Just wanting to put this out there because I need to tell someone and I can’t tell anyone in my life.
I was stupid, I couldn’t pay my credit card anymore and rather than call and explain, I stopped paying. I ignored the calls and emails. I was so stupid, I should have just asked for help.
This afternoon I checked my mail and found a letter from a debt attorney advising that their records showed I was named in a lawsuit. I went to my county site and sure enough there it is. I’ve not been served by some miracle but there it is.
I found my way to the site for the debt collector that’s suing me and I’ve set up a payment plan. The site mentioned me filling out something like an intent to pay form or something and I’m definitely going to sign that.
But I’m terrified of being sued. I’m terrified of being served at home or at work. How will I explain it to those who see me? My mom is going to be so disappointed in me. I made a stupid choice and I’m going to own up to it but FUCK!
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It’s not real. This used to happen to me all of the time. They make the paperwork look official, but if you look closely, they’re not legal documents.
You made a mistake, it happens. It’s hard to take ownership and ask for help but may be worth considering. Let yourself off the hook, mistakes happen but do not define us.
It sounds like bs
These debt collectors love making threats they won’t follow up on because they operate on pennies on the dollar for the sold off debt
You being served is baseless. It doesn’t matter. All that will come of it , you’ll have a collection on your credit and you’ll have a court case that’s clearly an attempt to collect a debt. It’ll disappear in 7-10 yrs.
Whether you pay it or not, it’s still gonna be on your credit, as a negative mark, for 7 years. Better off just ignoring them completely for the next 7 years.
Learned this the hard way. 😕
Just start paying it. This happened to me when I was a young mother with a hospital bill – they even did try to serve me, but I just sent them a letter and a money order for my first payment and continued to make payments. I never even spoke with them, but the court case was dropped. They really don’t want to come to court if they don’t have to.
I had this happen. They do it to scare you and will ask you to set up
Payment arrangements
Slow down, hoss. Signing that form resets the 7 year cycle. If this happened 6 years ago, that would be monumentally stupid.
I Didn’t Pay A Credit Card Bill For Over 10 Years…
No One Ever Came After Me
I detest debt collectors. The original debtor wrote the $$$ off, and "sold" the debt to a 3rd party who bought it for pennies on the dollar and have now become some sort of self appointed bagman for the full amount of the debt that you don’t even owe THEM. I wish collection agencies would be outlawed, it’s such a racket and a scam.
Don’t feel bad you are beating yourself up over nothing. You are not the only person who gets sued over unpaid debt, in fact if you go to your state’s judicial website and type in any of the big players in the debt collection game you will see dozens if not hundreds of people who are in or who have been in the same place as yourself.
Everyone gets one free bankruptcy, one.
Ex-debt-collector here, you’ll be fine.
You probably received a notice of intention to sue? The ultimate bluff. It costs a lot of money to sue someone, unless you have a lot of unencumbered assets, it’s not worth it for them. You took the bait and started paying it, that’s all they wanted, zero reason to sue you now, but unfortunately you have reset the Stat Barr date and accepted responsibility by paying, so you’ll have to finish paying it now!
Depending on the state you can make a payment that is small but kinda reasonable and it will be taken as an attempt to pay and after that you can take your time with the payments. My boss said he got debt canceled that way cuz they couldn’t except his small checks so they wrote him off. Idk if it was luck or what. He did something super small like 3-8 USD
Hang on hang on hang on.
If you haven’t been served you have not been sued. They’re trying to con you into a new contract starting period so they can harass you longer.
If you can’t afford the debt anymore, and there’s not repo-able collateral, haggle with them on a payoff price tell em you’re flat broke you’re bout to be homeless and can’t pay till they offer a low enough payoff you’re willing to take and make them put the new price in writing, and pay that shit off pronto. If they try to collect the rest later, have that written agreement ready to be like nope we changed the terms.
We all make mistakes, don’t be so hard on yourself.
had same emails mails just ignored them to this day still ignoring and nothing ever happened
Call an attorney. Sounds like they are fn you
I just got sued for the same thing. Wasn’t working after I had my son. Card closed before I started working again and got served papers. It sucks. I filed bankruptcy so my wages wouldn’t get docked. But fr as stressful as it is it’s the least of my worries rn . Hang in there it won’t rain forever 💪🏼
Its a scam dont send them nothing if you havent gotten served f it
Dude if it’s not on your credit report, this is a scam.
Run your credit report before signing things.
Just contact a debt attorney. Many firms specialize in dealing with collections. They can settle for a smaller amount and speed up the clock to remove it from your credit history. Usually they will offer a free consultation and explain the cost up front.
Mistakes happen. It’s not the end of the world and it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.
If I were you I would contact a lawyer and have them offer a lump sum settlement.
You must owe a whole lot for them to sue you. I’ve owed $20k+ back in my 20s, the 90s. I just ignored them for years until the went away. I now have 850 score and have almost 2 decades.
It doesn’t take much to go down and file the court papers it’s really attractive to frighten you into paying something. But now that it has been filed they can start garnishment proceedings. But really when these companies purchase your debt from the credit card company they just want as much money as they can get right now.
So you might be able to get a much lower settlement amount through a lawyer. Go to legal aid if you have to.
Call the attorney or creditor and make a payment plan. They don’t want you to owe. They want you to pay.
You can negotiate pennies on the dollar or more realistically like 30-50%. Do t pay it all. If it went to a debt collector, they paid a small fraction to collect what they can.