What would happen if i just told the creditors calling me "I'm just not going to pay you"?

Question

I have a credit card that went array a few years ago, and I should not have let it. My problem is that I keep getting harassing calls. Im in Texas, and I know that they cannot garnish my wages. I also know that the creditor is under no legal obligation to tell the credit card company that it is paid off. And once my CC company sells my debt it’s already hit my credit. So paying it off with the agency won’t help my score. Is there any real benefit in paying the collection agencies? And if not what can they really do to me?

Answer 1

Your credit is one of the few things that will serve you well for your entire life.

If you choose not to pay off the money you owe, all they can do is sue you and get a judgement.

However, it sounds like you don't intend to honor the debt anyway, so there's very little they can do to you except report to every other lender on the planet so you can never borrow another dime.

By the way, besides your credit, the only other thing you can take with you is your word and your reputation. Sounds like you don't much value any of those.

Answer 2

First, they cannot do anything before they take you civil court and get a judgment against you.
Second, the Statute of Limitation (SOL) in Texas is 4 years. If it has been more than four years since the debt became delinquent, you no longer have a legal obligation to pay. Send the bill collector a letter stating that the debt is past SOL and you are aware that you no longer have a legal obligation to pay the debt.
If that is not the case, you could negotiate a "Pay for Delete" agreement with the bill collector, otherwise the entry will not be deleted from your credit reports but merely marked as "paid".

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Here is what has happened to me I made an investment of 100g's from my 401k plan to have that investment return that plus more well it did not turn out that way and now that loan from my 401k is automatically deducted for 5 years until I pay it off. So now my paycheck is short a little over $1100 a month for this payment which put a big burdon on the bills I had have and the domino effect starts on who's the priority this month and going to get paid. I had to go to court and recieved a judgement and agreed to pay that and that has also now become behind and here I am never been in trouble great job and I have an arrest warrant being issued for defaulting on the court ordered judgement all because of an initial poor investment.

Answer 4

You can NOT be arrested for bad debts unless it was opened under fraud. If you want to stop the phone calls send the agency a cease and desist letter. Best thing to do, is to tell the collector that you will settle the debt for 30% of what you owe, you would be surprised at how many debt I have settled this way. Then you are no longer responsible for the debt. Good Luck

Answer 5

I mean if you almost reaching the timeline and is a huge amount of debt that you don’t feel you would be able to pay off in a timely matter then I wouldn’t bother but if is not then pay it off in full. I don’t even think these collection agencies have the right to take you to court unless they are able to prove that you owe the debt. If you want to dispute the debt write a letter of validation to the collection agency and if they are not able to verify the debt (in most cases they can't) then they don’t have the right to call you and attempt to make any collection if they continue to do then consider yourself to have a case and file a law suit. There are many sample letters of validation on line. Good Luck.

Answer 6

I can only speak from my past. The creditor can put it to collections, take you to court or simply right it off. If its a small amount they'll probably do the latter. Your credit rating will be blemished with the details for 6 years plus a day. That means it will be hard to secure any kind of credit for that time. My layman's advice is to try and reach an agreement with your lender and work out terms.

Answer 7

The same happened to me. Here's what to say... Tell them not to call you again that they can only communicate with you by mail only and if they call again you can sue them. It is against the law for them to do that. Sometimes you may have to fax a statement to them telling them to not contact you by phone.
How long has the acct been in collections? If recently, paying the debt will help your score. You may be able to negotiate with them to even delete it if you make the payment. If it has been there for years and years I wouldn't bother paying it, being that it will soon be rolled off the report.

Answer 8

7 years on your credit record, plus if they write it off you get sent a 1099; I think it is. You then have to file that with your income tax as income and pay taxes on it. If you owed 10k and you are in a bracket that pays 27% you could end up paying quite a bit in taxes + interest and penalties to the feds. then add up what Texas will want. They can't take your home but they could try to sue you and take what you purchased with the credit card.
Same thing is happening to people who have lost their homes to foreclosure where the home has sold for less than what was owed.

Answer 9

"Is there any real benefit in paying the collection agencies?"

Sure. It'll keep the rest of us from having to pay higher prices to support your theft of goods. (Taking goods without paying is theft, right?)

It'll also remind you that the world doesn't owe you a new sofa or computer or whatever you aren't willing to pay for. That will make you a better person, which will make you a better employee, which will make you better able to purchase the things you think you deserve and actually pay for them, which will raise your self-esteem.

Everyone will win. Especially you.

L.

Answer 10

They can take you to court, and have you arrested. You've essentially "stolen" this money from them, and they have every legal right to try to recover it.

Man up and take responsibility. Call up whoever you owe the money to, and tell them you'd like to work out a reasonable plan for paying it back. Remind them of your financial limitations, but don't use those as excuses for not paying. The American Consumer Credit Counseling Center is a non-profit and can give you some good advice. Once you start making a good-faith effort to repay your debts, the harassment will cease. Just be glad you owe it to a company and not the mob.