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ORIGINAL: SurpassingPeace

Katie51, actually I live in the US and I have more than a passing familiarity with debt laws. My husband is an attorney that deals with this and I was a paralegal before I had children. More and more credit card companies are sending bad debt to law firms, sometimes they will take a lump sum offer, it is becoming more common to settle at 80%. If you go that way, your credit will be marred. If you do not, they will take a judgment against you. Depending on your state, if you then do not pay they will garnish you wages and/or accounts and put a lien on your house. In some states the unpaid judgment will expire in 10 years. What is then filed is a Revival of Judgment which makes the judgment valid for another 10 years. This can and will follow you around. If someday you do get on your financial feet again and try to buy a house, this will affect you. If you own a house, this can actually go until you die and then the lien will go against your estate. Remeber, all this time interest of at least 9% is accruing every single day.

It is not a lack of compassion, it is fact. This is what happens every single day. Not understanding the laws or thinking that nothing can happen to you is not an excuse in the eyes of the law. Many people think, they can't do that this is the US! That thinking finally changes when the first ganishment payment takes almost half of their paycheck.

I do not see how GregandJenny is lacking compassion. For someone to put any debt on a credit card that they know they will be unable to pay is not ethical. The credit card company loaned the money in good faith. Medical bills are hard. It is terrible to see someone bowed under with medical debt. Again, hospitals are usually very willing to make payment arrangements.

Living within your means, saving for emergencies, and delaying gratification would eliminate most of the financial stress people are under today.

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ORIGINAL: _Cinderella_

I would not do this. My husband and I had close to $15,000 in debt at one point. We ended up going through a big lifestyle change and we ended up paying it all off eventually in less than two years.

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ORIGINAL: Katie51

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ORIGINAL: SurpassingPeace

Katie51, actually I live in the US and I have more than a passing familiarity with debt laws. My husband is an attorney that deals with this and I was a paralegal before I had children. More and more credit card companies are sending bad debt to law firms, sometimes they will take a lump sum offer, it is becoming more common to settle at 80%. If you go that way, your credit will be marred. If you do not, they will take a judgment against you. Depending on your state, if you then do not pay they will garnish you wages and/or accounts and put a lien on your house. In some states the unpaid judgment will expire in 10 years. What is then filed is a Revival of Judgment which makes the judgment valid for another 10 years. This can and will follow you around. If someday you do get on your financial feet again and try to buy a house, this will affect you. If you own a house, this can actually go until you die and then the lien will go against your estate. Remeber, all this time interest of at least 9% is accruing every single day.

It is not a lack of compassion, it is fact. This is what happens every single day. Not understanding the laws or thinking that nothing can happen to you is not an excuse in the eyes of the law. Many people think, they can't do that this is the US! That thinking finally changes when the first ganishment payment takes almost half of their paycheck.

I do not see how GregandJenny is lacking compassion. For someone to put any debt on a credit card that they know they will be unable to pay is not ethical. The credit card company loaned the money in good faith. Medical bills are hard. It is terrible to see someone bowed under with medical debt. Again, hospitals are usually very willing to make payment arrangements.

Living within your means, saving for emergencies, and delaying gratification would eliminate most of the financial stress people are under today.

It is quite simply untrue that they can put a lien on your house or garnish your paycheck. I would urge everyone to trust no information they read on a forum, check out reliable sources and your state laws. If they could garnish your wages or take your home most of America would be garnished and homeless!!

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ORIGINAL: SurpassingPeace

Cinderella, what a great story. I know what it feels like to be burdened by debt. Right now I have medical bills from my babies, credit card debt from major dental work (did not want to do that but two emergency root canals coupled with two major mouth infections), husband's crazy student loans, and a mortgage. Each month we just plug away making a little more progress. The dental work was the first time we went the other way in years. I know that God is preparing us to handle greater things but learning how to handle what we have. Some days I admit I get a little bit of the wants when friends get this that or the other thing or go on this trip or that trip. But I know that someday, sooner rather than later, we will be debt free and know we did it the way God meant for us to do it.

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ORIGINAL: SurpassingPeace

Oh Harvie, thank you. You mean it can really be done? Really, really? Some months I wonder.

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ORIGINAL: SurpassingPeace

Alright Katie, have it your way. I am a sahm with two little ones. Don't pay your bills long enough and you will find out what I am saying is true.

Work for a cc company, actually you are sort of right. My husband currently respresents and the law firm I did work for, represented credit card companies. Hence how I aquired my knowledge.

One more try and then I am done. Here is a link to the Missouri Court docket system. Just do the litigant name search for Capital One and then come back and tell me cc won't sue, garn, and lien. Or not.

https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/base/welcome.do

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ORIGINAL: GregandJenny

the only reason they haven't gotten a lien is because they haven't gotten got sued by the company. They haven't went after them, it's not like one day they can wake up and say garnish their wages.


In fact I would encourage everyone to always seek legal professional help in the area you live. i would also remind folks that just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right.


God bless!

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I have found that you can do this with medical bills. I had some that I simply could not pay. I did not have the money. After a time they sent me an offer of a settlement.

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Not doing debt settlement
Monday, Apr 20 in debt settlement | Comments (15)

Question: Jim has over $100,000 in credit card debt. He asks Dave what he thinks of debt negotiators. Nothing but bad things, as Dave explains.

Dave Ramsey's advice: The only time a credit card company takes less than what you owe is if they think they won't get paid. If you go to a debt settlement company, they have you pay them a monthly amount. Most is their fee, and a little goes into a savings account that they will use to settle with the creditors. But the collectors won't get paid for six months, and it will destroy your credit.

Instead, I say get together with your family and figure out a plan to live on beans and rice and make big payments to the collectors. They can sue you and take a lien against your property, but they must sue you first and win and then take judgment. If you have no payments but the house, you have no excuse to not do this and clean up the mess you've made. List your debts smallest to largest and attack the little one, then knock them out one by one. That's the best plan for you.