Try it to talk to them on her own, probably her credit is screwed for 7 years from the time she pays them off. They like to fuck it up for as long as possible because it keeps the competition away.
She should as least talk to a bankruptcy attorney (its free) but be aware that they are trying to get business also.
If you do not own a house they will not sue you and in 7 years it all goes away. Not the right thing to do. But a credit card company giving 20-50k to someone who is not worhty is not the right thing to do either. My ex-sister in law has done this twice and has a whole wallet full of cards again. She has nothing so they can't do anything but call her. Oh yeah and me because she put me down as a reference. But I got her ass back by giving them all her cell number. BK is not the way out unless your being sued for 6 figures. Because if she files for BK and then say she has a wreck and kills a family by accident and they sue her she has no protection if she has already file for BK protection. Just something to think about.
Negotiating the debt still hurts your credit and may give rise to a taxable event, debt forgiveness. CC companies usually don't negotiate debt until you stop paying them, leading to ongoing frustrations.
If your fiancee is eligible for a chapter 7 bankruptcy discharge, the debt is wiped off the books and she can begin to restore her credit immediately, rather than prolonging the process.
I have had these conversions with bankruptcy attorneys on behalf of and with clients. They'll tell you that you can quickly rebuild your credit score after filing bankruptcy. Of course, they want you to file bankruptcy, so one can argue they may be biased.
Anyhow, I'm sure a good bankruptcy attorney in your area will provide her with a free consultation.
Good luck.
if she stops paying on the cards , depending on the size of the debt of each card , she will eventually get a knock at the door and be summoned to court.
if she has 5 cards with every balance under 5 grand , she will be in small claims court and the bank will be on the phone with mediation to set up a payment plan.
if she see's no way of ever paying down that debt , she should file.
she will have to show how many assets she has and the creditors can sue her for that amount - deductions she gets. they dont take your stuff , but you have to buy it back in a sense.
she will then have to pay that amount over a period of time.
what does she own ? decent car ? a lot of home furnishings ?
if she has 5 cards with every balance under 5 grand , she will be in small claims court and the bank will be on the phone with mediation to set up a payment plan.
if she see's no way of ever paying down that debt , she should file.
she will have to show how many assets she has and the creditors can sue her for that amount - deductions she gets. they dont take your stuff , but you have to buy it back in a sense.
she will then have to pay that amount over a period of time.
what does she own ? decent car ? a lot of home furnishings ?
20k seems like a small amount to file over.
does she work ? does she make 20k a year ?
marry her , cover all your expenses , have her job go to paying it down.
call all the banks , work out a lower interest rate and payment plan over 2 or 3 years. i would bet the banks would give her a 3 or 4 % rate. maybe 5 tops.
they would rather you do that than file .
does she work ? does she make 20k a year ?
marry her , cover all your expenses , have her job go to paying it down.
call all the banks , work out a lower interest rate and payment plan over 2 or 3 years. i would bet the banks would give her a 3 or 4 % rate. maybe 5 tops.
they would rather you do that than file .
All right, all right - lot's of fallacies in this.
I own a collection agency and have been in credit & collections for 20+ years now.
#1 Do NOT file for bkty. The problem isn't your credit, the problem is doing anything else in the future where you may get asked the question "have you EVER filed for bkty". I don't know if she has any aspirations in her life but many times professional licenses can be held up. On the other hand, Colonel Sanders filed BKTY I believe 2 times before coming up with Kentucky Fried Chicken. Many successfull people have had a bkty in their past. My opinions are biased, however, being a collection agency owner - so take that into consideration.
#2 BKTY will FUCK your credit up significantly more than just a charge-off. $20k is NOT a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. In the 4.5 years I've owned my agency I have had over $2 BILLION in placements. Yes, that's BILLION. Now, we don't collect anywhere near what gets placed, but we collect enought to make some money.
#3 If you settle the accounts you WILL have fucked up credit in the short run but in about 2 years that will turn around. It is MUCH better than bkty. However, there are places that will give you a credit card RIGHT AFTER you file bkty - their reasoning is that you no longer have a lot of other debt to pay so you'll want to pay this off. It won't be a large line of credit but you can find these folks, although not nearly as easily as before the economy tanked.
#4 99% of all clients out there in collections (I'm talking about the banks and auto lenders) have SIGNIFICANTLY lowered their settlement amount - ie, the % they will take. I know that 3 of the major cc companies now are offering settlements on pre-chargeoff accounts at 20% or 30% .... yup, not even charged-off and they'll take that low of a sif.
#5 One of the worst things she can do is go to a "credit repair" place. They will fuck you up just as bad as BKTY. Here's the MO - they take a % of the amount they "save" you. Since they know that most places will take 40 cents on the dollar, they look to take half of the savings - roughly 30 cents on the dollar (1/2 of 60c savings). THEY GET PAID FIRST before they settle any accounts. YOU END UP PAYING A 70% SIF THAT YOU CAN NEGOTIATE DIRECTLY WITH THE COLLECTION AGENCY AND GET 40% !!!
#6 Statute of limitations varies by state. It can be as short as 3 years to as long as 20 years (thank you Kentucky). However, a Statute of Limitations does NOT extinguish a debt. There are very few States that have a Statute of REPOSE, which extinguishes the debt. Wisconsin, Mississippi, Louisiana (they don't even follow the UCC) and most recently North Carolina. There is a law in NY State Assembly where they're trying to get a Statute of Repose here as well. It probably won' pass because of the lobbying of the Buffalo collection agencies since there are a ton of us here who would be significantly impacted by the legislation and we are fighting that tooth and nail.
#7 I prefer to eat out at restaurants but that's neither here nor there regarding this conversation.
#8 Junk Debt Buyers WILL buy and re-sell the debt many, many times. She will most likely hear from at least 10 collection agencies for EACH account she has, provided she is not in a state with a statute of repose. The price of primary paper (just charged-off) is hovering around 6 cents on the dollar right now. The bank may or may not sell her account at charge-off but at some point in time will most likely sell it rather than having to 1099-C the account.
#9 If you Settle the account and the savings is more than $600.00, you will most likely get a 1099-C, where she will have to pay taxes on the amount of the savings, if the amount she saved is over $600.00. There is a way around having to pay that (i'll defer to the tax guys here (Willie) for real advice) but you have to create a paper trail that shows you are disputing the account because of bogus charges, fraud, etc,and that you are paying in full on the Undisputed portion of the debt. If you do this and it's not true you are committing fraud, i believe. I AM NOT RECOMMENDING YOU DO THIS ~ just giving you a possible reason for not having to pay on a 1099-C. Again, talk to Willie on that one.
#10 nhoj. Wrong. You MAY get sued even if you don't own a home, and it doesn't matter if you're in Texas or any other debtor friendly state. Keep in mind that a JDB (junk debt buyer) may buy your account, based on age, for as low as a 1/4 of a penny on the dollar. If they sue you and get a judgment, not only does that extend the statute of limitiations, it also makes the debt worth a hell of a lot more. IE - Judgments sell for anywhere from 10 cents on the dollar to 25 cents on the dollar. I know guys that buy stuff that's just on the verge of passing stats, sue the accounts then repackage them as judgments and make a FORTUNE doing it.
Lastly, PM me and I'll give you my office # to call - it's a hell of a lot easier to go over this on the phone than write about it as I'm sure you / she will have tons of questions. There's also a chance that my company could be collecting on one of her accounts. If it is #1 This communication is from a professional debt collector. #2 This is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. #3 If the account is here I'll hook her up with a good settlement.
I own a collection agency and have been in credit & collections for 20+ years now.
#1 Do NOT file for bkty. The problem isn't your credit, the problem is doing anything else in the future where you may get asked the question "have you EVER filed for bkty". I don't know if she has any aspirations in her life but many times professional licenses can be held up. On the other hand, Colonel Sanders filed BKTY I believe 2 times before coming up with Kentucky Fried Chicken. Many successfull people have had a bkty in their past. My opinions are biased, however, being a collection agency owner - so take that into consideration.
#2 BKTY will FUCK your credit up significantly more than just a charge-off. $20k is NOT a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. In the 4.5 years I've owned my agency I have had over $2 BILLION in placements. Yes, that's BILLION. Now, we don't collect anywhere near what gets placed, but we collect enought to make some money.
#3 If you settle the accounts you WILL have fucked up credit in the short run but in about 2 years that will turn around. It is MUCH better than bkty. However, there are places that will give you a credit card RIGHT AFTER you file bkty - their reasoning is that you no longer have a lot of other debt to pay so you'll want to pay this off. It won't be a large line of credit but you can find these folks, although not nearly as easily as before the economy tanked.
#4 99% of all clients out there in collections (I'm talking about the banks and auto lenders) have SIGNIFICANTLY lowered their settlement amount - ie, the % they will take. I know that 3 of the major cc companies now are offering settlements on pre-chargeoff accounts at 20% or 30% .... yup, not even charged-off and they'll take that low of a sif.
#5 One of the worst things she can do is go to a "credit repair" place. They will fuck you up just as bad as BKTY. Here's the MO - they take a % of the amount they "save" you. Since they know that most places will take 40 cents on the dollar, they look to take half of the savings - roughly 30 cents on the dollar (1/2 of 60c savings). THEY GET PAID FIRST before they settle any accounts. YOU END UP PAYING A 70% SIF THAT YOU CAN NEGOTIATE DIRECTLY WITH THE COLLECTION AGENCY AND GET 40% !!!
#6 Statute of limitations varies by state. It can be as short as 3 years to as long as 20 years (thank you Kentucky). However, a Statute of Limitations does NOT extinguish a debt. There are very few States that have a Statute of REPOSE, which extinguishes the debt. Wisconsin, Mississippi, Louisiana (they don't even follow the UCC) and most recently North Carolina. There is a law in NY State Assembly where they're trying to get a Statute of Repose here as well. It probably won' pass because of the lobbying of the Buffalo collection agencies since there are a ton of us here who would be significantly impacted by the legislation and we are fighting that tooth and nail.
#7 I prefer to eat out at restaurants but that's neither here nor there regarding this conversation.
#8 Junk Debt Buyers WILL buy and re-sell the debt many, many times. She will most likely hear from at least 10 collection agencies for EACH account she has, provided she is not in a state with a statute of repose. The price of primary paper (just charged-off) is hovering around 6 cents on the dollar right now. The bank may or may not sell her account at charge-off but at some point in time will most likely sell it rather than having to 1099-C the account.
#9 If you Settle the account and the savings is more than $600.00, you will most likely get a 1099-C, where she will have to pay taxes on the amount of the savings, if the amount she saved is over $600.00. There is a way around having to pay that (i'll defer to the tax guys here (Willie) for real advice) but you have to create a paper trail that shows you are disputing the account because of bogus charges, fraud, etc,and that you are paying in full on the Undisputed portion of the debt. If you do this and it's not true you are committing fraud, i believe. I AM NOT RECOMMENDING YOU DO THIS ~ just giving you a possible reason for not having to pay on a 1099-C. Again, talk to Willie on that one.
#10 nhoj. Wrong. You MAY get sued even if you don't own a home, and it doesn't matter if you're in Texas or any other debtor friendly state. Keep in mind that a JDB (junk debt buyer) may buy your account, based on age, for as low as a 1/4 of a penny on the dollar. If they sue you and get a judgment, not only does that extend the statute of limitiations, it also makes the debt worth a hell of a lot more. IE - Judgments sell for anywhere from 10 cents on the dollar to 25 cents on the dollar. I know guys that buy stuff that's just on the verge of passing stats, sue the accounts then repackage them as judgments and make a FORTUNE doing it.
Lastly, PM me and I'll give you my office # to call - it's a hell of a lot easier to go over this on the phone than write about it as I'm sure you / she will have tons of questions. There's also a chance that my company could be collecting on one of her accounts. If it is #1 This communication is from a professional debt collector. #2 This is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. #3 If the account is here I'll hook her up with a good settlement.
I do not fully understand bankruptcy laws, but if she is able to erase a $20k deby, it should be a no-brainer to take that route. A fucked up credit score only matters if you want to buy something on credit. Renting is so often a better deal than buying property. A car would be the only possible issue. And there are still some availanle for $2 or $3k -- she can save that much working at McDonalds and starting at zero easier than she can staying at negative $20k
I would love a $20 000 loan I never have to repay in exchange for nothing more than a bad credit report. I do know there is a lot more that I am missing, which is why I have never tried it, but once you're in the situation why wouldn't do it?
I would love a $20 000 loan I never have to repay in exchange for nothing more than a bad credit report. I do know there is a lot more that I am missing, which is why I have never tried it, but once you're in the situation why wouldn't do it?
Don't listen to the collection agency owner; the staute of limitations does indeed eliminate a debt. Now the agency can still sue you for the amount but if you show up in court (hopefully after counter-suing them) you will win if the SOL has expired. Here's a little more info.
http://www.bcsalliance.com/y_debt_sol.html
http://www.bcsalliance.com/y_debt_sol.html
That collection agency owner, I've had talks with him in the past.
Yes there is a statue of limitations, and after its up you're not obligated to pay it but it will still appear in your credit reports.
as I've said before, I'm no genius, but if she didn't plan on paying the money and waiting it out, then when she doesn't have to pay the money, it still appears in the credit report - essentially what was accomplished?
My question is about medical debts. My brother and I neither of us have insurance. I raked up about 7k in hospital bills after a car accident, and refusing treatment none the less, still they took x-rays.... gotta love liability.
he had his jaw broke and he's worried about his credit. His happened in the state of KY. What should he do? Pay it off? pay ten bucks a month? Anybody?
Yes there is a statue of limitations, and after its up you're not obligated to pay it but it will still appear in your credit reports.
as I've said before, I'm no genius, but if she didn't plan on paying the money and waiting it out, then when she doesn't have to pay the money, it still appears in the credit report - essentially what was accomplished?
My question is about medical debts. My brother and I neither of us have insurance. I raked up about 7k in hospital bills after a car accident, and refusing treatment none the less, still they took x-rays.... gotta love liability.
he had his jaw broke and he's worried about his credit. His happened in the state of KY. What should he do? Pay it off? pay ten bucks a month? Anybody?
I can't believe the moral degenerates in here.
She borrowed the money, she has the ability to work and
create income, she should pay it back.
Then we've got someone else piping in that she should run up
her credit card before she files for bankruptcy, which
is essentially stealing.
WTF... Just because you aren't looking the person in the face
that you are fucking over, doesn't mean that you aren't
reaming someone up the ass and stealing from them.
hno:
She borrowed the money, she has the ability to work and
create income, she should pay it back.
Then we've got someone else piping in that she should run up
her credit card before she files for bankruptcy, which
is essentially stealing.
WTF... Just because you aren't looking the person in the face
that you are fucking over, doesn't mean that you aren't
reaming someone up the ass and stealing from them.
hno:Sorry Drunken - not even close.
The UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) is the governing body of ALL contract law in the United States - Except Louisiana, where they have a French type of law.
Once a debt is "Due and Owing" it is always "Due and Owing" until paid.
The Statute of Limitations does NOT extinguish a debt. Only a Statute of Repose extinguishes a debt.
A Statutue of Limitaitons doe NOT stop a creditor from sueing somebody, however the Tolling of the Statute of Limitations is an Affirmative Defense. That is Basic Contract Law 101.
If, however, a collection agency files suit on an account that is past the statute of limitations, it triggers a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) - Title 15 USC 1692 et al. You can then counter-sue for the violation of the FDCPA.
If you have no real way of paying it off I still wouldn't recommend filing BKTY because again you never know how that could affect (effect?) you in the future.
Ultimately, you have to look at how the $65k is made up. If the $65k is owed to one creditor, you have a much greater chance of them sueing, because the amount is so high. But looking at it from the other side, if there's NO CHANCE of getting their money back they won't throw good money after bad.
Most peeps don't understand that it costs a great deal to sue somebody. Everybody has their hand out - from the collection agency, to the attorney to the courts themselves. It's not cheap - even in small claims court, and definately not at the Federal level.
Now, if the $65k is made up of 65 people that are each owed $1k, well, most folks wouldn't find it worth their time to sue for $1k - but with a sample size that large there very well may be somebody who wants to go that route. It's a tough call but look who are the creditors - ma and pa kettle to whow $1k makes a difference or company xzy where $1k is a drop in the bucket.
You can always send the collection agency a cease and desist notice, telling them that you are invoking your right to have telephone calls and letters to you stopped. A cease and desist will NOT stop anybody from taking the case to court, but it stops the calls if they become harassing.
After rambling and to answer your question, I would probably say there is still no reason to file bkty. Even if you owe $65k and have no REASONABLE chance to pay it back (say are 70 years old, unemployed and living on social security) i would say send a cease and desist letter, since they can't get anything from you in the first place.
*** FYI - most places you can get the settlement down to around 35% (35 cents on the dollars), so that $65k, when settling, is around $23k.
i can't believe the moral degenerates in here.
She borrowed the money, she has the ability to work and
create income, she should pay it back.
Then we've got someone else piping in that she should run up
her credit card before she files for bankruptcy, which
is essentially stealing.
Wtf... Just because you aren't looking the person in the face
that you are fucking over, doesn't mean that you aren't
reaming someone up the ass and stealing from them.
+1
