My fiance is struggling with credit card debt and can't do anything to pay it off. He keeps telling me they can't get money from someone who has none. Anyways someone made a phone call to him last night and said "if you do not call me back by 9 pm tonight I will take every legal action possible against you". Of course he called his family to ask for advice and then they said and have been saying that it's just a "scare tactic"... unfortunatly Im not sure anymore.
2007-06-27 02:33:26 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
Credit Card Money is fully unsecured and generally the banks try to get back the money by employing hard core people who collects the money on commission basis and are capable of troubling you at any time. It is very rare that Bank goes to the court and put people behind the bar. It is advisable to get the interest waived off and clear the account in due course if you have defaulted and re-start the credit card. If you are a defaulter then by this time your card must have been blocked and you are unable to use it.
2007-06-27 02:40:28 · answer #1 · answered by ssunderagarwal 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, you can't go to prison. The most legal action they can take is filing for a judgment against your fiance. If he fails to pay after that, they can garnish his check (depending on the state) or put a lien on his property or assets.
Even though the collection agency is probably well within their rights to file suit, they cannot 'scare' him into paying by telling him they will, unless they fully intend to do so.
That is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the agency can be sued and fined. However, the FDCPA doesn't apply to the original creditor.
Depending on how large his debt is, maybe he should ask the creditors for in-house programs that could help, he could get help from a credit counseling agency or as a last resort, bankruptcy.
2007-06-27 11:30:46 · answer #2 · answered by Celeste 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
They can't put you in jail for having debt, but they will worry the H*LL out of you trying to get you to pay it. The best thing he can do would be to call the credit company and explain his situation. Ask them to lower the minimum payment a month if it is high or interest rate. I have found it is better to be up front and honest with them, most of the time they will try to help you because they don't want to write it off either.
2007-06-27 09:51:41 · answer #3 · answered by GreeneyedCowgirl 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
NO.
Some barbaric countries across the world may send their citizens to jail for debt.. but not here in the USA. The penatly you suffer is bad credit. The only way you could serve any jail time is if you were trying to defraud credit card companies somehow. Simple debt is not a criminal offense..
2007-06-27 09:44:02 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I don't believe so, but you can live in poverty. Tell your fiance that there are companies which can get you out of debts, tell him to look online or watch tv and wait for them because there are plenty of adverts for these kind of companies on the telly.
2007-06-27 09:43:13 · answer #5 · answered by MSz. SLiM 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No, unless there was fraud involved. Legal action includes collection agencies and civil court resulting in a judgement against you.
2007-06-27 09:42:14 · answer #6 · answered by Mamaw 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No, you cannot go to jail.
Not sure why everyone who said no got a thumb down by someone, so I gave everyone a thumb up :)
2007-06-30 23:16:30 · answer #7 · answered by moaatimo 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the US, no, not unless there was fraud involved. They can attach any assets that you have though, like a car.
2007-06-27 10:29:26 · answer #8 · answered by Judy 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
no
as long as theres no fraud involved.
hope it gets sorted out!!!
2007-06-27 09:51:20 · answer #9 · answered by L. 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋