How long til the cards get serious?

[BROKEDED]

My last payment to AMEX was on the first of November 2009. They called alot at first but then it tapered off. The account was turned over to Zwicker and Ass. around the first of March 2010. Zwicker started calling family and they WILL leave a voice mail that "This is an attempt to collect a debt." after they give the, "If you are not so-and-so, hang up now." warning. I have about 15 more days to respond to refute the debt in question.

Capital One still calls. No collection agencey yet. They called very little at first but they have picked up in the past two months.

The worst one by far has been Wells Fargo over my checking account that is $250 overdrawn. That happened at the first of January. They closed my account at the end of March and already have a collection agency. I left my call log on my cell phone for a week to count the calls. I had 72 collection calls total. And 41 of them were from Wells Fargo.

You may want to send a cease and desist phone calls letter. Advise them to respond to you through mail only.

[optimistic1]

Fastest ever really.

[NewPage]

You may want to send a cease and desist phone calls letter. Advise them to respond to you through mail only.

Is this applicable in Oregon? Who would I send it to for Amex? (Collections Dept?) Is there a sample letter somewhere?

Thank you for your advice.

[qsr]

My advice is to wait as long as possible to file, but be on the lookout for lawsuits and property liens. You want to try to string out anything that could result in a judgment as long as possible. You probably have a year at least after your first missed payment. Forget about your credit score, it is meaningless unless you want a job with a big company.

The hardest part is dealing with the stress of getting calls all the time. You may want a separate phone for the collection people and one for your personal business. The CC companies know they are waging psychological warfare on you, and the robo-calls is one great way to trick people into paying them first. Just resist the temptations to give in and plan out your BK7 filing far in advance. This too shall pass!

[BROKEDED]

Is this applicable in Oregon? Who would I send it to for Amex? (Collections Dept?) Is there a sample letter somewhere?

Thank you for your advice.

If AMEX has turned your account over to a collection agency then you would receive a letter from them asking you to validate the debt along with the many phone calls. You would have to get the mailing address from the letter or speak to them to get a mailing address. I don't believe you can cease and desist the original creditor.

[keptdigging]

I had a new cell phone # that none of them had so I would up just unplugging the landline. One creditor found the cell somehow, but I just ignore that area code.

I stopped paying in late December (and yes I know what that feels like... I'd never done it before in my entire life.) I haven't seen papers but court website says Amex filed suit last week. Chase says they're about to.

The "perfect" time for me to file is in September. But I think my Chapter 7 lookback is okay now and I'm weighing just filing next month and getting on with the next chapter of my life.

A lot of people here have been able to go a year without getting sued. But for me it has been less than 4 months.

We'll see what the attorneys say.

[NewPage]

keptdigging - Do you think you were sued b/c you didn't talk to them at all? Or did you?

Those of you who went a long time before being sued, or weren't at all -- did you communicate with the CC's?

[keptdigging]

[QUOTE=NewPage;402464]keptdigging - Do you think you were sued b/c you didn't talk to them at all? Or did you?

I didn't communicate. I wondered if that was why I got sued so quick... and there's a thread I started on it. Consensus was no... that I got sued because they smelled assets. (Yeah an underwater house... but I like my house and the mortgage is currently 2 1/8% interest only so yeah I'm paying that.) I'm not so sure.

[dancersmom22]

getting sued

I don't think it makes any difference whether you tell your creditors or not. We quit paying on all unsecured debt in August, except for a GE Money Bank account that we were already behind on and had been farmed out to an attorney/collection agency. We told all our creditors we had retained an attorney and referred all calls to them. For the most part, all other creditors have been quiet since we told the our plans. On the advice of our attorney, we made payments thru November to this particular law firm -- as they are well known to sue quickly in Indiana. I told this law firm in December that we were filing chapter 7, no asset in the next month or so, and made no more payments to them. (We were waiting for some OT to fall off the 6 month look back, and hopefully protecting our tax refund). Last thursday we received a summons delivered by our sheriff for this GE Money Bank account. So, it looks like we'll finish up our paperwork and either file later this month, or very early in May.

[PoorNow]

We are being sued by Chase right now, our attorney is buying time by going back and forth with them until we can settle. We havent paid our cards in over 18 months. Chase and Amex used to call every day. Amex called on the hour, sometimes 8 times a day. I was going to pay off my amex last summer so I could have some credit still. I made a large payment over the phone, then the next day got a letter in the mail that my account was closed. Bummer. so next time they called, I told them that I was planning on paying the rest off until they closed my account. Instead I paid off a Direct Merchant Bank card. Still havent been sued by Amex or Direct Merchant bank. Only Chase so far, but that is where the majority of our $70K in debt is.