Personal Bankruptcy Credit Card Debt, Loss Of Job, HELP

[angelsflying]

Like many people, I too am in credit card debt. Through no fault

of my own, Jan 09, I lost my job, also like many others. The

owners up and sold the business without telling any of the

employees. And as of this date, I still do not have full time

employment. I was hired back by the new owners after the

business changed hands, for which Im grateful, but was without

any income for over 4 months while new owners remodeled.

I was hired to work 3 nights, but now am cut back to 1, and

feel by the 1st of the year, they will also fold. Back to

square one again.

In those 4+ months, I fell behind on my credit card payments,

interest rates,high, late fees, and over limit fees. I AM NOT

saying in any way that I dont owe the credit cards, what Im saying

is now, Im so far behind, can not make the large payments they

want to get my accounts current. I get calls from 8am-9pm

7 days a week, thank god for my answering machine.

I have talked to the companies, and they want hundreds to

get caught up, we dont have it. My husband is the only one

working, and his income cant pay all bills and the large

payments the CC companies want. I owe aprox $18,000



What I want to know is :

Im married, husband was not on my credit cards,only an

authorized user, can they go after him for my debts?

Can they garnish his wages?

I own my home, all paid off, and 2 cars, also paid,

can they take my home and cars?

And my checking account, can they freeze that?

We have even talked about divorce, thinking they

cant go after him if we are still married.

My home and cars, should I put them in my husbands name?

To file bankruptcy seems my only option, but dont see how

when we dont have 1000+ for that, plus court fees.

When people are broke, cant pay their bills,how do they file?

Yeah, good question.

This whole situation is making me ill, I dont know what to do.

In January, I will be served to appear in court, per a letter

from CC company, I will appear, absolutely terrified.

Yes, I know,Im screwed !

Please offer some advice, and suggestions, and thank you.

 

[Theresagail]

You have assets, a free and clear home and 2 free and clear cars-- so yes they will sue you and get a judgment they can freeze your checking/savings accounts and will more then likely put a lien on the house- you wont get that far in bankruptcy court either because you have assets. You could do a chapter 13 but if 18k of unsecured debt is all you have -- that may not work either. You may need to get a loan on one of the cars or on the house to pay back this card.

 

[jharris352]

First, calm down, it truly isn't the end of the world. Secondly, sell one of your "paid off cars" and make a settlement offer on your credit cards. They will likely take it.

Divorce? over 18k? Don't you think that is a little dramatic? Really, you will be ok.

First, your debts are your debts and they can not go after your husband, his income, or his assets.

Secondly, you can not "hide your assets" to get away from paying your debts. If you transfer assets to your husband a judge is just going to transfer them back because of you "fraudulent conveyance."

You could file bankruptcy by paying your filing fee in installments (the fees are not $1000, it is more like $350 and you can pay $50 a month) unless you are talking about attorney fees. But if you do you will lose your house and or your cars to pay your debts. You don't get to discharge your debts and keep your assets.

So, back to something reasonable. I would borrow 6-9K off of your PAID OFF house and use it to settle all your credit card debts. That shouldn't be hard to do. Or you can borrow money on a car, or you can sell a car. Any of these are options.

What is not an option is to keep these assets and flush the debt.

I would not put much stock in ANYTHING the Credit Card Collection companies say. If they are going to sue you they are going to sue, don't worry about it. When they do you will get a notice and have plenty of time to react.

They can not freeze or take anything until after they get a judgment against you.

My main advice is to calm down. There is no reason to be terrified. My second piece of advice is to figure out what you can sell or borrow against to get yourself out of this situation. My final piece of advice is to not listen to the CC companies because they are liars. They will say or do most anything to get you to pay the debt. DO NOT give them your checking information. If you make a payment do so by money order.

Did I cover everything?