Card Debt Relief

Recently, I was speaking to someone for their free legal evaluation and they asked me, “If I stop paying my credit cards, what will happen?” As an Orlando bankruptcy lawyer, among the first things I advise my clients when they decide they should file bankruptcy and hire me to represent them, is to stop making credit card payments.

Once you stop making credit card payments, the collection process will start. Collections normally progress as follows:

1. Non-stop, for about 60-90 days, the original creditor will call. They will call you, your family, your job. All in an attempt to get you to make some type of payment over the phone. They will threaten to ruin your life, at least financially, if you do not pay them.

2. Once the initial creditor believes they cannot convince you to make a payment, usually after 90 or so days, they will sell your account to a third party collection agency. This collection agency will then proceed with the actions listed above.

3. Then, around 180 days from the time you stop making payments, you may hear from an attorney. This attorney will simply try to collect on the debt, following the same protocol in 1 and 2 above.

4. The attorney may eventually file a lawsuit against you, in an attempt to get a judgment, which the creditor could collect on. Your wages may only be garnished after a judgment has been entered.

Seems like a long, drawn out process doesn’t it? By my calculation, more than six months from the time payments have stopped until a judgment is entered against you. Now the question is, “Why?” Why would I advise my clients when they hire me as their bankruptcy lawyer, to stop making credit card payments?

You see, the objective is for my client’s bankruptcy to be filed well prior to a judgment being entered against them. As long as no judgment is entered, garnishment is not possible. Now, my client can catch up on car or house payments, for those secured debts they intend to keep through filing bankruptcy. They are not wasting that money on payments to malicious debt collectors, for credit card debts that will be discharged in their bankruptcy. They can also use the money they have saved to create that safety net, which I advocate as their Orlando bankruptcy lawyer, to be used as part of an overall, start fresh, strategy when filing for bankruptcy.

And what about those abusive debt collectors? Florida has some of the toughest laws in the country against the type of abuse described above creditors engage in on a daily basis when collecting a credit card debt against my clients. There is also a Federal Law that prohibits those abusive acts by third party debt collectors in the collection of a debt. You can sue your creditors to enforce your rights, and you should.

If you let it be, the collection process can be an intimidating experience. But, if you know how it all works, and you know your rights, it can empowering one. Once you recognize the hollow threats tossed around by debt collectors for what they are, and they become laughable; and are often actionable in court.

To learn more about how an experienced bankruptcy lawyer can guide you through the collection process and assist you in getting a fresh start financially, try my Free eCourse.