How long does it take CC companies to sue?

[ace13]

ace13, don't worry too much about the furnace. Even if the CU shows up at the 341 regarding that, they are going to have a difficult time proving intent or proving that a furnace in the Northeast is a luxury.

As to when lawsuits start, my earliest lawsuit was six months after I stopped paying. The credit card company (it was a crate and barrel card) sold it to a JDB who sued me immediately upon buying the debt.

But many cards that had much higher balances, never ended up suing me. I think if you are filing soon, you will not end up with any lawsuits, and even if you do, the bankruptcy will take care of the judgments.

Thanks backtoschool and all others for sharing your experiences. I'm gald I found this forum and to hear from those that have been there done that. . You guys and gals are the best. As I'm typing this 3 separate calls to my cell from creditors...none of which I answered

[backtoschool]

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

ace13, don't worry too much about the furnace. Even if the CU shows up at the 341 regarding that, they are going to have a difficult time proving intent or proving that a furnace in the Northeast is a luxury.

As to when lawsuits start, my earliest lawsuit was six months after I stopped paying. The credit card company (it was a crate and barrel card) sold it to a JDB who sued me immediately upon buying the debt.

But many cards that had much higher balances, never ended up suing me. I think if you are filing soon, you will not end up with any lawsuits, and even if you do, the bankruptcy will take care of the judgments.

[OhioFiler]

If your creditors call just tell them you've retained an attorney for BK and here's his name and phone number, don't call me again. Wonder if they actually call the attorney at that point.

I was sued by Capitol one after one year of not paying.

They do call the attorney.

[pookieny]

If your creditors call just tell them you've retained an attorney for BK and here's his name and phone number, don't call me again. Wonder if they actually call the attorney at that point.

I was sued by Capitol one after one year of not paying.

[DeadManCrawling]

I would just give the attorney's number to anyone who calls. If oyu answer at all.

Why even answer the phone?

Most of the calls are automated anyway, and nothing good can come of any conversation even if it is a real person.

Use the Caller ID and ignore the ringing phone. After a while it is second nature and you won't even notice.

Always remember: On the other end of the phone is some poor sap who couldn't find any other job and has to pay THEIR bills. They may talk tough, sound mean, or be initmidating, but YOU are in the control tower, not them. They only have the power you give to them.

[ace13]

If you're being represented by an attorney regarding these debts you should refer them to him.

I have paid his retainer in full and the cost to file for a total of 1800 dollars. Not sure why he hasn't advised me/given permission to send the calls his way. So far I think he is a really good attorney that solely does BK law and his responses have been fast and helpful...

[OhioFiler]

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

If you're being represented by an attorney regarding these debts you should refer them to him.

[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

[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.

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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!