Curious-Who has most CC debt?

[tanya0525]

I have not declared BK (note I have been a member of this board for 4 years), but my unsecured debt is now sitting at $102K (original was ~75K.) Student loans are now sitting at $118K (original ~$75K) with default and final collection costs added on prior to current 15% garnishment.

Still thankful I didn't have any real assets with secured debt to worry about. Even with $102K (and growing) in unsecured debt, life is quite stable now. I have judgments for about $18K of this, but only one law firm bothering to garnish. Big deal. Yawn.

I just about passed out at your school loan amount. I am crying about my $7,500. May I ask what you went to school for?

[merime]

Med school. Unfortanate that I was forced to quit because of family issues. Hope to resume one day.

[Hlc]

$120,000 my cc debt - wife cc debt $ 55,000 for a total of arounf $ 175,000

[neicy08]

I have $52,000 in cc debt and don't remember what I spent it on.

[Hlc]

Neither do I !!!!!!!!!

[wnguyen]

I had over $216K in unsecured debts. If you count other debts then I also had over $30K in student loans; $33K in car loans.

[Okieblue]

For just cc's, it's about $49K, cars are another $44, seems dumb to file on $49K, I imagine I'll look back and say, that wasn't so much, why didn't we make it work. Right now, it seems like a million.

[ironpirate]

I had 54k in CC debt and surrendered a 22k auto loan. So 76k out of debt. Now working on being debt free.

[Unibrow]

Last I checked, I was at 117K unsecured. Stopped payment in August. I will check again in Jan to see how much it grows then. Also, planning on filing between April and June of next year. Hopefully no major suits/judgments then. And if all goes according to plan, Sept of next year I will thoroughly enjoy my fresh start.

Last time this question was asked, there were crazy numbers thrown around making me feel like I am not worthy of BK at my debt level.

[BKHELP138]

Wow you all make me feel bad my CC debt is way over all this ... I guess when the sh*t hits the fan it really does.... Mine got high due to a rental home back in the day to sell before the crash ....and it just grew like a gremlin ...

[LaurieM]

No secret. I'm not even trying to dodge the judgments. For whatever reason, only one judgment creditor's attorney (1 out of 3) is garnishing the 10% left after the student loan garnishment.

I have filed declarations of my exemptions and exempt wages. I don't know if this makes a difference. I send copies of these declarations to the attorney who sued me.

I've paid off several judgments already. These amounts were not included in my $102K posted above. I think these judgments add to an additional $15K or so.

That's because only one creditor can garnish at a time. If there's more than one creditor with pending garnishments, courts in our area allow each one to garnish for a six month period, then that one gets to the back of the line and the next takes over for the following six months.

[treehugger1]

Yea, I already know this. In Oregon a wage garnishment writ only lasts for 90 days and must be renewed. In terms of a bank garnishment, the garnishment is only good at the moment of time the garnishment is received by the bank. There are no frozen bank accounts here.

[LaurieM]

I want to preface this comment by saying that I initially happened upon this website last week thinking that it was a site where bankruptcy professionals came to share ideas. What I discovered, instead, was wonderful website where people, like our clients, who have happened upon financial misfortune (for whatever underlying reason) can visit, and discuss their anxieties and frustrations over what they are going through. I have not personally filed bankruptcy nor am I planning to... that's not to say that in my younger days I did not make financial errors in judgment when it came to utilizing credit. Now, I work as a credit counselor/legal assistant for a bankruptcy attorney, so that's where I come from with my comments, should you happen across them on this website.

I'd like to offer up a comment here in response to those who indicate that they accumulated a substantial amount of credit card debt and don't know what they spent the funds on. Any bankruptcy attorney who is worth anything won't only assist you in ridding yourself of unsecured debt, but will also offer assistance in helping you understand how you got where you are so that when the bankruptcy is discharged, you'll move forward with less risk of having history repeat itself.

If you have accumulated significant unsecured debt and you don't know where the monies went... that's a problem. Most people who come to see us have absolutely NO clue where their money goes and that's absolutely the first step in getting to the bottom of the underlying financial issue. What is it that's eating up your regular income to the extent that it forces you to avail yourself, on a regular basis, of unsecured credit just to make ends meet? Is it that your mortgage and/or car payments are beyond your means? For some, I know, that perhaps when those loans were orginally taken out, perhaps the earnings were higher, or they were married with two incomes and since have separated.

There are MANY, however, who took on the debt without realizing how far beyond their means it was.... mortgage payments well over 40% of their incomes, car payments which exceed housing costs etc. I partially blame the lenders who wrote those loans for some of this (I was a lender for years and when we meet with our clients I often think there is no way I would ever have granted those loans). The financial industry many years ago went from a customer service based focus to a sales based focused... many of the people now granting the credit w/o any formal lending experience solely granting the credit to meet their sales targets. These people are NOT doing you any favors!

I would suggest that before anyone even meets with an attorney for the purposes of exploring the filing of a bankruptcy if would be prudent for him/her to see a credit counselor... there are lots of agencies who will provide the counseling free of charge or for a nominal fee (and many who can issue the cc certificate you need when/if you do decide it's in your best interest to file). You NEED to know what's coming into and going out of your pockets financially! The onlytwo long-term fixes to financial woes are increasing your income or cutting out expenses. If ridding yourself of property linked to a loan or if you've already accumulated the unsecured debt, you may well need the services of an attorney and/or to consider filing bankruptcy... but first... find out where the cashola is going so that moving foward, life will be better! That's the best "non-legal" advice a credit counselor could ever provide.

[tobee43]

Yea, I already know this. In Oregon a wage garnishment writ only lasts for 90 days and must be renewed. In terms of a bank garnishment, the garnishment is only good at the moment of time the garnishment is received by the bank. There are no frozen bank accounts here.

really.....my brother lives there and i know some of the laws are odd...but this one may actually help someone...since they don't have to close the account.

in new jersey the freeze just keeps on ticking...they just grab even if you have your money in the bank for 30 seconds....and the next time you deposit they will be awaiting you with wings on their grubby hands. no wonder no one wants to live in jersey!