lawsuits and such

[Mom2one]

My husband and I are in process of seeing attorneys to file bankruptcy. We have unsecured debt of about 94K. We are not late on our car or house as we want to keep both. We are hoping to wait to file as his overtime is dropping off in a big way. How long do we have? I mean I know in PA they cannot garnish his wages but. but one of our creditors is our bank and it is an overdraft line of credit. When I don't pay it it gets deducted out of my checking account.

We were hoping to wait 4 months to file as we need to find an attorney, and save to pay for one as well,.

Thanks
Christine

[Flamingo]

You are in breach of contract on any debt when you don't pay it by the date due each month. Thereafter, what the creditor can and will do is stated in the paperwork that you signed and received when you accepted the credit account or loan. A lot of people just toss that stuff out when they receive their credit card or payment book in the mail. If you have any of that paperwork, pull it out and review. It's amazing what is stated in there that no one actually ever takes the time to read.

When you are about 30 days late, the phone calls will start and you will receive reminder letters in the mail. After 60 days goes by it will get worse and by the time 90 days rolls around, you can be served with papers at that time, a bit later or before, depending on the creditor. If you are late on any payments now besides your vehicle and house, it will be sooner than later.

[EveryDayAdam]

My husband and I are in process of seeing attorneys to file bankruptcy. We have unsecured debt of about 94K. We are not late on our car or house as we want to keep both. We are hoping to wait to file as his overtime is dropping off in a big way. How long do we have? I mean I know in PA they cannot garnish his wages but. but one of our creditors is our bank and it is an overdraft line of credit. When I don't pay it it gets deducted out of my checking account.

We were hoping to wait 4 months to file as we need to find an attorney, and save to pay for one as well,.

Thanks
Christine

Christine,

Four months will be plenty of time...I went 18 months between not paying and from when I filed. I was probably about to be sued by Amex, but hadn't been served yet. While it's impossible to say how long it will actually take to get sued, I can say with about 98% certainty that if you are planning on filing in 4 months, you won't even have been served yet.

Just make sure that you stop making any payments at all to any creditors (other than cars or houses you intend to keep, those you should definitely continue to pay on). Just be prepared for the barrage of phone calls and letters. There are plenty of threads on this board on how to deal with the calls. The biggest tip I have for dealing with them: Get an answering machine and put both of your names on the outgoing message, turn the ringers off on your phones, and screen all your calls.

Don't talk to any of your creditors or the collection agencies. There is no point, as they will only try to get you to pay them money, and at that point you are throwing good money after bad.

I would also change banks too, since one of your creditors is your bank. I know changing banks is a pain in the butt, but they might be able to take what you owe them from your bank account, depending on the agreement. Make sure you get an account from a bank that you don't owe money to.

[Mom2one]

We are not late on our house or vehicle