negotiating with unsecured creditors

[mknolan]

One more thing Gina...I have told no one and never will! My personal business period!

[gina2000]

Did any of you have to deal with creditors attempting to seize money from your a linked bank account? Or did you close those accounts? Can Chase et al even do that without you being notified?

[gina2000]

mk that is so true, it's purely your personal business.

[mknolan]

Gina..I was worried about Chase. My car is financed with them and I included a Chase credit card in my Bk.....the worst thing that happened is I no longer have access to my Chase Auto online account. If that's the worst thing I can handle it! I just keep making my payments on time and I do plan on reaffirming my auto loan.

[gina2000]

Chase... I have 3 of cards but no secured loan. I asked about creditors accessing bank accounts because elsewhere on the forum, on the topic of pre-planning, it was recommended that you close all bank accounts that your creditors have knowledge of. In your case, you've filed fairly quickly after stopping payments. If I may ask, why did you decide not to wait for the 90 day payment lookback period to pass?

[Forthebirds]

Hi,
I am filing next week. Haven't paid credit cards in 6 months. Once I ha an attorney, I called the CC companies or answered when they called me (retained an attorney before we were even late on payments) and gave them the atty's # and said we planned to file ch 7. No one was rude, most said they were sorry we fell on hard times, and immediately sounded sympathetic. I have Chase, Citi, Discover. No one has ever called my relatives or my work. If you know you will file, and can retain an atty soon, you shouldn't have to worry about the phone calls. No one else has called me since I told them about the BK besides a collector for Citi. They called 2-3x and my atty called them and told them to leave me alone and they have. Good luck to you!

[spidge]

I would open new accounts where no creditor has a chance to make any reference to or withdraw from. Also your retirement money in an IRA or 401K are mostly protected by the BK rules so don't touch that. Timing can be important to, so do some research to see if there may be benefits to filling now or later to include other items in the BK. Look up "strategic BK".

BK is not easy as there are so many factors, so hopefully you get lucky and have a smooth filling and discharge. Don't rely on your attorney either. Be sure to go in informed as best you can.

Don't feel bad about filling BK, as major companies use it to protect themselves and recover from their own unfortunate circumstances. Shoot now Cities are using it here in California. Think about where you want to be in the next year or so. Fighting creditors or giving them the finger and moving on.

I will tell you even if you keep great records the creditors will play games with you. Like agreeing to settle, taking your money and either continuing to come after you for the remainder plus fees, or selling off the balance (which is legal by the way) and having to deal with a new set of collectors. Ask me how I know. OK, I will tell you that I had one settle for 20%. I paid and they sent me a statement that my "payment" was received and that I needed to pay off the balance. My response was simple, there are rules and let me help you understand them a little better. In the end the supposed owner "president" of the company sent me an email and letter stating the account was settled, closed, and retired (so to speak). This may have been an interesting exercise, but it is not worth the trouble.

Do you need a reference to an attorney? Are you in my area? Mine was good, but with the extra info I learned here I felt like I helped them represent me better.

[spidge]

Hi,
I am filing next week. Haven't paid credit cards in 6 months. Once I ha an attorney, I called the CC companies or answered when they called me (retained an attorney before we were even late on payments) and gave them the atty's # and said we planned to file ch 7. No one was rude, most said they were sorry we fell on hard times, and immediately sounded sympathetic. I have Chase, Citi, Discover. No one has ever called my relatives or my work. If you know you will file, and can retain an atty soon, you shouldn't have to worry about the phone calls. No one else has called me since I told them about the BK besides a collector for Citi. They called 2-3x and my atty called them and told them to leave me alone and they have. Good luck to you!

Lucky.

I had a few call various relatives and friends looking for me. They broke the rules as some things were said that are not allowed. Once they were informed of the attorney information all this stopped. The sooner the better.

[pamkev]

Like others here we rode the hamster wheel for awhile trying to keep up. I'm so thankful I found this site before we touched hubby's 401k we were very close to doing that, had the paperwork and was ready to sign. Stopped paying cc in Feb and yes they do call everyone even my BIL in South Caroline. We filed in Aug and was discharged and closed in Nov. Since then I can't tell you what a good feeling it is not to worry about who's getting paid first each month. We have a savings now which is a blessings. Hubby truck needed over $600.00 work done which before would have gone on a cc not this time cash was paid. One thing I do find myself doing is making sure when we buy something it's what we really need. I feel very strange getting something I want. I won't feel comfortable again until I get that money we used for the truck replaced back in savings so will question every purchase that we make until it is. I don't know if that is normal but I just know I don't want to do the BK thing again. Pam

[frogger]

mk that is so true, it's purely your personal business.

While it is your personal business, don't forget that it is public record.

[spidge]

Like others here we rode the hamster wheel for awhile trying to keep up. I'm so thankful I found this site before we touched hubby's 401k we were very close to doing that, had the paperwork and was ready to sign. Stopped paying cc in Feb and yes they do call everyone even my BIL in South Caroline. We filed in Aug and was discharged and closed in Nov. Since then I can't tell you what a good feeling it is not to worry about who's getting paid first each month. We have a savings now which is a blessings. Hubby truck needed over $600.00 work done which before would have gone on a cc not this time cash was paid. One thing I do find myself doing is making sure when we buy something it's what we really need. I feel very strange getting something I want. I won't feel comfortable again until I get that money we used for the truck replaced back in savings so will question every purchase that we make until it is. I don't know if that is normal but I just know I don't want to do the BK thing again. Pam

We do the same process for purchasing anything outside of necessities. It does feel good to pay cash for everything.

[btbeme]

A few brief answers to several of the above questions:

- If you don't want creditors calling friends and family then you need to answer the phone every now and then and confirm who they are reaching. Or change your voicemail message to include your first and last name so they know even if you do not answer. If you do talk to them, do not say that you will pay them, and do not tell them you are planning to file BK. All that will do is hasten the lawsuit they will eventually file.

- If they call friends and family (or at work) call them back and tell them to stop.

- If you have debts that are "linked" to bank accounts or automatic payments you need to unlink them. If you cannot, you need to switch banks - pronto.

- Never, ever bank at a place where you owe money and are about to default or file Ch 7. Your account will be frozen and emptied, guaranteed.

[gina2000]

A few brief answers to several of the above questions:

- If you don't want creditors calling friends and family then you need to answer the phone every now and then and confirm who they are reaching. Or change your voicemail message to include your first and last name so they know even if you do not answer. If you do talk to them, do not say that you will pay them, and do not tell them you are planning to file BK. All that will do is hasten the lawsuit they will eventually file.

- If they call friends and family (or at work) call them back and tell them to stop.

- If you have debts that are "linked" to bank accounts or automatic payments you need to unlink them. If you cannot, you need to switch banks - pronto.

- Never, ever bank at a place where you owe money and are about to default or file Ch 7. Your account will be frozen and emptied, guaranteed.

I have unlinked my bank account from all of the debts except Chase whose system is "unavailable" today. My bank account is with BofA where I have a credit card with 0 balance (used only for overdraft protection). I am very curious though if anyone has actually had a creditor such as Amex or Chase access funds from a bank account that's been unlinked?

[paulsk]

I was in your position in 2008, filed for BK last month. I wish i had done it back then. I tried settling but it was too stressful.

Never ever cash our an IRA or any 401K to pay unsecured. You need that money to retire.

[mknolan]

Love the claims that the banks make..."having difficulties? can't pay your bills? Just call us, we're happy to work with you" ...that is such a joke!! I spent about 3 hours on the phone with Citi one day being transferred from one CSR to another when asking for a simple reduction in my interest rate to no avail. One CSR would say she didn't have the authority and pass me on to someone else...blah, blah, blah!! Mind you I had never missed a payment and had the card since the early 80's...it doesn't matter!!