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 yogabunny
cat herder
 
Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 7,770
Loc: ∞
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 Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy  [Re: dwpineal]
#14430957 - 05/10/11 07:37 PM (2 years, 14 days ago) |
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So it turns out that a sizeable portion of my debt is not collectible anymore, and the rest is secured, so it doesn't really make sense for me to file for bankruptcy to get rid of like 13K worth of my debt.
there is still the matter of the judgement/lien/garnishment that I have to deal with however.
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तत् त्वम् असि
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 novum
crap game
Registered: 03/04/06
Posts: 25,150
Loc: the city of dis
Last seen: 6 hours, 20 minutes
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: yogabunny]
#14433425 - 05/11/11 07:12 AM (2 years, 13 days ago) |
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like i said in one of the earlier posts, you can get the judgement vacated, especially if it resulted from you not showing up to a court date
IMPORTANT---do NOT talk to or engage in any discourse in any format with the various debt collecting firms that will contact you over the years about your debt --for the debts that are already past enforcible time. Why? well some firms will attempt to use your talking to them as justification to restart the limitations clock on your debt, and depending on the state they file in, they can do that.
so regarding zombie debt, respond to everything from a COURT; rip up the rest.
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yogabunny
cat herder
Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 7,770
Loc: ∞
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: novum]
#14433670 - 05/11/11 09:24 AM (2 years, 13 days ago) |
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do you think i need to get a lawyer to vacate the judgement?
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तत् त्वम् असि
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yogabunny
cat herder
Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 7,770
Loc: ∞
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: yogabunny]
#14433700 - 05/11/11 09:36 AM (2 years, 13 days ago) |
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I found this resource http://www.nedap.org/hotline/defenses.html
and it turns out I may have grounds to vacate the initial judgement from '05 on the grounds that they violated the statute of limitations, based on this:
In April 2010, New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, confirmed that the statute of limitations that applies to a credit card debt may be shorter than six years, depending on where the credit card issuer is based. (See here for the Court’s decision, from Portfolio Recovery Associates v. King.)
Regardless of who bought the debt the statute of limitations is based on where the original credit issuer is based, and Discover card is based in a state that has a THREE YEAR statute of limitations. I believe the last time I made a payment on that card was in the summer of 2001 so they absolutely violated the statute of limitations, and I am positively giddy right now.
Can't wait for my day in court!!!!!
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तत् त्वम् असि
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novum
crap game
Registered: 03/04/06
Posts: 25,150
Loc: the city of dis
Last seen: 6 hours, 20 minutes
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: yogabunny]
#14433863 - 05/11/11 10:39 AM (2 years, 13 days ago) |
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if you can get one for free....otherwise plan to spend a full day reading all the rules, getting the right paperwork, and then filling it out and filing it for free....you may not even need to go to court, as i believe the court voids these in a summary judgement, which means, if your paper work is done correctly, and your conditions meet the merits, the court voids it, and sends a letter to you and the zombie debt firm
do this as fast as possible, because if someone has a default judgement against you they can attempt to garnish wages, sieze bank account---if i were you i'd keep my monies out of the bank until you get this vacated.
google around a bit, the state of new york runs a program for people, like i said i think ny is the best state in the country in regard to debt laws.
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yogabunny
cat herder
Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 7,770
Loc: ∞
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: novum]
#14434092 - 05/11/11 11:45 AM (2 years, 13 days ago) |
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yeah that's what i've been doing all morning.
there's this "NYC Financial Justice Hotline" I am going to call as soon as it opens at noon.
actually i just found a not-for-profit website that is going to help me prepare the affidavit i need. this is so awesome, i love
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तत् त्वम् असि
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Jordan Black
Registered: 05/09/11
Posts: 59
Last seen: 1 year, 11 months
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: yogabunny]
#14481654 - 05/20/11 12:51 AM (2 years, 5 days ago) |
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Yeah 40k rules I play space marines and eldar.
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Viveka
Architecturer
Registered: 10/21/02
Posts: 3,418
Last seen: 4 hours, 58 minutes
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: yogabunny]
#14496093 - 05/22/11 10:46 PM (2 years, 2 days ago) |
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15K in fines, is that from the festival bust thing? What a load of bull. Well, like our Secretary of State said, we can't legalize drugs, "There's just too much money in it".
As far as the hardships of bad credit go, I'm one of the apparently few who has zero credit. I'm a ghost as far as the big credit bureaus go. Weird thing is, I took out loans as a teenager to finance things, specifically so I could build credit, but I guess since my mom cosigned it doesn't count. And I've paid rent and bills consistently now for 10 years and had stable employment almost nonstop since I was 15(29 now). But none of this counts for dick.
If I apply for a JC Penny card or Best Buy financing or even respond to one of the many credit card offers with not-so-hot interest rates I regularly receive in the mail, I get a letter back a few weeks later that says I was rejected for the following reason, "No record on file", lol.
Basically, since banks no longer do personal loans(WTF?), my only option at this point is to get a pre-paid credit card if I want to establish credit. So that means the only way I can prove to the big bad world that I'm a good financial risk is if I willingly de-value my capital in the form of interest over time. That's a big fat derp if you ask me. I've been putting it off because the whole concept just pisses me off.
So it does become a bit of a pain when it comes to certain transactions(and I'm convinced at this point that no credit is actually worse than bad credit), like buying a car or opening a cell line, but there are other options.
A cell phone provider will want a large cash deposit before they give you a plan, but you can get a pre-paid line without a deposit, which I use currently, plus now I'm free from a contract. The only downside is I don't get the equipment upgrade every two years.
When I decided to get another car a few years back, I paid in cash and found a small dealer who let me set up a few payments over a few months time, nice guy. Anyone who drives a brand new car off a lot on credit or even with financing should have their good credit revoked because that's just irresponsible. If you can't afford it, don't fucking buy it.
When I wanted to buy a new bed a couple years ago, I had to pay cash. Yeah, that's annoying, but since I didn't want to try and build a mattress myself, I chose what I could afford and that's what I bought.
I'll refrain at this point from going off about how people get into shit they have no business getting into by taking advantage(in the negative sense) of the way our nightmare of a financial system is set up and having their creditors write check after check that their butt cannot cash. All of them are complicit in the coming financial apocalypse, all of them! 
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Throw out your gold teeth and see how they roll
The answer they reveal - life is unreal
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yogabunny
cat herder
Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 7,770
Loc: ∞
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: Viveka]
#14496160 - 05/22/11 11:01 PM (2 years, 2 days ago) |
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trust me, i am well aware. i am in the process of trying to take charge of this mess i created, i know it is my creation but also maybe discover card should reconsider giving platinum credit cards with a 7,500 limit to 18 year olds with no credit.
anyway, i've learned a lot over the past couple of weeks thanks to the people at the NYC financial justice hotline, and i have a lot of options (FREE too!) that are available to me in my efforts to achieve financial freedom! right now i am focusing on getting my taxes done from the past 2 years and trying to get this default judgement vacated because it was served improperly and on top of that the statute of limitations had already passed. other than that my credit report actually looks pretty clean because the statute of limitations has WAY passed on a good chunk of my debt and I guess due to the time they are no longer allowed to put it on my credit report.
if i can't get this judgement vacated then bankruptcy may still be my best option, but after doing all my research i am going to try to avoid it.
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तत् त्वम् असि
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Viveka
Architecturer
Registered: 10/21/02
Posts: 3,418
Last seen: 4 hours, 58 minutes
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: yogabunny]
#14496283 - 05/22/11 11:26 PM (2 years, 2 days ago) |
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And isn't it crazy that while humble people like us are spending lots of energy trying to sort out amounts of a few thousand dollars here or there that will make or break our budgets, billions of the same dollars are being created out of thin air?
Maybe in several years it won't matter wether you paid your debts or filed bankruptcy. I try not to be a cynic but things don't look good.
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Throw out your gold teeth and see how they roll
The answer they reveal - life is unreal
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yogabunny
cat herder
Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 7,770
Loc: ∞
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: Viveka]
#14498615 - 05/23/11 01:40 PM (2 years, 1 day ago) |
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yeah man, who knows, but in the meantime i can't have these fuckers garnishing my wages when i have fines to pay....
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तत् त्वम् असि
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JohnnyConverse
Stranger
Registered: 04/10/09
Posts: 268
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: yogabunny]
#14499145 - 05/23/11 03:42 PM (2 years, 1 day ago) |
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so you're filing over, basically, well less than half of what you owe?
Don't do that. Your "debt specialist" is a jive ass. BK's are expensive up front, huge pains in the ass, take forever, and won't even discharge half of your debt. Did she refer you to a good bankruptcy lawyer she knows?
The truth is you're barely in the debt zone they want to work in and you owe it to people less likely to pay her agency than some debtors, and you don't have obligations like house/car/kids that make you a likely long term payer for her...sad but true.
You can CERTAINLY get credit post bankruptcy
There is no such thing as a "medical" bankruptcy btw, there's a 7 or a 13. Medical debt is "normal" debt, the only special status it has is when people actually take the time to pull and look at your credit by hand above and beyond the score, a lot of them roll their eyes at it because a surprising number of people have med. bills they will never pay off.
NYC may have some unique laws I'm not aware of, but in most places they can't "freeze" your account (trap money in it pending court) They can garnish it once they have a judgement.
One way to mitigate this is to bank at a credit union with the "right of offset" - if you have, say, a car loan with this type of institution, the credit union has first rights to your liquid assets and can say "well if he's broke, we can't honor your garnishment because he needs to pay us our car loan first" then they typically don't actually exercise it on you if you're current. Note that you have to keep your notes current with that lender or the right of offset will cut against you, not for you - they will pay your car payments with your deposits, for example, rather then putting the money in your liquid account.
Another thing you can do is co-mingle someone's SSI benefits with your money then flip out if it gets garnished.
NY is actually a pretty hard state to collect from someone - I would just get a trac phone and a po box, give all your creditors that info as your most current address, turn the trac phone off and put it in the po box, and ignore the stuff while it ages for a while. For extra awesome sauce goodness, make the po box a mail forward in DC or Texas or someplace with really debtor slanted debt law.
Then pull your credit report, and dispute every item on it. This does not mean you are claiming you don't owe, it means you are requesting documentation on the debts. Some places might have lost it and they'll go poof right there, others will actually fight a little harder.
Bally's is easy - write them a letter that says you had to move or were injured in a way that prevented you from using the gym, offer to pay about 90 days worth of it, and that should be it. They MIGHT request proof of some kind but you typically should be able to get out of that one for 1-2 months worth. PS read the fine print next time :P
Offer any large medical or credit card bills 90% - about 10% per year. So if you have a 6 year old 1000 dollar debt, offer them 300 dollars on it. Do this in writing, and request a "paid in full" credit status in that letter. "paid in full/pif" is more favorable to "settled in full/SIF" on a credit report.
If they bitch about it though, you can budge on the status - say you'll accept SIF - instead of caving on the cash value of your offer.
A great way to make this offer is to couch it as a bid - tell them, "I have 300 dollars to pay off one of my creditors, the one who takes it first gets it, then I prob. won't be able to make a payment for six months"
Another way is to save what you can, offer it to creditors each month. So you're saving 50 a month, after 6 months you float your 300 dollar offer around, then if no one will settle you try with 450 in a few months, etc. This has the advantage of giving you some emergency fund in the mean time
On small, petty debts - rental places, video stores, small medical bills to individuals (anything under about 250) - you're gonna stop making small payments on those, just put them in a pile, pick one winner a month to pay and get rid of and put the others off.
Watch out for them going to collections at the same agency, though - enough petty debt in one place (usually around 500) and they'll take you to court on all of them at once.
Don't bother consolidating through a debt relief place - take the one day a week you'd have to work with them, cut in half, and take two afternoons a month to really organize your bills. Consolidation isn't a scam, precisely, but it's really nothing you can't do for yourself. Most people drop out of consolidation and work on their own before they complete their repayments. and a method of settlements vs a method of slow payments has the advantage of if they don't work with you, some of their debts will age out while you settle with more amicable creditors.
If you have judgements against you, you will want to add a condition of satisfaction of judgement to your written offers. Judgements are much more persistent than debt that has never been to court, sadly, but wage garnishment on judgements is usually cheaper than having the same balance on a credit card.
If a collection agency is hounding the shit out of you, send them a certified letter (again, with your rented PO box or with no return address if allowed) saying you wish them to "cease and desist dunning communication per the fdcpa and that further, it is at no time convenient for you to receive phone calls at any personal or work number"
Then they are allowed only a few limited exchanges with you to inform you they got the letter and are complying, or are initiating a lawsuit. (sadly people you owe directly, like the hospital themselves, are bound by less stringent laws than debt collections businesses)
As far as making payments/dealing with them, never give them "daytime" or "work" numbers, never pay them with personal checks, always get receipts with running balances that have the name of the original creditor, the original creditor's account number, and the debt collection agency's account number, and double check the SHIT out of their math.
Most collections places aren't truly dishonest, but they are very, very bureaucratic and they are paid to take their client's word over yours.
You may also be able to do a one time restructuring of your student loan, a one time deferral, or you may be able to enroll at a cheap community college to put off payment (it's fucking terrible for your GPA if you don't go to the classes tho lol)
Short version: Don't pull the trigger on a bk over 20 k in debt, is what I'm saying. Bks are for people who are silly upsidedown on a house, a car, and 6 years of school.
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JohnnyConverse
Stranger
Registered: 04/10/09
Posts: 268
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one other small note: Statue of limitations runs from the last payment on a debt, written acknowledgement of debt (that's why you should always say "I'm making this offer to end this process and stop collections efforts" when you settle, don't say, for example, "I know i owe this and want to make it right but I can only give you half") or re-signing of promissory paper work. A lot of collections places will offer you low, low payments with really, really shitty terms - highest interest they can charge, payments to interest first, etc - if you sign a new note with them. Then they have effectively become the main creditor and have you on these horrible terms and have reset the statute. if you take this kind of deal, do it open-eyed knowing you're doing it to tread water with the low payment
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I wasn't an activist until I got put in jail. I sat there in jail seeing what was really going on in America and something changed. Now when people say, "Tommy what was jail like?" I say "You'll see" -- Tommy Chong
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JohnnyConverse
Stranger
Registered: 04/10/09
Posts: 268
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: yogabunny]
#14499194 - 05/23/11 03:52 PM (2 years, 1 day ago) |
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Quote:
yogabunny said:
yeah man, who knows, but in the meantime i can't have these fuckers garnishing my wages when i have fines to pay....
just don't use a bank account or start a new one the creditors know nothing of
exile nation is fucking awesome btw and everyone should give it at least a dollar on kickstarter jesus people there are thousands of us we just need to give up a latte each for this project
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yogabunny
cat herder
Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 7,770
Loc: ∞
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thanks for the advice, not sure if you read the whole thread but i am now considering bankruptcy as an absolute last resort if there is NOTHING else I can do about the judgement - the one big CC debt already has a judgment against me :/ i am working. it turns out NYS now has a new law that they can't freeze your account if there is less than $1740 in it, and the only time that happens for me is when I write the rent check for my apartment so I've been giving my landlord cash for the past couple months. they CAN garnish 10% of my wages if they so choose though so i REALLY REALLY REALLY hope I can get the judgement vacated. if they garnish my wages they are going to be taking ALL the money I can afford toward repayment, and my fines are my main priority now.
i like your idea about saving up, and yeah, it's been empowering to learn about all the laws protecting me from their devious practices and i am  about how i played into their manipulations over the years but i will be victorious!
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तत् त्वम् असि
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JohnnyConverse
Stranger
Registered: 04/10/09
Posts: 268
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: yogabunny]
#14499236 - 05/23/11 04:02 PM (2 years, 1 day ago) |
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Is there anything you can trim? Do you smoke, for example? I'm not saying quit, but switch to mootching twice a day lol
can you pick up more work? I hate to go all zappaisgod but I worked about 75 hours a week for a short period once to get some traction on bills (ironically by serving papers for a collections agency I owed, I felt like such a traitor)
the key is the "for a short period" - if you could bring in an extra 500-1000 a month for the short term, say six months, think how much relief that could get you. All the petty shit and a dent in one or other of the big stuff.
Edit: I actually DIDN'T see the top of the second page, but yeah, you can get the judgement lifted rather easily if it was a summary where you just lost by not showing up - esp. if there was bad service of process. You can also cite it being out of statute if it was. Once that's done, dispute the debt right away.
Where I live, I could do the paper work myself, but NY is sometimes a "problem state" - I don't suppose you have a good relationship with a lawyer already?
Edited by JohnnyConverse (05/23/11 04:14 PM)
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yogabunny
cat herder
Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 7,770
Loc: ∞
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i live rather simply, don't have many expenses other than the bare minimum to live.....and, yes i am looking for more work as we speak!
and thanks for the props on exile nation, we are SO CLOSE to meeting our kickstarter goal! 1600 left to go. if everyone who looked at my thread gave ONE DOLLAR we would double what we have right now!
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तत् त्वम् असि
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yogabunny
cat herder
Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 7,770
Loc: ∞
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: yogabunny]
#14499355 - 05/23/11 04:22 PM (2 years, 1 day ago) |
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i am working with this group called the "NYC financial justice hotline". it's for low-income NYC residents and they have lawyers that you consult with that tell you exactly what to do, where to go, what papers to asks for and file, etc. I am currently waiting for the court to pull my file so I can get the affidavit of service which proves that i was improperly served AND it was out of statute at the time as well.
back when the judgement was initially entered 2004) i filed a motion to vacate the judgement - I sent them a certified letter telling them so and making an offer - they KNEW they had served me improperly and violated the statute of limitations so they accepted and i never went back to court to follow through with getting the judgement vacated and so they were able to garnish my wages when I missed a payment. those FUCKERS, by beginning another payment plan with them that reset the statute of limitations. AND I just recently made a payment so it reset again.
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तत् त्वम् असि
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JohnnyConverse
Stranger
Registered: 04/10/09
Posts: 268
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: yogabunny]
#14499357 - 05/23/11 04:23 PM (2 years, 1 day ago) |
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I get paid on the 27th I'll prob give more than one but I can't go the whole thing, bad month at the tables
What I did was look around for more ways to work at the same time.
I served papers while working for a courier service, and started bouncing at a bar I went to on the weekends sometimes anyway, that kind of thing.
You aren't actually good at yoga are you? Teach yoga, pocket money. Bonus:autofellatio!
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yogabunny
cat herder
Registered: 11/01/09
Posts: 7,770
Loc: ∞
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Re: 40K in debt and considering bankruptcy [Re: JohnnyConverse]
#17084423 - 10/23/12 12:10 PM (6 months, 26 days ago) |
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Hey all.
coming back to this thread with my tail between my legs, as i haven't made all that much progress.
however, i am now working at a job that i love where i am earning decent money and am picking up some part time work on top of that so i can get this all sorted out. not really sure what that's going to look like at this point, but i have a 5 year plan which involves being debt free, and i am making a commitment to saving money to make that happen asap.
i just wanted to bump this thread so i can easily reference it for all the awesome advice and info.
thanks!
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तत् त्वम् असि
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