waiting too long?

[Medport]

Just wondering if there were any consequences from stopping payment to the credit card companies and waiting to file for too long? I stopped sending payments on all of mine except for one about 4 months ago. I had planned on only going about 2 months and then filing as I was waiting on my bonus from work to fund the lawyer fee. Well, after getting the bonus and getting a raise (along with picking up extra hours at my 2nd job the past few months), I discovered I am over the limit for the means test (not for the yearly income, but for the pat 6 months). I told the lawyer's assistant about it and she said not to worry about it and give her copies of my recent pay stubs as I had given them all the paperwork a couple months ago. I still have'nt heard anything from them wanting to know about my expenses, ect. and my sister says its because I have'nt paid them yet. I have the money to pay the lawyer, but am hesitant if they find I'm still over the means test. But I reckon worst case I would have to wait 6 months before filing.
Will this hurt your credit any more (having the credit card companies going to collection agencies or whatever) than if your credit was up-to date or only a short time not paying after you file? My sister says it does, but I thought everything got wiped clean once you file. I also don't know the timetable when they might start trying to sue, ect. btw, I was about ready to pay the lawyer this week, but I made a mistake at work that has me worried and if I happen to lose my job, I won't have any credit or anything as a back up if I were to file now. There is always something-this has me stressed out as to whether or not to report the error now and see what happens or wait and see if somebody ever catches it, but then I might get in more trouble, but really don't know...

[tez44xx]

I stopped paying my bills over a year ago and still have not been sued. I plan on filing in Oct.

[dumpinmydebt]

Will it hurt your credit more? Yes, but you're filing for bk, so that doesn't matter.

As far as a lawsuit, if they filed today, you'd have roughly 28 days to respond, then probably another 2 weeks - 1 month before a court date. Then a judgement. 30 days to pay that judgement, then maybe a 15 day warning after those 30 days before garnishing procedures could start.

The longer you wait, the easier it will be. It would be best to have at least 6 months of non payment on those credit cards, less possibility of objections.

You don't want to be racking up debt when you plan on filing. If you rack up a ton of debt and then make no payment and file within 3 months, they are going to not allow you to get those debts discharged.

[Medport]

Yeah, I know about not using the cards before filing. I have'nt used any except the one card that I'm paying the min. on because I had to buy a new washer about 3 months ago. That was before I got my bonus and had any cash. Hopefully it will be long enough when I do file that they won't object.

[dumpinmydebt]

You should be fine.

By the way, I haven't paid my credit cards in 2.5 years! Haven't hear a peep from them, except the occasional message left by an automated system.

[LadyInTheRed]

Don't worry about your credit rating. The late pays will fall off your reports before the BK does. Yes, you might be able to improve your rating more quickly without late pays before the BK, but that shouldn't be your priority right now. Accept that your credit rating will fall and that you will have to rebuild it.

If you want your attorney to run numbers and decide whether you should file now or wait, you need to pay your attorney. If you definitely know this is the attorney you want to hire, pay them while you have the money, even if you won't be filing for another 6 months. If you aren't certain about the attorney, consult with a couple more and retain somebody. You don't want to end up in a position where you can't pay your attorney and creditors start getting judgments and garnishing your wages, making matters even worse. As others have said, it will probably be a while before that happens, but you might as well be prepared to file in case a creditor makes a move.

My advice about your error at work: It's better you bring it up than have somebody else find it. Figure out how to fix the error and how to avoid it in the future. Then, when you tell your boss about the error, you will be ready with a solution and be able to assure him/her that you are taking steps to avoid repeating similar errors. Better to say, "I messed up, but I know how to fix it and am taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen again" than to say, "I messed up, please give me another chance" or to act surprised when somebody else brings it up even though you knew about it all along.

[Medport]

Thanks for the reply LadyInTheRed. The thing about the mistake is that it was actually about 6-7 times I gave something that I was'nt supposed to until I caught it. There is really no way to correct it now and the problem was I was'nt reading the record like you are supposed to and the order was changed a few weeks ago. I just got into the habit of giving the med and then signing, which you are not supposed to do. This has me really worried as its was a controlled substance and you can lose your license on stuff like this if they want to take it to the extreme. btw, there is no guarantee that somebody will catch it or tell the boss if they do. But I hate to keep worrying about it and if they do find out, they would have to assume that I knew about the mistakes because I stopped doing it.

[tcreegan]

shop for attorneys

Hi Medport,

The wisdom of the forum says to shop around for attorneys. Some folks report going through a half a dozen before finding a good one.

Hope everything works out for you,

Tom in Colo

[catleg]

The only problem with waiting too long is that, in the unlikely event you get an inheritance, you have to pay the debt back with the interest that's been running the whole time, plus, you have needlessly extended the 180 day inheritance window.

That plus the stuff you already know about the phone ringing off the hook and the lawsuits.

[sunshinepa]

Medport

Hi. You should talk to someone NOW about the work mistake. My sister is a nurse and as you probably know, meds are counted daily both in hospitals and nursing homes. You are right, you can lose your license........come clean now as it may come back to haunt you.

I know of one case where my sis worked, they had been watching someone for quite awhile and all h.......broke loose when they finally approached her.

Please go to someone now, be honest and up front!

This will also help with the BK issue as you will know up front what is going to happen.

Good luck!!!!

[blockhead]

Credit rating

From what I can make out the credit rating after BK discharge doesn't mean a lot unless you somehow get more credit and go derogatory with that. I had a score of 680 when I stopped paying all my CCs, and it was about 520 when I filed 9 mths after that (got sued twice during that time but kept them at bay so no judgments). Now after discharge it's back up to 680 and I have zero balance owed, no debt.

BUT the public record is there and will be for 10 yrs, and so are the derogatory history on 8 cards except Amex who for some reason reported 'paid satisfactorily - up to date - even though they sued me and I ended up discharging 30K with them - can't figure those guys out - all I know is I won't be dealing with them again.

[catleg]

I think Amex is hoping to entice you to pay off the card post discharge.

They are the only one I know of that black lists you for life.

So as a corollary to that, they internally know if you've paid or not, and that's all that matters to them.

What you wrote implies that they are a "rogue" organization for credit reporting purposes.