“Dear Steve,
I have credit card debt about 25.000 I have no employment and I ,am taped out. I have never
missed a payment or been late or had a charge off in almost 20 years . I have not had any calls
yet but these payments are due now.
What should i do. Where do i start. I have never been in this position.
For me this is one of the worst times of my life I have never been in this spot before. Today 4-1-10 two of the four payments are due. I,am going to call them and explain the situation i,m in and tell them I,m not going to be able to make these payments because, well theres nothing there.
I have approx 25.000 off four credit cards. I have no other dept. I managed to get the truck payed off so i,m good there. About six months ago when I was employed i almost had those cards payed off. I have tried to talk lawyers and other types of people that deal with this and they just don,t want nothing to do with you because you have no money or income.
What should i do. what should I tell the card companies. The phones not ringing off the wall yet but lets face it Its coming. I,m 57 years old and i,m pretty much screwed. I really don,t know
what to do. Any ideas.
Thanks
Brad”
Dear Brad,
In these positions, in these times, life feels hopeless. It feels like crap. It did for me when I faced my financial problems. It will for you right now.
But feeling that emotional pain and the broader reality are not the same.
Does it suck you are in this position? Can I get a Hell ‘Ya. But this does not have to be the darkest hour for you.
Right now your life is probably consumed with worry and regret over the current turn of events. I need for you to put that aside and realize it just is what it is.
Your life energy is better used right now in focusing on finding any kind of employment. If you have not done it already I want you to go and register with all the temp agencies in town. When they call you for a possible position, take every assignment they send you on. Call them each in the morning and ask them if they have any assignments to send you on that day. I need for you to proactively participate in making things better.
When I went through my troubles, that’s what I did and activity bread opportunity and from that I eventually landed a good job at IBM. In the meantime I worked some of the worst temp jobs around. Some I hated with a passion. I went from managing a staff of 45 to getting people coffee.
So, what should you tell these companies, the truth. Up until this point you’ve probably made payments out of what little money you had left at your disposal. And look where that’s landed you now, back against the wall and all tapped out. So when the companies eventually call, and they will, just be friendly, cordial and honest. Tell them you are not currently working but looking for work. Tell them you can’t make any payments right now and don’t enter into making any promise to pay that you will not be able to make.
The goal of the collector is to get you to make a payment or a promise to pay. The collector is not there to judge you. And if a collector did get nasty with you just realize they are doing so because they either hate their job or they realize that people in debt are easily manipulated by fear.
So while you sit here in collections and you are polite and honest your account will slowly move through the normal collections process. After about six months your account will be charged off, that’s only an accounting function, and sold to a new owner of your debt. The collection cycle will begin again.
Who knows, a creditor might even sue you to attempt to collect the debt along the way. The reality, so what. You’ll just be one of the many that will be sued. Since you currently have no wages there is nothing to garnish.
And when you are successful in earning money again you can click here to find a local bankruptcy attorney. For about $1,500 you can discharge your debt in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and stop all collection activity, end all lawsuits or judgments, and get a fresh start.
So Brad, this day isn’t the end of your life. It’s a lot like getting stuck on a long drive with the top down on a nice car in a thunderstorm. It really, really, sucks but it’s survivable, it’s not the end of the world and at the end of the day it could always be worse.
Find something each and every day to be grateful for and appreciate what you do have and not focus on what sucks. Hey buddy, at least you’re not on fire.
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You are not alone. I'm here to help. There is no need to suffer in silence. We can get through this. Tomorrow can be better than today. Don't give up.
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