Can I go to jail for not paying my Citi Bank credit card bill? Can they garnish my Social Security Disability?

Question

I just got served by the sheriff to appear in court 11/29/07. Can they take my 6 month old truck I financed with someone else? What about my house?

Answer 1

You need to call legal aid in the state you live to see what laws apply to you.

I can tell you that in my state, they cannot garnish any social service payments like SS. They cannot take anything away that is financed by someone else. And there is no such thing as a debtor's prison. Bankruptcy laws were created to protect people's minimum living assets like a home, so you might get a lien put on it, but they will not get it. You just need to research the laws in your state.
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And do not under any circumstances finance your home to pay off a credit card. That is bad advice all around. You keep your home. The cc can wait or go without. Don't ever put up a real asset to pay a credit card bill. Don't jeopardize real property when the credit card company has no way to garnish SS.

Answer 2

No you can't go to jail.

Maybe they can garnish your wages depends on the state you are in but not sure (kinda doubt) they can garnish social security - maybe someone else could answer this.

Not sure about the truck, if the financing company holds the title then definitely nothing they can do. If you hold the title then maybe they could make you sell it but even this is so much work I doubt they would go this route - ie the truck seems pretty safe.

They can't take the house but they could attach a judgement to it. So you couldn't sell the house without clearing the judgement - ie paying the old bill plus fees and interest. This could really come back to haunt you whenever you go to sell the house (as fees and interest can really pile up).

Also, they will certainly slash your credit so you will have lousy credit for years to come.

Answer 3

If you own a house, then get a home equity loan and use the money from it to pay the credit card bill. Home equity loan interest rates are much lower than credit card interest rates. Do this right away, because once the unpaid credit card bill is on your credit report, you will not be able to obtain a home equity loan (a) at a good interest rate (b) easily, or (c) at all.

The answers to your questions are:

Can I go to jail for not paying my Citi Bank credit card bill?
No, not for not paying Citibank.
But if you do not appear in court, you could go to jail for not appearing.

Can they garnish my Social Security Disability?
I don't know.

Can they take my 6 month old truck I financed with someone else?
They probably can, if you jointly own it. They probably won't, because they would have to sell it and the truck finance company would get the money, not them.

What about my house?
Probably, but
a) If there is no mortgage, then they will sell it and if it sells for more than the amount you owed plus the costs of selling and court and everything else, you should get the excess eventually.
b) If there is a mortgage for a lot more than the Citibank bill, the bank with mortgage might pay Citibank not to take the house, but you would then have to pay them (the bank with the mortgage) back.
c) If there is a mortgage and Citibank takes it anyway, it gets sold and the money is used first to pay whatever is owed on the mortgage; if it sells for more than the amount you owed on the mortgage plus the amount you owed Citibank plus the costs of selling and court and everything else, you should get the excess eventually. This is unlikely because seized houses often sell for less than the mortgage. If that happens, you have to pay the rest of the mortgage, even though you no longer have the house.
d) If the house is in Florida and is your primary residence and you file for bankruptcy, that is a different question. It used to be that you did not lose the house, but still owed the money. This may have changed.

Answer 4

No, you won't go to jail -- we don't have debtor's prison in the US. And no, they cannot garnish your SS disability.

The creditor can sue you, get a judgment, and attempt to attach an asset. If the SS disability is the ONLY money in your bank account, they can't take that. But if you have it mixed with other funds, they can attach you accounts. They can also put a lein on your house -- can't force foreclosure but if you refi or sell, the lein will have to be paid.

Be sure to go to court. Offer whatever defense you can.

But how or why would you buy a new truck 6 months ago if you couldn't pay your bills? Maybe you should have waited to buy that truck or gotten a cheaper vehicle. Then you could afford to pay that credit card. You did use the stuff charged on that card didn't you?

Answer 5

Well..... did you use the card knowing that you could not or would not pay? Makes a difference. If you had no intention of paying, then this is fraud and you can indeed go to jail.

I have no idea if they can garnish your SSD or not, but this would be unusual, to say the least. I don't think they can take your truck unless it was financed through the Citibank card.

But anyway..... why don't you just do the right thing and pay your credit card bill? Is it impossible? Usually, they will work with you if you take the initiative and talk to them before things get crazy.

Good Luck.

Answer 6

You bought it, you should pay for it. A credit card is a convenience and should only be used under the following conditions: Automatic payment in full every month the side benefit is you don't pay any interest Emergency use only, example a major car repair or home repair. Pay off as quickly as possible. Since you are aware that the banks screw us every single chance they get-don't set yourself up to be screwed. If you can't handle the payments cut up your credit cards and convert to cash only. You will reduce your stress factor.

Answer 7

I've been surfing the web more than two hours today searching for answers to the same question, but I haven't found a more interesting debate like this. it is pretty worth enough for me.

Answer 8

I'm interested in this as well