How long can I not pay cc's before filing

[sophie]

I was advised to stop paying my cc's as of last month. After reviewing all my paperwork for filing, and after reading wonderful advise from this Board, I want to put off filing until December. Here's my question. That'll be almost 6 months of not paying my cc's. Does anyone see any problems I might encounter besides the phone calls, letters? Can they put a lien or anything else against me that I'm not aware of?

Thanks for your help everyone!

[Princesskina]

Well most cc's that I have dealt with don't put liens on it until way past 6months when they realization has hit them your not paying. Also, don't tell them your filing either. Car payments and Mortgage is a different story I know for a car after 3 months they'll really be on u and 6 months will have them looking for the car. I don't know how mortgage people handle theres but again dont tell them your filing.

[NASCAR20FAN]

It depends on how capable you are of paying. If you can pay without putting home or anything else at risk you can.

[GoingDown]

Well most cc's that I have dealt with don't put liens on it until way past 6months when they realization has hit them your not paying. Also, don't tell them your filing either. Car payments and Mortgage is a different story I know for a car after 3 months they'll really be on u and 6 months will have them looking for the car. I don't know how mortgage people handle theres but again dont tell them your filing.

That depends on the individual lenders. I know some people who have had their car repossessed after only missing two monthly payments.

But as far as credit cards go, most of them will wait to take any action until after "Charge Off" which is about 180 days past due. Even after that they are likely to first try sending it to a third party collection agency which will just call you and harass you for a few months. After that they MAY send it on to collection attorney IF they think you have a job with garnishable wages and/or significant assets to seize. And they find out this information mainly from your credit report and from whatever you tell them on the telephone, so be careful about talking to debt collectors. Anything you say can and will be used against you.

P.S.-- in only very RARE exceptions, they CAN'T put liens on your house or your car, etc., until AFTER they have a judgment against you.

[carla107]

Write the cc companies a letter and tell them that you are having a serious finacial hardship and you are working on ways to resolve this problem. I think that they will be less likely to put a judgement if they hear from you about once a month. I stopped paying my cards in Sept. and I filed in early May. I didn't have trouble. Good Luck!

[monlyba]

i haven't paid a credit card bill since mid 2002. i had a pretty good job from late 04-05 and they must have never known about it because my credit report still has the job listed that i had in college in 99/00! i just get letters in the mail and once in a blue moon someone will find a good number to call me, but i never return their call (never answer either). i have switched numbers and moved so many times in the past few years that i'm sure they have quite a time trying to track me down.

[SinkingFast]

We're at 8 missed payments. So far, 2 accts have been turned over to collections. One of those, we've gotten 2 - 30 day settlement offers from. To date, that's all that's happened to us from not paying.

In the beginning, I told everyone of our Creditors our sob story. Why we couldn't afford to pay the payments. I got the "I'm sorry. Can you send $X by Wednesday?" Or whatever date. Like they never even heard. I finally gave up trying and quit answering the phone.

[monlyba]

yeah, they do not care one bit. i guess from a business standpoint i understand, but it's still frustrating when you are telling them you don't HAVE x amount of dollars to send them by next Wednesday, and no you may not have a check number to hold until the end of the month, the money won't be there then either! ARGH!!

[Bobby'sGirl]

10 months to 1 year on my CC...

...since I stopped paying when my business failed. MBNA, Bank of America, Chase (several cards when they took over Bank 1 and First USA) --- all were charged off and are with collection agencies. Largest was at $30,000 at charge off from penalties and late fees. No one has moved for a judgement at this point, and I should file within a month.

My lawyer says I don't look "collectable" to my creditors because of limited equity in my home, part-time and self-employment work is not easily touched and I can draw Soc Sec soon (widow's benefits), also not touchable. I need the BK though, to start with a clean slate as I head into retirement in a few years. And I got tired of not answering the phone and screening calls...

My son, however, got behind on a Sears charge 2 years ago after being out of work after an accident. Within 2 months of his being back at work and the account being charged off, a collections agency got a judgement and his wages are being pulled out at work for 18 months to pay it off.

[SinkingFast]

My lawyer says I don't look "collectable" to my creditors

My son, however, got behind on a Sears charge 2 years ago after being out of work after an accident. Within 2 months of his being back at work and the account being charged off, a collections agency got a judgement and his wages are being pulled out at work for 18 months to pay it off.

I sometimes wonder if that's why the Creditors haven't come after us. We don't look collectible. Hubby was unemployed for quite a while. And we lived in one State while our house was in another State. I'm sure the Foreclosure shows on the Credit Reports.

One attny told us to try and ride out a year during our Consult with him. I love how attnys toss out ideas without explaining things. If he had gone on to say, "Most probably your Creditors won't do anything for at least that long." we mighta bit on it.

At that point, back in the early Spring, I had just been here, in the new State, the mandatory minimum 6 months residency to file. Hubby had already been here a year. That attny suggested we ride out the year until Hubby had 2 years established in the new State and file as residents here then. It would be easier than using outa State Exemptions.

But the concern, all around the table was dodging Wage Garnishment. Would we make it that long??!! Or, would the Creditors bear down on us, sue and win a wage garnishment??!!

Hard to say at this point, but that guy mighta had the right idea.

But, on the other hand, 2 of our CC's have turned us over to collections and aren't billing us monthly any more. So we might not make the year anyway. I wonder if any day now, we'll get a Certified Letter or the Sheriff will come knocking to notify us of a Law Suit by one of those 2 Creditors.

[KevinR]

My son, however, got behind on a Sears charge 2 years ago after being out of work after an accident. Within 2 months of his being back at work and the account being charged off, a collections agency got a judgement and his wages are being pulled out at work for 18 months to pay it off.

Sometimes those department store cards are a lot more aggressive. My wife still has a black mark on her credit report from '98 when a department store tried to collect from us. It was total BS, we'd never set foot in this store. We didn't pay it, and they didn't sue. But they did trash her credit and we never could get it removed. We'd dispute it, the CRA's would contact the store which would claim that it was legit. And then it would go right back on her report. Crazy.

Anyway, to answer the original question I think you're generally ok for 6 months to a year. I stopped paying about 6 months before filing, and used that time to save up money for the lawyer. My biggest single balance was $17,000 with AmEx. They didn't even sell the account to a collection agency in that timeframe. They just kept bugging me with their in house collectors and sending nasty letters. I had a nice long list of creditors, and ironically the only one to actually sue before I filed was a "friend" who had been my business partner. The credit cards didn't really seem to care.