How did you make it?

[Mom2one]

My hubby and I are most likely filing in BK in DEcember. He had a big pay in May and we need that to drop off. My question 2 the people that have had to wait to file, how did you make it through? I am nervous everyday about lawsuits and people taking our bank accounts and we literally have 6 months to go. We stopped using all our cards 3 weeks ago they are cut up and gone,we are now living on cash. I hope I can hold it together until Deecember.

Christine

[Phillymanhere]

hey christine,

Sorry to hear you're so stressed. It is a difficult time for many people. For myself, it is not stressful right now even though I'm getting creditor phone calls every 2 minutes or so ... I pick it up a few times a week, just to try to reduce the calls and so they won't call my family members.

The funny thing is that I have been quite calm and non-guilty in talking to the cc folks. I don't talk long and hang up when they start saying, "have you thought about ...."

I have enough money for lawyer now, but will take my car for inspection first to make sure I don't need major work on it. But I will be filing in July or August, I guess.

From all I've read here, it takes quite a while for cc companies to sue. You're not likely to be sued within 6 months. You may get a letter where they mention something about legal action. But that's to scare you. To file suit against you, they have to pay an attorney and that is expensive.

I'm pretty sure that Pennsylvania does not allow garnishment of wages except for taxes and child support and in some cases, rent. So you are in the clear there!

I don't think you're like to be threatened (other than the constant phone calls, which will stop if you can refer them to your lawyer when you hire him) between now and December when you file.
Hope this helps.

Others will weigh in .... but I think you're safe until then ....good luck.

[Mom2one]

Thanks Philly. This is just so hard, worrying if you have enough money for food, gas, taxes bills. I am most likely going to do an envelope system. When you are used to grabbing a credit card, to buy the extras its hard. But I determined that I can do this. My hubby was too funny today, he new I was getting anxious in the grocery store today, and he kept finding ways that we were wasting money before and trying to find as many bargains as he could LOL.....I was thinking today that we probably will not have Christmas, as I really will not have any extra money. But maybe I can swing something, I don't care if I get anything, but I would like to get a few things for my son.

Christine

[Cali]

I have been calm the whole time. We stopped paying CC's in February. I should be filing in a week or so.

I only got 4 calls before I retained my attorney. And all 4 calls were not bad calls. They were actually nice and wished me luck.

You need to get your mind on something else, so you won't stress yourself out. Stress causes sickness.

[AtWitsEnd]

Yes, really don't stress yourself. You should be fine. Without paying the credit cards until you file, you should have all that extra money to prepare for when you DO file.

[justplaintired]

I worried about the calls alot. But honestly they weren't so bad. I was honest with each of them. We got no threatening calls. As soon as we had an attorney we gave his name and number. I know how stressful this time is, we are actually still in the waiting to file time right now. It should be soon for us. Keep coming to this forum read everything you can. You'll find so much info on here and so many nice people. Honestly once I found this site I calmed down alot. Just hang in there. If you get to worried about the calls, answer them, be honest. I think you need to find an attorney and retain one. Meet with a few, find one that makes you feel comfortable. You'll be fine.

[morallyBR2]

I just don't worry about it. In Texas though there is no garnishment and no debtor's jail so a side from phone calls from people wanting money it really isn't all that bad. If there is no chance of garnishment etc in your state, then just relax. The way I look at it, I made some serious financial mistakes and I am going to have to endure my consequences. All you can do now is keep your head up and learn from your mistakes. Good luck!

[keepmine]

I think the big thing is just toughen up. Look at it as a business decision. Your best interest and your creditors best interest have diverged. You have to take care of yourself and your family and act in a manner that is in your best interest.
I'd not worry too much about litigation. That's an expensive way to collect and not the first resort. If you do get sued, any judgment will be discharged in your bk.

[lillaimof2kids]

I agree with the others it's a business decision. But then what are you supposed to do when literally there is not enough money to pay all the bills? Seems like for most the only they are able to save money to pay their attorney is to quit paying their cc's.

I personally found it more stressful trying to pay all the bills. All that juggling was so difficult. When I quit trying to juggle it all and only paid the bills I had to pay (house, electric, phone, cable, gas, car), I was a much happier person to be around.

All that stress took a toll on me, I now suffer from migraines that last from 3-9 days. I'm down probably 1/2 of each month. They started in January and haven't slowed down yet. Myself and my Dr. think they're based on the stress I went thru for close to a year trying to make ends meet.

So, don't let the stress distroy you! Trust me, it's not worth it!

[tay666]

Don't worry.
6 months is a breeze. You won't even really have to deal with the real debt collectors. Most of your calls will be in-house debt collections which from my experience are a lot less agressive.
It's been about 15 months since we quit paying all our creditors.
So far, only one law suit, and that wasn't until last month.
It's been almost a month since they should have gotten a default judgement, though I haven't really seen anything in the mail to confirm this.
So far no going after bank accounts (which are pretty empty anyway)

As for the calls, just ignore them.
Let the answering machine get them all and only pick up calls from people you want to talk to.