Who qualifies for Chapter 7 bankruspy? These creditors are out of control.......?

Question

Last year my husband lost his job for 5 month....NO income/unemployment (We live in Michigan, worst economy in the country) he ended up taking a job for a lot less money. Anyway Bank of America is harrassing us to the point they are calling my husband's 90 year old recently widowed which in turn has embarassed the heck out of us. These people said they will not stop calling his grandpa until we give them $2500, no payment arrangements, etc....$2500 straight. My husband has 4 other credit cards in this situation and we don't know what to do. I called a Bankrupsty lawyer and was told we'd probably qualify for Chapter 7. How do you qualify? Will this effect MY credit if all of the bad-debt credit cards are JUST in his name. Bank of America tried to tell me he has a 700 credit score (when I threatened to file bankrupsty) and I laughed at them (for obviously lying to me) the girl got SO MAD. Will filing hurt us in refinancing our home is 5 years? Is this legal for them to harass his grandpa

Answer 1

Okay - first they can not disclose his debt to a 3rd part.  Do not let them harrass you - get educated, start reading - I liked creditboards.com.  Have you been making payments?  If not I would send them in monthly, weekly whatever you can do - most likely they will cash them - if not they will return them to you... either way document and keep a paper trail - if they do sue him he will be able to show the judge of his good faith attempt to pay.

Answer 2

Not only filing bankruptcy will affect your credit it alreadyhas

because you stopped paying on 1 credit card already so

what does it matter? I had 5 creditcards lost 8 yr job/ got sick

2 operations later/ too many medical bills, the financial

situation that erveryone is in right now in the us is horrible,

the economy is going down the drain.  I had a 780 in my

credit score before all this, you haveto change your way of

thinking, if you cant afford to pay the minimum at least that

means you guys are way over your heads, you have to file

bankruptcyunless you make more money, youre just going

to get sick worrying about it. You qualify for chapter 7 almost

for certain, now if you have abusiness or a lot of assets then

its chapter 13 but the lawyer should give you more info on

this, and if the banks are harrasing you send them a cease

and desist letter (look up in internet in creditboards.com)

its ilegal you can sue them forthat. Dont ansewer their calls

anymore, now if later you do get some money you can call

them or the collection agency and make a settlement offer

and they have to delete it from credit report but in no way

does your husbandsbankruptcy affect you, you dont do it

jointly unless you have to. I did bankruptcy by myself although

I was separated for a 1 1/2.I needed to start over. So

Good luck on everything!!!

Answer 3

first of all they cannot discus your info with any one but the debtor. If you are not a part of this debt they cannot even discus it with you. Filing a separate bk will not affect your credit and refinancing in 5 years from a discharged bk is OK with good re-established credit

I am a mortgage banker in Tn & KY

Answer 4

You need to read the Fair Debt Collections Act (Yahoo it...right now!).  You can't fight them if you don't understand how the game is played.

I don't have nearly enough info to give you a decent recommendation...but here goes.

How much debt are you in.  You have the $2500 debt, plus 4 other cards?  So we are talking about under $10,000?

I hate to see people file BK for such a small amount.  It's going to cost you at least $1500 in court and legal fees.  Yes, it will wipe out that $10k debt, but you still have to worry about your mortgage payments.

And yes, it will probably destroy your credit for a few years.  You may have great difficulties getting that refi in 5 years.  It will really depend on your financial situation at that time.  How much income will you have?  

And trust me, I sure understand the situation you are in.  I live in Michigan and I am trying to help out dozens of people in this very position.  Delphi cut wages in half, GM closing factories all over the place.....and these 15+ year employees suddenly find their great way of life destroyed overnight.  There are no decent jobs here, and the end result is lots of credit problems and bankruptcies.  The local trustee holds his sessions in mass, and it's an interesting production line process now.

Last year they rented a trailer and parked it outside to handle the overflow of people.  Very depressing.

But when you have no income, and the creditors simply refuse to work with you, what options do you have?

For now, send them a "cease and desist" letter, and include wording that they are not to contact your relatives also.  By law they can only contact them once to gather info on where you live.

Answer 5

Depending on how much you owe I would suggest not going through bankruptcy.  Check this guy out, I listen to him a lot and agree with 99% of the things he says.

http://www.daveramsey.com/the_truth_abou...