i have screwed myself and now need help please!
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Posted by bad jane
(24.151.153.215) on June 05, 2004 at 07:29:04:
ok, i was a very bad girl and ruined my credit. it started in college and snowballed from there. how much debt? i couldn't even tell you! i have been (mostly) ignoring it for years. i'm a bit confused about what state to use for sol. all of my credit cards were obtained in or prior to 1998 but i was in college at the time. i went to school and lived in pa during the school year--but residency was wv (assuming you go by where your driver's license is issued). since i was in pa, do i use them to determine sol? or do i use wv since that was my permanent residence? both addresses were known to my creditors. i honestly don't know when the last time i made a payment was. i don't believe i've paid any oc's since 99--possibly as late as 2000. some of them might not have been paid prior to that even! (yes, i've been very naughty, i know.) i have made a couple of payments to ca's since then--but my records on that are virtually non-existent. i also have some medical bills from '00 that occurred in wv. i believe i did make one or two payments on one of those in '00, but not on all of them. would these also be considered open accounts? i'm getting calls and letters from ca's on credit cards and on the medical bills. some of them i THINK are lawyers. they have names like Schreiber & Associates so that's what it sounds like anyway. they want money and a lot of them talk about legal action (none has actually been taken to my knowledge). i make very little money (we're talking less than 500 per month) and i live paycheck to paycheck (and sometimes not even that far!) so there is rarely anything in my checking account and never anything in my savings account. but i do worry about having these frozen as my paycheck is directly deposited every two weeks. anyone know what my chances of being sued or having my accounts frozen are? the only asset i have is a vehicle that is almost 20 years old. so now i need to grow-up and take care of it all--how do i do that? i know step one is to get credit reports (snail mail) from the big 3. anyone know where i can do this for VERY cheap or free? where do i go from there? is there something i should do prior to obtaining credit reports? i've seen people mention "opting out" but i don't really understand what that means. it sounds like it hides your inquiry from people who have access to your credit reports--do i want to do that? there are at least a couple of different ca's contacting me--but i know i have other bad debts out there that i'm not being approached about. but when i say i've been ignoring this--i mean literally. i throw the letters from the ca's away and don't even bother opening them much of the time. they call and i pretend i'm not me and take a message (and sometimes they tell me what it is about anyway--can they do that? not just say they are collecting a debt, but actually telling me how much they want and how overdue the account is!). i'm trying to read all i can--but i'm so clueless. i need simple to understand, step-by-step guidance. is that available anywhere? i've been to whychat's website and while the info looks great--i don't know what to do with it or if it even applies to me :( i really can't afford an attorney and as i tell the ca's when they manage to catch me on the phone--no, there is noone who will lend me the money (which really means, i'm not asking anyone for the money). if i absolutely had to, i might be able to scrape together the cash for bankruptcy--is that what i should try for at this point? but my finances is something i haven't discussed with my parents and since i live with them--a bankruptcy might be more difficult to hide. not that the creditors aren't a great tip-off to my troubles but i don't know how to prevent them from calling all the time either. if they now have the debt, as creditors they can call me and send letters right? if i had to give an estimate of my total debt, i'd guess it at around 15k or so. i believe that is what it was the last time i tried to figure it all up but i don't know if that included my ex-husband's debts as well so it may be closer to 10k or so. that estimate doesn't include student loans--i've never made a payment on them because of either being in school or because of financial hardship. i know the medical bills (from what the ca has sent) are about $650. but if i remember correctly, the medical bills were a lot more than that, so i don't think all of them are contacting me either... lastly, i believe i will be getting some money within the next few months related to an inheritance. i have no idea how much it will be for, i'm gonna go out on a limb and guess it will be a couple of thousand but nowhere near enough to pay all my debts or make more than a small dent in the total. any ideas on how will that affect my situation? thanks in advance for any help and i apologize for the long story.
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