Im nervous about Mann Bracken.

[optimistic1]

Here are my creditors. I know that all of them will eventually be charged off and sent to CA's, including Mann Bracken, which I have many stories about.

Can you please let me know if you think that might sue me before August-September rolls around? I know its a stupid question, but give me an idea?

I have already retained an attorney, do you think this will help me at all? Because If I have to file before the baby is born, then so be it, I will do a five year Chapter 13, rather than a 3 year.

So that will be my defense. You file a complaint with the court to seek a judement. I file my petition, and get the automatic stay.


Creditor list.

WAMU 200
WAMU 2000
Chase 2300
BofA 6000
BofA 2000
CITI 3000
CITI 1100
MBNA 1000
CAP1 1000
CAP1 500
JUNIPER 2000
ELAN 8000

[AngelinaCat]

Six to eight months is probably about right. It depends on how voracious the CAs are. There is another thread regarding Mann-Bracken.

[optimistic1]

So immediately after a charge off they would file suit?

[BigJohn]

So immediately after a charge off they would file suit?

In our case, nothing happened after 6 months after charge off.

[AngelinaCat]

We didn't know we were charged off until well after we filed. We only had two cards, both with the same parent company.

My 'guesstimate' of six to eight months reflects what happened to us with American General and an automobile mortgage holder that 'Hub foolishly co-signed for a 'friend' who defaulted on his payments.

Lesson here: NEVER, EVER co-sign for anyone. I don't care who it is. Just DON'T do it.

[catleg]

I think you can make two basic assumptions here:
(1) These amounts generally aren't worth suing over by the original creditor when its a huge national bank.
(2) You are going to get a lot of phone calls (many accounts) trying to "help" you find a reason and means to pay them (sell a kidney)

If you can change your phone number to new and unlisted I would think about it. I use Verizon Call Intercept which can block 25 numbers and that covers the majority of cases. I think the autodialer numbers (that they call from) are fairly fixed but every couple of days they throw a new one at me. When I see a new number at least 3 times I swap something out of the list that I suspect is no longer being used.

Note that CA's can be sent C&D letters but OC's aren't obligated to honor them. I am still dealing entirely with OC's. I have 30+ accounts I'm not paying.

[2Bshinyandnew]

Chase sued my ex husband in small claims court for $2500. His last payment was December 07, and Chase filed a complaint in June of 08. He was served in July 08, and the pre-trial hearing was not until September of 08. He attended and got a two week continuance (boy was the attorney for Chase irritated) we were hoping for longer.

The continued date for the pre trial hearing was in November 08, by that time ex husband had retained a BK attorney and was planning to file ASAP, so the attorney advised he did not have to appear at the pre trial hearing.

The clerks notes show my ex husband did not show to the hearing. A few weeks later after the BK had been filed my husbands BK attorney filed a "suggestion of bankruptcy" on the civil case with Chase Done, right? Nope...

Chase attempted to file a motion for default after the suggestion of bankruptcy had already been filed (pushy B@sterds), which was immediately followed by an ORDER of stay by the judge. Usually once the suggestion of bankruptcy is filed the creditor backs off. I looked all through the docket and could not find any other case where the judge had to tell the creditor to back off.

It was very interesting and satisfying to see the process work.

In any case, the BK attorney advised that the lower balance cards were more likely to sue simply because it costs much less to file a claim in small claims court. Not to scare the OP, but that turned out to be true in our case, but you never know. At the pre-trial hearing my ex did attend, the attorney for Chase was there for at least 3 other cases, they bang 'em out.

I don't think any amount of analyzing will really give any answers as to which creditors are going to sue when (or even if!). My ex had 2 Chase cards, similar balances and only one account sued. He also owed BofA $25K and $10K, two accounts, they never sued and he didn't heard a peep from them once he filed BK. I of course have become their target (1 was a joint account from our marriage, the $25K ) You can only be prepared to move IF they do sue, and know in advance what you can do to protect yourself. I'm facing similar issues myself right now, I check the county clerk's site EVERY DAY to see if any of my creditors have filed yet.

[optimistic1]

What took place in between that time? Did they contact him? And how do you get a continuance?

Well then I should be expecting several of them to sue. I have already told most of them that I am going to be filing a bankruptcy, and have given them my attorneys name and phone number. I wonder if that will slow them down?

Our last payment to Chase was in November I think. So 6-7 months from then and I will be going to court. My wife will be about 7 months pregnant by then and I do not want to stress her out.

My hope is that the trial and hearings get stretched out like yours did, because about 4 weeks after the baby is born, we will be filing.

[Trixie007]

We haven't even officially hired our attorney yet (we are this week ) and he's already been letting us refer CA calls to him. One last week in particular was threatening suit. Due to our large tax refunds that we are spending down on necessities, he even said that if there's no urgency, we may want to put more time between tax refund and actually filing. I said my only concern is suit/garnishment, and he said that he can hold them off for a year... and we're already 8-10 mos delinquent on all of our cc's.

[optimistic1]

Re-assuring.

Could you list your creditors?

[2Bshinyandnew]

What took place in between that time?

Between what time? Prior to filing their lawsuit they did the typical collection calls

Did they contact him?

They tried. He didn't answer.

And how do you get a continuance?

He showed up at the pre-trial hearing and asked for time to consult an attorney. They gave him two weeks.

Well then I should be expecting several of them to sue.

As I said, he had two Chase accounts, both for the same amount owed, both had the same last payment date, and only one account sued. That = 50/50. Not equal to a sure thing.

I have already told most of them that I am going to be filing a bankruptcy, and have given them my attorneys name and phone number. I wonder if that will slow them down?

No way to know. Plan for the worst, I suppose.


Our last payment to Chase was in November I think. So 6-7 months from then and I will be going to court. My wife will be about 7 months pregnant by then and I do not want to stress her out.

50/50 chance. No definites here

My hope is that the trial and hearings get stretched out like yours did, because about 4 weeks after the baby is born, we will be filing.

That all depends on your local county court. Go to your local county clerks site and look up small claims cases associated with each of your creditors, that should give you a better time frame than asking here. Your local court is specific to you.

[2Bshinyandnew]

what state are you in optimistic1? Have you looked up the garnishment laws specific to your state? Judgments are only bad if they are collectible. Once you file bankruptcy it's like a bomb goes off and any judgments are toast

Here in Florida a creditor cannot garnish wages if the debtor has dependents to support.

[optimistic1]

25% of disposable income per person. I wouldnt be nervous about collection activity if I knew I was garnishment proof, I looked that up months ago.

Im gonna ride the thing out, if the state median income stays around where it is now, I am going to wait until my baby is born, and then file, even if they start to garnish. They can just give it right back to the Trustee, so they would be wasting their time.

Im going for a 3 year, not a 5, so to me, 3 months of garnishment is fine rather than hurrying up and filing and being forced into a 5 year.

[Bell30656]

I had a JDB that sued me on two debts... First suit filed in November 2007, second in February 2008 both in Superior Court. Neither of the two ever saw the light of a courtroom and I filed in December 2008. Just file your answers timely (on the last day possible) and file lots of interrogatories/discovery, be sure to answer theirs as well.

It's a long road from stopping paying until they get a judgment if you do it right.

[optimistic1]

Good deal, but could you emphasize more on what you meant by

"file lots of interrogatories/discovery, be sure to answer theirs as well."