“Dear Steve,
Can i lose my house for credit card debt. i’m 67 can’t work anymore. my house is worth 300k and i owe 162k from a reverse mortgage. i get $756 in s.s. and two rental units in house pays the house expenses. i’m single i got $1500.00 from the reverse and i gave my sister $110k the rest went to payoff a home equity loan, taxes and insurance on the house. i stopped paying the debt on june 30th. i’m getting threats for judgements. i’m dealing with 14 banks with whom i have 43 cards. my sister is off the deed. i don’t mind liens. should i sell. i owe over $300k in card debt. for years i’ve used their money and my savings to make payments i can’t do it anymore. my job for 24 years was home delivery of a newspaper 7 days a week i never missed 1 day. hope you can give some advice,
Thanks,
Greg”
The Answer:
Dear Greg,
Well, hum. Certainly managing 43 credit cards is nearly a full time job. This is obviously a situation that did not happen overnight and despite of your age and situation, we’ve got to deal with this now.
Why did you give your sister $110,000? I suspect your bought her off the house.
Ultimately the answer here is going to be be obvious not because of the underlying issues that lead you so deep in debt, but because this appears to be the end of the road for juggling this mess. It doesn’t seem to me that you have further resources to drain or tap to keep this hot mess afloat. I think the time has come to deal with this head on.
And there really is no other logical or reasonable solution other than for you to go and talk with a bankruptcy attorney and to carefully explore seeking protection under bankruptcy as a way to discharge your debt. Find a local bankruptcy attorney you like, make an appointment, and go in and talk to them face-to-face.
So let’s say you don’t do that and stick your head in the sand and hope that this only ends with lawsuits and liens. Why? There is no upside to doing that? Why allow liens to be placed against your house when this can be dealt with?
Please update me on your progress by posting updates here in the comments section of your question. I’m very interested in how this works out for you.
P.S. Be sure to read ‘The Secret of Surviving Through Difficult Economic Times. What I Learned On My Journey‘.
If you have a credit or debt question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.