全球：不付信用卡账单的后果

Deal With Collectors

If you will not pay your account, you will become a delinquent borrower and your account will be handover to the collection agency. Eventually, will send you demand letters, collection calls and notices. After due time, will file case in court in order to compel you to pay the obligation. They may also attach your real property and if the value of the property attached is not sufficient enough (based on their very low assessment) they may include garnishing your wages.

Late payments are added to your credit report as you're 30, 60, 90, 120, and 180 days late. Unfortunately, these late payment notices will make your credit score decrease and could ruin your ability to get a credit card, loan, or even a job. Your insurance rate could also go up based on the credit card delinquencies.

Six months (180 days) after you stop making your credit card payments, your account will be charged-off. With a charge-off, the credit card company benefits (somewhat) not you. A charge-off allows the credit card company to get a tax deduction for your unpaid credit card balance. Meanwhile, you get a serious blemish on your credit report that will stay there for the next seven years alerting everyone that you once defaulted on a credit obligation.

Charge-off accounts are usually sent a collection agency. From there, they get moved from one collection agency to another until they are paid or discharged in bankruptcy. Your original creditor or a third party debt collector can sue you for the debt until it's paid or bankrupted. After a certain amount of time, the statute of limitations can protect you from a lawsuit judgment but the account must be completely inactive for several years and the burden of proof will be on you.

If you can't afford your credit card payments, contact a consumer credit counseling agency who can help you explore your options.

Visit your credit card office and ask them what to do, they are the only people who can help you now. You may ask for postponement of your re-payments with penalties waived. Tell them all your problems and they surely will help you.

Writing a hardship letter to your credit card companies can result in lowered interest rates and lowered payments.

Your credit goes straight to hell, and then you'll get plenty of phone calls you don't want, and letters. If you use your cell phone as your main phone, or if you have caller id, you can pretty much ignore the phone calls, and trash the letters. Or you can tell the companies your situation, and see if they will work with you.

Bad credit--don't let these shills for the CC companies who are answering you mislead you--you can live a pretty good life on bad credit. The creditors just want to know you are trying, not hiding from them.

Amount of debt
A lot depends on the amount of the debt. If it is only several thousand dollars they will sell your account to a collection agency who will start hounding you at home and work. They will also place a negative report with the credit reporting agencies and all future credit will probably be denied for the next seven years.

If it is a substantial amount then you will probably get a letter from an attorney and they will take you to court. When they get a judgment it will be collected in accordance with the laws of your state.

The Option of Bankruptcy

What about the option of filing for bankruptcy? You don’t actually need a lawyer to file for bankruptcy; however, it’s advisable that you do, so the bankruptcy attorney can guide you through this complicated process and try and absolve most of your debt. Bankruptcy could be an option for you, especially if debt is an ongoing situation. Bankruptcy is discouraged for the most part, since it mauls your credit report and marks you for the next seven years. Some tend to think of bankruptcy as an easy way out. Unfortunately, the facts show otherwise.

Recent legislation in congress now states that even if a party files for bankruptcy, that doesn’t necessarily mean that all debts will be forgiven. In 2005, CNN reported that George W. Bush signed a new bankruptcy reform bill that makes it harder for individuals to clear up debts through bankruptcy options, and restores more power to creditors. So, while bankruptcy is an option, it should continue to be seen as a last resort. Unless you have a good bankruptcy lawyer, the odds are stacked against you coming out on top in a bankruptcy situation. The last thing you want is to owe more money after you’ve ruined your credit and filed for Chapter 13!

Wages

Your wages may or may not be able to be garnished. It depends on what state you live in. For example, if you live in Texas, your wages cannot be garnished for anything other than child support.

Bank Accounts

Depending on what state you live in, they can seize your bank accounts. Again, in Texas, they have to first of all win a judgment against you, and then secondly, you have to disclose your bank account and account numbers or be subject to contempt of court. However, according to my attorney, the very day you send back your bank account information, you can then pull out most of your money (leave a small amount in for them to "seize), and then open a new account somewhere else, thus keeping most of your funds.
Property
Any real property that YOU OWN, such as land, houses, business property, and inventory, can have a LIEN put on it, so that if and when you sell that property, the amount of the lien has to be paid off, before you get any money from the sale. Liens are registered at the county or state level.
Clear the Debts

Just remember, every time you make a payment lower than your minimum, even if you've worked it out with the CC companies, you are extending your bad credit countdown.

What I mean by this, is after the CC companies "charge off" your debt, then you have 7 years until it either falls off your credit report, or you write the credit reporting agencies to get it off. But if you keep making late payments, or "agreed" upon payments, you are extending that 7 years of bad credit into a much longer time frame.

Again, this is state by state, so you need to consult with an honest bankruptcy attorney.

I know in my case, the attorney literally advised that I just stop paying.

Future

That is key--don't spend anymore than what you have. Just learn your lesson. Eventually, you'll get offers for "secured" credit cards, where you put in a dollar amount, and your credit is equal to that amount. Then you'll be able to get car loans, albeit at a higher rate. Remember, just have enough money to pay everything off.

Eventually, every mortgage broker in the world will work with you to help you get loans. Bad credit can be overcome, and is not some death penalty sentence that people can make it out to be.

Also, make sure you are aware of any "universal default clauses" that allow other lenders to penalize you for having defaulted on one loan. You would not want one card issuer to raise your interest rate because you did not pay on time some other bill that should be none of their business.

Guilty Feeling

If you're feeling guilty, or if people try to berate you with things like "meeting your obligations," just remember that the CC companies weren't obliged to jack your interest rates to unmanageable terms. They have more than collected what you borrowed from them in interest alone, most likely. Don't feel guilt for corporations that get to run ramshod through this country due to their power.