Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with credit

Well I knew XM was a pain to cancel but jeez!

Sufi — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:01:49 -0800

A company continues to charge my debit card two months after it has been deactivated. Am I entitiled to a refund? XM/Sirius Radio continues to charge my debit card after I had the card cancelled two months ago. I assumed they would cancel the account once they realized the card was no longer active. I'm okay with paying for the last month that the card was active, but this is getting ridiculous!

My question is, do I have a valid arguement when I call to ask for the charges to be dropped, or is this common and legal?

Cardmember since...?

dayintoday — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:58:18 -0800

How will getting an American Express card affect my credit? I have had the same Mastercard for over 10 years now. I always had a decent rate, so I never bothered getting any other type of card or getting one from a different bank. But recently, they jacked up my rate (as they have for many people lately in advance of the new regulations that are coming soon, I think). So I was thinking of getting an Amex (to have in addition to my Mastercard, not to replace the Mastercard), and use that for all smaller purchases that I can pay off each month.

My credit score is excellent (800, give or take, at last check). I do not have a large credit card balance, and typically pay it off every month. I have a mortgage and an unsubsidized student loan.

Would having a second card, specifically an Amex, affect my credit at all, negatively or positively?

Also, I've never had a card that gave points or rewards of any kind before. The Amex Zync offers points. Are these actually useful at all, or just a gimmick?

How to buy money with credit card

lometogo — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:04:47 -0800

Here's the deal. I need to use my credit card to get an additional 850 miles QUICKLY to buy an airline ticket. That means, in my card's scenario, that I need to spend $850 (1 point/$spent). However, I don't want to buy anything. I have heard of some place where you can buy coins, I think it was silver dollars, for a very small premium, and you could use a credit card. This would be the perfect solution because I'm using my credit card to buy negotiable currency. Anyone familiar with this, or can offer another alternative for me to build miles without having to get 'goods'?

Collection ended up on credit report--help please!

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:24:39 -0800

Through no fault of my own (in brief: I was unconscious, but may have been unwarrantedly credulous later), a collection agency's action has become visible on my credit reports. How can I remove these? Here's the story: About a year ago, I was transported to a local hospital by ambulance. Fortunately, I pulled through well, and was discharged within hours with no sequelae.

The ambulance company ("Company A") took my particulars en route. I was in no condition to give my address, so they copied it off my driver's license. However, they failed to notice that I had updated the address on that document, and did not read the back of the card, where the update was. (I live in California, where this incident occurred, and there's a space on the back of my driver's license for just this purpose.)

It has been some time since my first California driver's license was issued, and so the forwarding service from my initial address had long since expired. Therefore, I never received any bill that they sent. Furthermore, as I was unconscious until I reached the hospital, I did not note the ambulance company's name and address (or, for that matter, anything else about the journey).

Fast forward to autumn 2009. I receive a letter from a collection service, stating that I have an unpaid bill to Company A, for emergency medical transportation! I had never received a bill for this, and having been incapacitated, wouldn't have known who to pay. I called the collection agency and told them about this, and they said I should send payment to the ambulance company, and gave me a "trip number" to mention. They also said that if I did so, there would be no complaint on my credit report. I sent payment and heard nothing more of it.

Fast forward once again to the present day. I have recently requested my credit reports, and have seen that all three have collection activity posted owing to this episode.

I am nuclear-pissed about this. While I am considering getting ACAB tattooed on my knuckles and telling people it means All Collectors Are Bastards, I'd readily settle for getting all mention of this out of all of my credit files.

I know I've done some stupid things here (admitting the debt, dealing with the collection agency via non-written means, not following up, maybe even more things), but can I fix this going forward, and if so, how?

Approach for Extra Credit

Atarah — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:45:48 -0800

How should I approach a teacher for extra credit in a class? Hello Hivemind,

I'm a straight-A student with a very strong chance of getting valedictorian for my high school class of 2011 (Right now I'm a junior). I currently have a 4.0 cumulative GPA. Due to the odd way the WA public school works, the valedictorian is decided purely on GPA. Thus, there's around 4-5 of us for each graduating class rather than the usual 1 you see in colleges.

I've managed to hold on to the 4.0 despite taking a ton of AP classes these last few years. However, I currently have an A- in my AP US History class, which is by far my weakest subject. I'm more a math and science guy.

I was hoping to approach my teacher and see if I can do a history project for him to earn enough extra credit to boost me up to an A for this semester. I'm less than .5% away from an A right now.

However, my teacher is a really intense, no nonsense, brutal kind of guy, and isn't one to give out extra credit freely. I love his class and the way he teaches, but it makes it hard to develop a teacher-student bond with him, and I am sure he'll refuse to grant me the project without a very good reason.

So, could you please give me some tips on how I should go about asking him for the extra credit? Maintaining my 4.0 is important to me personally, and while I'm doing a lot better in the class, I just need a little bit of a boost to get back into A territory.

Any suggestions on how I should approach this?

Health Net data theft: what do I need to worry about?

min — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:28:06 -0800

I just got a letter from Health Net saying there was a security breach for my personal information. What do I need to worry about, especially given this is a health insurance company? Should I sign up for their free identity protection, or do that on my own? The letter says my data "may be at risk" but does not specify what data was stolen. According to this article, the data stolen included my name, address, ssn, and medical records. Do I need to worry more, given that this is health insurance, than I would if it was a credit card or bank information stolen? Am I safer, relatively, since 1.5 million records were stolen, or does that not matter? Fwiw, I have not had Health Net insurance in awhile--I can't remember when it was, but it was at least a year and half ago, and maybe more like three years ago, but I'm not sure if that matters. (Oddly, I've moved at least twice but they still managed to get the letter to my current address.)

They are offering two years of free id protection through Debix. Should I take that or just use the annual free credit reports? I searched the archives and found this question, which indicates I shouldn't go through Debix, but it seems like less data was stolen in that case.

Ignore all the lawyers?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:15:43 -0800

What are the repercussions of ignoring a civil demand letter? Has anyone ever had their credit ruined? Long story short, got caught shoplifting at a Safeway in SF. I will probably getting a civil demand letter in the mail soon. I am willing to settle with them for $50, which is roughly equal to twice the value of what I attempted to steal. But I am wondering, has anyone ever been taken to court and/or had their credit ruined by not responding to a civil demand?

How to build credit from ZERO when you're 24?

raygan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:50:13 -0800

I'm 24 and have (apparently) no credit history. Nothing on it. Nada. I'm trying to get some kind of credit to start building up some credit history, but I keep getting turned down for cards. How can I build credit when it seems like nothing I do is being reported to credit bureaus? I've been trying to get a credit card lately, just for emergencies and also to start building up some kind of credit history. My bank turned me down, even though I have a job, a lease, and a balance with them of over $7000. Discover turned me down. A couple of store cards have turned me down as well, all due to "Limited Credit History."

Thing is, I've been working and paying bills of one kind or another for years. I graduated from college without ever taking out a loan and my father was always very anti-credit-card, so I never even thought about taking out a student card.

I looked up my credit report, and it lists zero possibly negative items and zero accounts in good standing. It also lists a very old address. I've talked to Experian about updating the address, which looks like it's a rather complicated process. What else can I do?!

(Extra info: I live with three roommates in NYC. My name is on the lease, and I pay the cable bill, but my name is not on the electric or gas bill, and I'm still freeloading on my father's family plan for phone service.)

Help! Credit card elimination or consolidation?

antipode12 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:31:20 -0800

Help! -- My credit debt is nearly $50,000, my mortgage is upside down by 25% and my fiancee walked out the door a month ago. I can't make my bills. I'm trying to sort out which route to go with the credit cards. A service like CCCS? Or some other route like Credit Elimination? Please help me understand this. Thanks

What is the best way for me to try to get a debt consolidation loan?

drjimmy11 — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:17:49 -0800

What is the best way for me to try to get a debt consolidation loan? I have around $20k of credit card deb. The interest rates vary, some are quite high and some are decent. I have a decent salary and I could pay it off in a few years, but I would prefer to get a debt consolidation loan and pay that instead.

The issues:
1. My credit score isn't very good, around 650 at the moment. When the financial crisis hit, a bunch of my cards closed my account or lowered the credit limit right down to the balance I was carrying. Ratio of debt to available credit is the main thing holding my score down- prior to the crisis it was up around 700.

2. I have one debt consolidation loan from my credit union already. This will be paid off in about 3 more payments. This was a "special offer" they had and I'm not sure they offer any specific debt consolidation loan right now. I also owe my bank about $3500 on a Visa card they issue. I've had an account there for about 9 years now and in general they've been great.

I'd like to get a loan to pay off some or all of the debt. A good interest rate would be nice, but I realize that's probably not going to happen in the current climate and with my crummy credit score. My main goal is get the debt off my credit cards and get my credit score back up.

So my questions are:

What's the best way to approach my bank about this? I don't want to just randomly start applying for loans without knowing if I'll be accepted. I'd like to get a little more insight into the process they use:
-Will I help my chances if I pay off the credit card they issue first? -Will it significantly help my chances if I finish paying my current loan before asking for another one?
-How much of a factor is the amount I ask for? I would be happy even being able to borrow $10k or so. When asking for these kind of loans, does it make sense to just ask for a high amount, and then they will meet you with what they're willing to lend, rather than just saying "no?" I think that's how it happened last time.
-Does it hurt my credit score to apply for and be turned down for a loan?
-If anyone has insight into the inner workings of giving loans, I'd be curious to hear an estimate of what kind of credit score is generally needed to get a loan like this.

Finally, is there any website that would help me find other banks that might be willing to give me this loan? Or are there any other novel solutions to revive my credit score I'm missing? I realize no one is lending much money right now, so the only answer may well be "just pay it off yourself."

Other data:
-I don't want to go into debt consolidation or bankruptcy.
-I rent and lack many other valuable assets. My car is old and beat up.
-I am in California.

This is not a referendum on the wisdom of my past financial decisions. Thank you.

Mitigating credit impact of collection agency letter

cider — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:24:45 -0800

I received a letter yesterday from a collection agency: I was late in paying a bill for a $10 copay. I actually did put a check in the mail for what I think is this same bill last week, but it looks like it was too late and they've turned it over to this agency. It's only $10, so I'm not worried about paying it (or even paying it twice). What I am worried about is my credit score. The letter says "This account will be reported to the credit bureau in 45 days if not paid in full." Does that mean that if I pay the bill quickly, it won't affect my credit score? Or will paying the $10 somehow be admitting that I deserved to have it turned over to a collection agency? Would it would be better to call the original company and ask them if they received my check and whether they can call off the dogs? Basically, what I want to know is: Is there any downside to paying this $10 bill? And is there anything else that I should be doing to make sure that my credit is affected as little as possible? Note: I realize I was dumb to let the bill sit for as long as I did, and I have no excuse. I won't do it again!

How many documents does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of my identity?

eatcake — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:00:11 -0800

I'm in the process of signing up for PenFed account and it seems like they are asking for a lot of documentation to establish my identity. Is this usual for them? Or am I just being paranoid? I applied online and when I called to set up my PIN number we went through the identification process whereby the CSR asked me about 10-12 questions about stuff on my credit history that only I would know. So great...that part is done. "Call back in 2-3 hours to get your PIN."

I called again today and the woman tells me they need even more documentation to confirm my identity. This time a copy of my driver's license, utility bill with name and address on it and a copy of my social security card, all notarized. Do they really need a copy of my social security card? Am I asking for trouble by making that available to people? Does anyone have a similar experience with PenFed and their processes?

Thanks in advance.

Should I pay off one debt with another?

ThaBombShelterSmith — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:54:25 -0800

StudentLoanFilter: Should I use my student loan money to pay off my last credit card? long-ish explanation of my situation inside. I'm going back to school in January (for a teaching cert after already receiving a bachelor's degree) and I've qualified for more loans than my tuition. I know I'll need some money to cover textbooks and other school supplies, but I'll still have about 5-6K left over (if I take it).

A little background: I had been working through a debt snowball when I was making about twice as much as I am now, and managed to pay off 4 of my 5 cards, leaving me with my highest balance card left. It's currently at a balance of ~5K at an interest rate of 19.99%. My minimum payment is around 150/mo.

I'm now netting about 14K a year working full time and this 150/mo is really starting to take a toll.

As far as other debt is concerned, I have 13K in federal subsidized loans locked in at a rate of about 4% from my bachelor's degree that I have a deferment for, which will be active until I'm done with my teaching certificate. I'll probably have between 33K and 38K in loans by the time I get my certificate (which should be doable based on the "don't take out more than you expect to make in the first year of work" advice). I also have an 8K auto loan at 7%, which is about 200/mo.

My financial aid award is for 5500 in federal subsidized loan at 5% and 6100 in federal unsubsidized loan at 6.8%. From what the financial aid office told me, as a returning student, I'll qualify for enough subsidized loans to pay for tuition each semester, so I will only be accepting this extra 6100 once and then I'll decline it each semester after this one.

Is this a stupid thing to do? Is it allowed? Does anyone care? The way I figure, I'm basically swapping a 5K balance at 20% for a 5K loan at 6.8%. I know I'll accrue interest in the next two years while I'm in school, but I'm guessing the extra $150 dollars I'll have each month will more than make up for it. (I might actually be able to save again!)

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Spousal credit repair?

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:51:24 -0800

What is the best way to help my spouse improve her credit? My wife has bad credit due to her irresponsible ex-husband and their divorce. My credit is average. I have a credit card that I pay off month. I have yet to add her to my credit card. We're also about to buy a new car. Any recommendations?

How can I convert prepaid reward cards to cash?

SuperCoolZane — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:42:01 -0800

What is the best way to convert prepaid reward credit cards to cash? I have a reward card from American Express and a rebate card through Visa that I would like to convert to cash because spending the precise amount the cards are worth is difficult.

Can bank charge off auto loan with totaled car despite continued payments?

Nickel — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:55:56 -0800

Car was totaled, bank that gave auto loan charged off the loan account because the collateral is gone despite us continuing with full and on time payments. What are our options? Our car was considered totaled by the insurance company, but the insurance company is refusing to pay for various reasons (not the point of this post, we've already hired a lawyer) so we can't pay off the loan in full. We've continued to make monthly payments in full to the bank that holds the loan.

However, the bank then sends us a letter saying they are charging off the account. A check of the credit report confirms that they have listed it as a negative account there. We call/write with proof that all payments have been made on time and in the full amount, they respond that it is their policy to charge off loans that have lost their collateral.

Is this legit? What are our options? It just seems wrong that they can charge off an account when we've been making all the payments and have proof of our payments.

To close or not to close credit cards?

Tubman — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:42:41 -0800

DH has opened multiple credit cards with me as an authorized user. We just paid them down to a $0 balance and I want to know how many we can close without hurting our credit. My guess is closing the c/c will impact his credit score and not mine.

How to manage my debt and life as a whole

thegreatcokeolympics — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 12:34:41 -0800

How do I get my life on track with high debt and a chronic medical condition? So i'm 26 years old and have been completely on my own since i was 18. I come from a working class family who lives in a small dying town with no jobs. I knew if I was going to make something of my life in any way, I had to get out of there. Being so young and inexperienced, it's not like I could get a well paying job to support myself. And it's not like my family had any money to give me.
So 5 years ago, I took out many many loans and used that money to move myself across the country to " the big (and expensive) city" to attend college and hopefully start a new life there.

I also used the student loan money to pay for everything I would need to live on (mainly rent because the dorms were more expensive than studio apts, food, and school supplies) and even then it still wasn't enough, so I also worked full time in addition to going to school full time, just to make ends meet.

On top of this, to make matters more complicated, I also have a chronic medical condition. I have had it mildly since I was 10, but never had it addressed, or even diagnosed as to what it was, since my family lacked health insurance.

It was still fairly mild even when I moved here, but through the years got much more serious and I am now in constant daily pain and have some serious breathing issues. I tried to get health insurance on my own, but no plan would cover me due to the pre-existing condition. So I had no choice but to pay out of pocket for all medical expenses. Of course I had no out of pocket money to spare, so I used credit cards to pay all my medical bills.

And I never had enough credit to pay for anything medical that would truly diagnose me, so I resorted to many expensive pain management treatments only to be left with my condition progressively getting worse.

Now flash to present day, 5 years later, and I am $60,000 in debt from school, $10,000 from credit card debt. The job market is scarce and no one is hiring on staff. I've been taking very low pay freelance gigs which don't even amount to half of my expenses.

Currently, my bare minimum expenses amount to $1150 per month.

One of them being a health plan I pay 400 a month for after puting myself on a long waiting list for a government health plan that teams with private insurers to give coverage to high risk people. With this plan I was also able to finally get the tests I needed to diagnose me, only to discover (upon confirmation of 6 different doctor opinions to be sure) that I need a surgery that will cost a minimum of $30,000 depending on where I get it done, while knowing full well my insurance plan will most likely not cover because it is not a common surgery, though results are typically favorable.

I also pay 400 a month to see a physical therapist who I have been seeing for a year and a half and is the only source of pain relief I have found to help me (Insurance only covers 25% of 12 sessions a year, which I have already maxed out) Then pay 300 a month for my credit cards and 50 for my cell phone. And every 3 months, pay 150 forbearance fee for my student loans. That is it.

I had to leave my apartment and move in with a friend who is letting me stay there rent free until I figure something out. They are also fortunate enough to make a decent living and have been loaning me money to help pay my bills, eat their food, and use their computer. If anything, they've almost become my surrogate parent and it makes me feel like shit for puting them in that position, but I simply don't know what else to do.

I would get a second job anywhere I could find, but not only have those jobs even been hard to come by, but my health simply won't allow it at this point. I am extremely distressed, depressed, and hopeless. The biggest issues of all is the health and everything else seems to stem from it to make all the other problems worse. I don't know how much more bare minimum I can get in terms of cutting my budget when I'm already miserable and in so much pain.

I have considered going on disability, but I don't know if I would count since I still have been able to work, so long as the work isn't strenuous and I don't have to be on my feet all day.

I've considered welfare and bankruptcy but I'm not too sure how they work or if I would have to give up making enough money to pay for everything I need just to qualify. Or if bankruptcy will just ruin my credit enough to never be able to rent again.

I want to be responsible and make the best choice that will benefit me in the long run, but I don't know what that is or where to go. I really need some advice or clarity on this, so anything anyone has to say, please I'd love to hear it. Thank you.

College credit

Benzle — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:50:33 -0800

Too many credit hours for Federal Student Financial Aid? I am going to Ohio State for a BS in Crop Science, I already have a general studies BS from another school. Now with 268 credit hours, I'm over the 207 allowed to receive federal aid for a Bachelors. What up with this? Anyone every deal this this? Thanks!

Give me a better rate and lower my principal NOW

digividal — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:26:40 -0800

How to negotiate with a credit card company? Hi, I had some excellent response to a previous question and this is a follow up from that.

I got the recommend book in that thread from Nolo, and I have read most parts of it by now: Solve Your Money Troubles: Debt, Credit & Bankruptcy

Short recap, I recently divorced, ended up with a lot of the credit card dept. I am making minimum payments (barely) and I am not behind, but I am not making any progress on the actual money owed
.
I cannot get equity out of the mortgage I am upside down in.

Now the book, talks about (briefly) negotiating a lower interest rate, lower the principal and such with your credit card companies.

The problem is I am not very good at negotiations, and I have never attempted it before. How does the conversation go?
What are some of the points to hammer on while talking to the credit card company? What is the credit card companies benefit from making concessions to me? Is there a specific department to ask for?

Has anyone in the hive mind done this procedure successfully?

Any advice, would be great.

Is there any way I could get a loan or mortgage?

lgyre — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:47:37 -0800

Can I get a loan or mortgage in any way? We currently live in a building that we more or less own. Technically, we own an LLC, and the LLC owns the building (and that's all it does), so home equity is probably out. We would like to buy a new house about half the value of this one, preferably without selling. However, that would require a loan, and we have lousy credit. Details: Our current building is completely paid off. We are self-employed and our income is not impressive, but our expenses are low. I'm sure we could afford mortgage/loan payments, and we'd be happy to sell our current building to pay off the loan if for some reason we weren't able to come up with the money.

Our credit is pretty much non-existent because we don't have credit cards, house or car payments. We can't get credit cards at this point, as far as I can tell. We do have utility payments that we pay, but not always incredibly punctually.

Family members might possibly be willing to cosign. Would that be enough to do it, if they have good credit?

I'm not particularly frightened of high interest rates, I just want to know if there's any chance this could happen. If so, how can I tell reputable loaners from crazy internet scams, considering that we probably won't be dealing with a major bank (or is this an incorrect assumption?).

Is this offer to good to be true.

digividal — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:13:25 -0800

Financial filter: I recently received a very fancy mailing from a company in Florida (Trascendental Lending), offering me (due to new government regulations) to consolidate my credit card dept (35K) to a new 5% loan, with much lower payments. This sounds too good to be true so I presume it is? I am recently divorced, and I am having trouble getting the financial ends to meet. I got most of the credit card dept after the divorce.
I am barely able to make minimum payments as it is. All accounts are current though, and I have no late payments.

So one day I got fancy letter from some company in Florida called Trascendental Lending or something close to it, offering to consolidate my credit card dept, allegedly based on some new government program, into a single loan with 5% interest. Which would lower my payments substantially.

Now this offer seems to good to be true, but I really want it to be true. I do not understand why this company would offer 5%-6% loan of 35K which is basically unsecured and without collateral. Unless there is indeed some new government program which makes this feasible.

Can anyone offer advice as to how I might go about consolidating my credit card depth in a reliable way, or other practices that might help me be able to dig myself out of the hole I am in now.

If anyone knows if this offer is legit, or if there are other vendors out there who could make a legit offer.

Does anyone know about new government programs?

How rentworthy am I?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:57:44 -0800

Help me grow up-filter: am I being realistic about my prospects for finding an apartment? Anon because I am embarrassed about my past fiscal irresponsibility. I'd like to investigate the possibility of renting a new place with a friend soon, and I am wondering how realistic it is, given my financial history, which is spotty to say the least (two chargeoffs, and I defaulted on my student loans long ago but they are now paid off).

I do have several thousand dollars in the bank and I am prepared to front first and last month's rent as well as the deposit (taking the burden off my potential roomie). I have a steady job and would be making 3x my share of the rent.

I have NO background with this kind of thing at all. An overly confident friend assures me that "landlords NEVER check your credit report," and it's true that he does have a decent-ish place and a not so stellar credit history of his own, but I'd like alternate viewpoints/tips before I jump into the deep end of the pool, please. Is the situation hopeless or not? Is there anything I can do in the short term to make myself a more attractive potential tenant?

Is it possible to improve my own credit report?

grablife365 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:47:09 -0800

Credit report question. Is it possible to add positive information to my report? My lender tried but was told a 3rd party can't do it. Does that mean that I can't? And is there anything I can do to raise my score quickly? I'm still dealing with a pay for delete with Verizon but in the meantime I'd like to see what else I can get going. My score right now is a 612 (though I thought it was 619 last checked) and I need to get my points raised quickly. I'm working with a downpayment program in Houston who does not require a minimum score. I figure it would be hard to find a lender who would work with me with this score so my best bet is to raise it somehow. Everything else lines up wonderfully and I'm running out of time to get into my own place before I have to be out of this one.

A loan officer I spoke with tried to get my car added on my credit but was told a 3rd party can't do it but beforehand she made it sound like it was possible. I'd like to try it for myself.

The situation may not make it likely though. The car dealership doesn't have the ability to report. They would have to have a certain amount of accounts open in order to be able to report (or so I'm told) so adding it myself is my only option. I'd like to know its possible but hearing no, it's not is better than wondering over it daily.

Also, what other ways can I improve my credit. I only really have two negatives on my credit and the main one is Verizon that I'm trying to pay off and get deleted and they aren't budging. I don't own credit cards, have been a member of a credit union for years if that helps, but I don't have much time at all, like not even 3 months. I pay monthly bills since December but they aren't in my name. I'm in a pretty stuck situation now with my credit and with the living situation but I would appreciate any answers as always.

Thanks.

What is the best path...

Muirwylde — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:18:32 -0800

Did we receive sound advice? A friend is filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the next few days. A creditor is threatening to repossess some items if said person doesn't respond to the written request for a voluntary surrender of the items. A document pledging the items as collateral was signed. A legal advisor gave the following advice... The creditor has given the borrower until September 8, 2009 to respond. If no response is forthcoming, the creditor is threatening IMMEDIATE (September 9, 2009) assignment to a repo company. My question is this. During a legal consultation today, my friend was advised to tell the creditor to expect a bankruptcy filing in the next ten days. This seems counter-intuitive. Wouldn't the creditor speed up their efforts at repossesion in an effort to beat the bankruptcy filing? Was this bad advice and if so why? Was this good advice and if so why? Does it make more sense to remain quiet about the filing until the papers are delivered or does the creditor have to stop making efforts at repossesion the moment they are notified of intent to file bankruptcy documents.