Are you tired of phone calls and voicemails asking you to call some 1 800 number to be reminded; How many payments are you behind? Perhaps you are like me, hesitating to open the mailbox for fear of seeing a notice to appear in court. If you’re hoping for a miracle or wondering if filing for bankruptcy can prevent creditors from taking all your stuff, read on.
The good news is that, for the most part, creditors don’t want your stuff. They just want your money plus interest. If you give them their money, they’ll be gone forever. If you don’t pay them, they will work tirelessly to make you pay. There are times when people are forced to liquidate their assets to help pay off their debts. It depends on the case and the circumstances surrounding the debt.
The bad news is that most creditors have money and time on your side to wait for you to pay. When they get tired of waiting, they may sell the debt to someone else who will patiently but methodically try to get you to pay.
Now, to be fair to the creditors, they are not sharks. Outside of unscrupulous lenders, most creditors are fair and do not seek to crush you mentally, emotionally, and financially. That’s how it seems when you’re dealing with financial difficulties.
So can filing for bankruptcy stop harassing calls and letters?
Well, to be honest, in most cases you can stop harassing phone calls without filing for bankruptcy. You simply need to do 2 things for the calls to stop. First, tell the calling company that you no longer want them to call you, and if they do, you will file a harassment complaint. Second, write him a letter and reiterate the request that he only contact you in writing. It worked for me and the calls stopped immediately.
Now keep in mind that just because calls stop doesn’t mean your problems are gone. It means your phone won’t be ringing off the hook and you won’t have to listen to endless messages asking you to pay.
Now what about creditors looking to collect the outstanding debt you owe? Can filing bankruptcy stop them? The answer is maybe. It depends on your assets, liabilities, income, and types of debt you have. The key is to find out the following;
- The positives and negatives associated with filing for bankruptcy
- How will you apply, ie with or without an attorney?
- What options do you have if you don’t file for bankruptcy?
- Is it better to file a lawsuit and have some of your debt eliminated or let the creditors sue you to collect what you owe them (the problem is that lawsuits can keep you in court more days than you might imagine)
- Are you ready to travel down the path of filing for bankruptcy?
I know that financial problems are stressful and considering bankruptcy is difficult. In most cases, once bankruptcy is filed, creditors go into a wait-and-see mode. They will wait and see if your case passes or is dismissed. So the sharks will stay in the water waiting to see if they have a chance to bite you again or if they are forced to swim away.