Ever stop paying a Credit Card?

Question

A relative of mine has stopped paying his various credit cards. He owes over $10,000 and has reached a point he can no longer afford to pay even the minimum payment on his cards so has decided to just stop paying. His reply is, "man what are they going to do, I am a small fry and they can not send me to debtors prison"

What will really happen to him and have you ever stopped paying on your credit cards?

Answer 1

Actually, he can settle with them. He has a lot more power then he thinks. See the attached article below on how he can force them into settling for as little as $3,000.

Once he's settled with them, he can then do a quick clean up on his credit report and get his score back up in only 30 days. There is a link on how to do that below also.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Don't do it, credit is too important not to have, if you have to call them and make some kind of arrangement's, your credit report is like a report card of life,and having a good will help you in the future. its cheaper to pay them then having to go Through life with bad credit.

Answer 3

Yes, I have stopped paying credit cards, and it worked out for me, but that is not always the case. I had a bad alcohol problem, ended up in rehab, and never ever paid mine off. But, I was running for more than seven years. Scared to answer the phone or do anything. Well, I finally got the nerve to check my report last month, and everything was clear, except for a couple of negative marks that should have been removed. I disputed them and they were taken off within 48 hours. Tell your relative to get some help with this. Yes, it worked out well for me, and I can now get any credit I want, but I paid the price for over seven years. I pay everything on time these days. I would recommend not getting in the mess I did. Yes, I did get away with not paying more than 25,000 in bills, but I paid in other ways with time and peace of mind.

Answer 4

Every creditor is different...so if this $10K debt is spread amongst several cards...you can expect different responses...One thing for sure, when the accounts go beyond 30 days past due....your relative will start getting "nice" phone calls from the creditors. As the accounts continue to go into default....the creditors will either charge-off the accounts and sell them collection agencies....or they will try to get a judgment against him...which can lead to wage garnishment. Charge-offs will caused trashed credit...which will affect him for years to come.

I'd recommend his calling the local Red Cross for a referral to the nearest Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) in your area.

Note to 1-Hour Bookkeeper: You cannot force a creditor to accept a settlement. No one has that power. Also, settling this debt for $3K (getting $7K written off) will be a big negative on this person's credit report that cannot be cleaned up quickly.

Answer 5

Everyone should stop paying now and slap the banks and credit card companys in the butt...they get away with to much charging out landis %....on top of sucking people into gettting cards when it should never happen..a better conrol over who gets the cards and then a better control over how they are used is the correct way..so I have no sympathy for the crooked banks and card companys they have brought it on themselves and I would love to see them all go under..and the CEO's not get their millions in bonus ..

Answer 6

Yes I have. I had a serious spending problem that should of NEVER happened and I got in way over my head. It really depends on the creditor as to what they will or won't do. Worst case scenerio : they take him to court and get a judgement. But the judge will try to work something out before the wage garnishment comes into play. They can also place liens on anything he owns. But I guess it may depend on what state he's in or what he owns as to what happens.

Answer 7

They will try to collect on the debt by inudating him with letters and phone calls. Then they write off the debt and send it to a collection agency.
Why doesn't he contact someone like Consumer Credit Counseling who can help him get rid of all the interst on the card and usually late fees.
You don't say whether he still has a job or not. Or why he can't get one. CCC can help him afford to pay his debt down within a few years.

Answer 8

It used to be a good plan but not anymore. If they sue him within your state statute of limitations for open-ended accounts he will lose. And that judgment will allow them to garnish wages. So if he doesn't plan on ever being successful fine but if he does he should take it very seriously. It will definitely ruin his life for 7 years because his credit score will be awful.

Answer 9

well i did the same with my disscover card. i owed them over 6k. i havent paid them in over 3 years.
last week i figure i would call them. i asked them is there anyway i can pay this off. they said they will make a agreement. i forget what the name is. but i told them i want to pay it off but i cant pay the full amount. they told me if i wanted to pay it off , the pay off balance would be 2,800. but the anser to your question is really nothing. it will just mess up your credit report.
wish i could get a 10k credit card.???

Answer 10

I haven't done, it, but working at a bank I've seen people who have.

He may be small fry but banks take this stuff seriously, and they WILL go to debt collection and then legal proceedings. He's not talking about a $20 write-off here. He's gone into serious debt and that, my friend, is theft, and fraud.

What are they gonna do? Plenty.