Monday Mailbag 12/17/2018
Question:
What can the credit card companies do if I stop making payments?
Answer:
1. After 6 months on non-payment, your credit card debt will be charged off by the credit card company.
2. The credit card company will report the charged-off status to your credit report – lowering your credit scores and making it significantly more difficult for you to obtain credit in the future.
3. The credit card company will likely either send the delinquent debt to a collection servicing company or if enough time has passed without the creditor being able to recover the debt – they may sell the debt to a collection agency altogether.
4. The collection agency will now report the past due debt on your credit report. At this point, you will likely have the original creditor (credit card company) reporting a charged-off account (with a $0 balance) and a collection agency reporting the account in collection (with the full balance + fees and interest). Your credit scores drop even lower. Although some people consider this illegal, as long as the original creditor is not reporting a balance, it is 100% legal for 2 credit furnishers to report 2 separate accounts for the same debt.
5. After multiple letters, notifications, calls and voicemails and some time of not being able to collect on the debt, the owner of the debt may decide to file a civil suit against you in court. Whether it’s the original creditor or the collection agency, the owner of the debt may be able to get a court judgment against you. This court judgment may report in the public records section of your credit report – dropping your scores even lower.
6. With a court judgment in hand, eventually, the owner of the debt may decide to take matters into their own hands and stop asking for their money and just start taking it. With a judgment in place, the owner of the debt can go back to court and get a wage garnishment order. This will allow them to withhold a percentage of your wages as well as gain access to money you have in your personal checking or savings accounts.
Ultimately, it’s always better to pay your bills on time but, sometimes unforeseen circumstances happen and if you have any questions about unpaid, past due, or charged-off credit cards – our credit consultants are here 24/7 to help.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at any time.
Are you ready to get started on your journey toward a better credit score?