all my monies in one account - it just made it easier to work on my budget. Needless to say didn't help much cuz here I am soon to be filing BK

do you think I should talk to any creditors and advise I'm soon filing or just continue ignoring? Thanks

I would suggest not telling the creditors you are filing for BK soon for they might speed up the lawsuit process (I could be wrong there). Let their calls come to your answering machine and file as soon as you are ready.

[ace13]

Thanks all...

As some of you may have read in other posts of mine I am really concerned about the CU more than any other creditor. The 9k for the furnace with only 2 payments made concerns me but I guess we all have to pay for our mistakes in life.

Again thanks for the advice

[OnTheRocks]

My CU probably different than yours, but a few months ago I missed 1 payment (honest mistake) and before the 2nd was due they were talking about doing a judgment. They wanted me to convert my CC debt into some other type of loan. I'm at about that point again, just need to stall them this time, cause ain't no more dough flowing. I should mention it is my previous employer who fired me too..

[ace13]

Yikes OnTheRocks. Sorry to hear. So far I missed my second payment with the PA CU and have rec'd phone calls and one letter. The letter was requesting me to call if I was having difficulty making my payments to work something out. I plan on taking that info to my attorney in the coming weeks once we schedule our next mtg to review my info previously provided.
I'm hoping the CU holds off until at least December before filing suit

good luck to you. I will never deal thru a CU again. Lesson learned!

[OnTheRocks]

We're at the same point, just missed my 2nd too. Chase has been good with me so far, Dell and HSBC haven't even called, but only 2 people work at the employers CU and they are taking it personal. Well, it will be interesting see how it plays out... I've been paying them 18 months though so they are SOL

[DeadManCrawling]

Careful about that CU account. They can legally overdraft the account to its limit, and sometimes more, to cover debt you owe them. They can also use cross-collateralization to take money from any other accounts you have with them.

Been a loud chorus on this board in the last few months about this exact scenario.

[shado1021]

I stopped paying all my cards in April/May 2008. This is what's going on with me:

Discover card #1 filed suit 3/09 and won a default judgement 5/09 for $800. They got a writ to garnish my wages 6/09. I make so little, they didn't get anything from that. So, I just got the court paper in the mail this past week - they went back to court and got a writ to garnish any state tax refund/credit. No big money for them there either.

Discover card #2 filed suit 7/25/09 and won a default judgement 10/5/09 for $17000. Waiting to see what they are going after.

I was served 10/19/09 - Capital One has filed suit (on my $500 limit card which is now $1200).

For me, it looks like it takes about 2 months after they file suit for them to get a judgement. So Cap1 should get theirs in December. Merry Christmas to me.

Hope this helps.

[BobMango]

I stopped paying in January of 09, just got served from Chase for $5K. Have two other Chase accounts with more due but nothing from them. Go figure. Maybe they're going after the small claims case first.

On the other hand, I had some rental property that I last made a payment on in January 09, it was sold in foreclosure last month. (was once valued at $330K, sold on the courthouse steps for $85K, and Wells Fargo couldn't figure out why I didn't want to talk about working it out!) Seems pretty quick from first missed payment to foreclosure based on what others have reported, but then I did nothing to forestall the process.

[DeadManCrawling]

It is very hard to guess if or when they might sue.

For instance, I owe Advanta over 80k. Not a peep. they have had us in collections for over three years. Bounce from one JDB to another, over and over. Never a suit. They can see from my credit report that no one is getting paid, and I was a solid customer for the life of the credit until default. They probably know, based on those things, that they have no chance of collecting. If they DID sue, there is a computer algorhythm that says I will simply file bk as soon as they file the action. This would be correct, so they would be wasting money.

On the other hand, my wife was sued and has a default judgment for 3k from GEMB. They sued immediately and were awarded a default judgment 2 years back. Only now are they getting serious, and we will file the first couple weeks of December.

So, every situation is different, and different creditors respond differently. It almost makes no sense at all, and is a bit like roling the loaded dice in Vegas. No way to tell, truthfully, who will sue, or when.

I do know, from this board, that credit unions and local creditors you owe money to directly are far more likely to sue quicker, be more difficult, and show up at 341 meetings. If you don't have any of those, you are rolling the dice with the rest of the nation.

Good luck!

[OhioFiler]

It varies with the creditors, typically after 120 months of non payments (they would become charge offs), letters start to go out with a minimum of 6 months from the last payment, lawsuits processes begin. Like I said it varies and depends on the creditors. Now you mentioned you have loans with the CU? Do you have a banking account with the CU? If so, I would strongly suggest switching to new banks asap to avoid offsetting your monies to your loans associated with the CU.

Maybe other more experienced posters will chime in with more tips/suggestions/info.

Good luck

I'm sure you mean 12 months not 10 years.

We are 10 months into not paying any cc's and we rarely receive collection calls and have had no lawsuits filed by any OC's or CA's. I have no idea how many calls my attorney's office receives about our debt though.

[ace13]

You guys are lucky that your attorney permits you giving his telephone number to creditors. He hasn't given me permission to do so...yet. Basically he told me to answer their calls if I want to....especially those calling my work and tell them I'm filing for chap 7. He said it [I]may[I] stop them for a little while. So far I've just ignored them.

In the beginning the calls were many now it seems they come in waves. I sure hope no creditor sues til at least December or January so some charges age a bit

thanks to all for sharing