Does anyone on here work for a bank?
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Does anyone on here work for a bank?
| Thu, 01-12-2006 - 3:17pm |
I know that I have asked this questions before but I am so STRESSED out worrying about our checking account. As you probably remember I had to file for BK but my husband couldn't file with me so now all three of his credit cards are "charged off" so I'm figuring that the next thing they will do is start some kind of legal thing (he had Discover, Bank of American & Citi-card) they can't call us because our phone has been disconnected. They don't know where my husband works because he changes jobs frequently - in fact just started a new one on the 2nd. Our checking account is joint - they won't allow me to remove his name because you can't do that --- I really don't want to open a new account because I have had the same one for about 15 years. Couldn't open one at another bank anyway because of BK --- but anyway I finally went to the bank right before Christmas and was so upset about having to open another one. I was told there that "if" they did try and get a garnishment or judgement against him and if they tried to freeze the account - that I would know in advance and could take the money out and that all they can get is what you have in the bank "THAT DAY". I was under the impression from reading things on the internet that they would freeze your account for I don't know how long - but she assured me this wasn't the case and that they actually don't have it happen very much at all where they have someone get a judgement against an account. She had no reason to mislead me because the bank would have benefited by me having two accounts (service charges and all). We don't have much money anyway (actually none at all) but this has caused me so much stress. Does anyone know anything about how the bank end of this works? It would just ease my mind to know. I had my direct deposit stopped - so I don't have to worry about that). Sorry this is so long!!!! If only he could have filed with me - but it is to late for that.

Your lawyer before your BK should have really advised you to have opened a new bank account before you had finalized the BK, but let's not worry about that now.
I found this article: Link is
http://credit.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=credit&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fcenter4debtmanagement.com%2FLegalArticles%2FChargeOffs.shtml
The article is long but it has this news also:
The Good News
The account will qualify to be removed from the credit report after seven years from the date the charge-off occurred; or possibly the date of last activity. In addition, creditors are more likely to accept a settlement-in-full offer to clear the account off their books; although settlements typically require ready cash.
While a creditor may have the legal right to continue to assess interest and other fees, most creditors will agree to stop interest if a payment arrangement can be made to liquidate the debt. If you have enrolled in a credit counseling program, some creditors may remove the charge-off status once the account is paid as agreed through the agency's program.
Here's another link:
http://credit.about.com/od/debtcollection/
Hope this helps.
That was a very good article - thanks for posting it. My BK lawyer did recommend that I close my account out immediately - he wanted me to do it before the bankruptcy because I owed a personal loan at the bank. He said that alot of banking institutions would immediately take all the money out of the account to put toward the loan owed to them. I live in a small town and I called and talked to the bank (mainly since I had been banking with them for so long and that they had helped me so much before I had to file bankruptcy) They told me that they would not take any money out of my account and that they would not close the account. I decided to trust them and to leave the account alone - and they have lived up to their agreement and I am going to pay them in full when the loan comes due. That is one of the good things about living in a small town - but the most embarrassing part is that everybody seems to know your business. I was SO embarrasssed the one and only time I have had to walk in the bank since I filed (and that was the day to talk to them about my husbands name being on the account). But I guess that they have many, many people file for BK and even though I feel all alone I guess I am not the only one.
Since the accounts of my husband have been charged off - what should we do now? Right now we can't do anything because we can't even buy groceries or pay utilitiesk - but when we can - should we just send in payments to the credit card companies even if they did turn us over? Or should we try and send small payments to the collection agencies - right now we don't even know what collection agencies have the cards. Credit Counseling turned us down before I filed for BK because we didn't make enough money to cover our basic expenditures.
Hello Gal-
I listen to a show in the evenings on occasion called the Clark Howard Show and he happened to be speaking about "charge offs".
From what I understood, once an account becomes a 'charge off' the lender considers that the account will not be paid in full. It is essentially a loss.
There are debt recovery companies that buy these accounts for pennies on the $$$, and they are the ones to call the owners of the accounts to pay off the 'debt'. There is no relationship between them and the lender, apart from the fact they bought these 'charged off debts' from them.
There is **no obligation** to pay this 'charged off' debt back once it has reached this stage. The collectors of these 'debts' will use all types of scare tactics in order to get this money because it is a huge profit for them. If they can recover even a fraction of the debt they are making a profit.
You do not have to give them any personal information regarding you, your work, certainly never your bank details.
The only reason why you would now be paying any of this 'charged off' debt is because you feel a **moral obligation** to do so, there is now no **legal obligation** to do so.
From 7 years from when it was marked 'charged off' it will remain on your credit, after that it will drop off your credit report. It will obviously affect your credit accordingly. I don't know if paying it off takes the 'charge off' off your report. I don't believe so. You can let those calling you know that you are not going to pay, there is no obligation to do so, and that's that.
So I wouldn't worry about them getting a garnishment on your bank account, and ignore them if they say so. They can't do anything but bully your H into paying this off.
Beach
So a collection agency that has bought out an account from a credit card can't sue you or usually doesn't sue you? I know that where I work at we get a lot of garnishments from someone that the hospitals use to sue - I'm not sure if the hospitals have their own attorneys that do that or if they turn it over (but I am thinking that they may turn it over) acutally I'm pretty sure they do because after I had filed BK I received a bill from a collection agency and it was for the hospital bill - but since the hospital was orignally listed in the BK the lawyer just sent the collection agency a letter.
I am so thankful for this board - because honestly I have nobody in the world to talk to about any of this. And my only source of information is really from what I read on the internet and some of the message boards (not on ivllage)can be SO HATEFUL - I just quit trying to post questions on those boards.
I guess that maybe if collection agency's from credit cards don't usually sue that is why the bank told me that it rarely happens. In my other post I think I wasn't clear in something I said - the bank didn't tell me that they would let me know before a freeze was put on the account - they said that we would receive a notice from the courts about the judgement and then we could remove the money before the judgement actually takes place.
I am glad to have been of help. You need to look at the 'collection agency' calling as having nothing to do with the lender/credit cards your H had. They are not a real collections agency, they are just a company that buys old debts.
All this company did was buy your old debt from the original lender to see if they can collect anything from the loan. The original lender has their money - from the sale of the loan to the collection agency. None of this money will go to the original lender, nor have they sanctioned the collection. They have already written you off as a loss.
This collection agency is going to see what they can get from you. That's why they were prepared to 'settle' the debt for half the amount owed.
If they can get $2000 from you - it will be a lot more than the $4 they probably paid for your old loan. They are not going to sue because the judge will laugh them out of court. One they have chosen to purchase this old loan in the hopes of collecting - using bullying tactics. They would lose in court. This is an unsecured loan so the lender took the risk. There is nothing they can sue with - do not listen to their threats. It is a threat. Just let them know they are wasting their phone bill calling. Leave it at that. These people are trained to be bullies.
Hospital tend to go to collections. Car loans to collections. I would not give any information to this collections agency. Just say I am waiting to have this drop in 7 years, and you aren't seeing a penny. That simple.
Hi Beach - I'm a big Clark Howard fan as well.
All my best,
Danni