I am not a bankruptcy expert, but I do work for a mortgage brokerage, and I can assure you, it IS possible to buy a house with a bankruptcy on your credit report. Not right away, but you do not have to wait the full seven years for it to fall away in order to get a mortgage.
Doesn’t that mean that you can’t get a mortgage with a bankruptcy on your credit report? I mean if you have to wait till it ‘falls off’ to get one.
Badtz
I would either go through Bankruptcy with her or get a divorce and seperate your debts from hers and then decide if you want to do a bankruptcy alone.
I BK’d in 1995, and while it did get me back on my feet, all things considered I probably would not file again. It can ruin your credit for a couple of years, but with judicious use of limited credit (like a secured card, and on-time car payments), your credit will improve - mine has to the best it has ever been in my life.
Everybody’s situation is different, so do some research before you decide either way. But do it quickly.
Also, stay away from “Credit Counselors”. Apparently they are funded by the banks themselves and are essentially “nice debt collectors”. Read on.
and good luck.
Phouchg
Lovable Rogue
Badtz, I don’t think you can stop the original creditors from calling you, but you can stop any collection agencies from doing so. However, you have to make the request in writing, and preferably by certified mail; numerous websites, including the one I am about to recommend, provide ‘sample letters’ to use in making your request; after receiving this letter, they can no longer contact you except to notify you of certain activities, such as proceeding to a lawsuit. Keep records of everything because anyone who violates this notice is breaking the law, and you can not only report them to the FTC, you can also sue them in small claims court for, I think, $1000 per violation.
Check out Credit Info Center. They have tons of useful information and links, as well as a pretty active message board, and they don’t try too darn hard to sell you anything.
Don’t do anything drastic right now - take the time to learn what options you have and decide on what course to follow that will work best for you. You can work this out and get yourself out of this mess in one piece and with your credit somewhat intact.
Get your name taken off of that car loan now. If your wife fails to make the payments for any reason, it is going to come back on you and bite you in the ass, plus it shows up on your credit report as your debt because your name is on it.
Take care of priorities first - food, electricity, rent, etc. Car if necessary - if not, sell it and get out from under that one. Pay any ‘secured’ debts first (those which are attached to some sort of property). Worry about paying ‘unsecured’ debts (credit cards, department store charge accounts, etc.) last, unless they are threatening a lawsuit - you can learn a lot about your options concerning that at the above website.
Get a copy of your credit report from all three agencies - the above website tells you how to do that for free, but it is also not terribly expensive to pay the required fee. Your credit report will include the names, addresses, and, if available, phone numbers of your creditors, so you can easily contact them. Make sure that everything on your report is accurate and up-to-date - my own report includes accounts that belong to someone else with the same name, as well as debts that I have paid off and the pay-off wasn’t reported to the credit report companies. All of this can be fixed, although it’s a pain in the ass.
There are laws that govern both credit reporting and debt collection: the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act (FDCPA) (linked in Adoptamom’s post). Become familiar with them so that you will know your rights.
And don’t let any of this get you down, and don’t let any of your creditors treat you like scum because you’ve encountered difficulties; “shit happens” to just about everybody at one time or another, and ain’t none of us perfect!
It actually has been my experience that the fees that non-profit credti counseling are paid in the amount settled between the counseling service and the creditor.
(keep in mind this was the early 90s)
We would recieve a check from Consumer Credit Counseling for the amount agreed upon minus their fee. This is how the non-profit orgs thrive. They take a cut in the collection action, which is paid by the creditor.
Badtz,
From this site (I don’t know how legal it is so do your homework)
http://creditsaviors.com/laws_collections.html
It says:
Again, while I don’t know how legally binding is. But maybe that’s your source for telling them to leave you alone.
Although, according to this, maybe you need to write them to leave you alone:
What I hate about that ‘8 AM to 9PM’ rule is that it assumes that the debtor sleeps nights. I work from 1 PM to 10 PM, and I usually stay up for about 5 or 6 hours after I get off work, and I get up at noon. I get awakened several times early in the morning (well, early for me), ruining my sleep, and then they keep calling after I’ve gone to work, usually hanging up after my Mom answers, or asking her when I’ll be home. She’s told every creditor my work schedule and they STILL keep calling while I’m at work, making my poor sickly 68 year old mother get up to answer a phone call that MIGHT be important.
Would it be illegal for her to tell them that I don’t live there anymore?
It will be hard to separate my debts from hers. She declared bankruptcy years before she met me and her credit was bad enough she couldn’t even get her name on a checking account. All of the cards are in my name alone. I had OK credit at the time I got married.
I wasn’t going to get involved in this discussion, but felt I shouldn’t let this go by without some comment, lest anyone misconstrue this:
IANAL- nonetheless, a divorce decree determines the obligations of each spouse TO EACH OTHER. It does not affect the relationship between either one and any creditors. A joint agreement (a car loan, for example) is executed between both of you and the bank. The responsibilities and obligations set forth by that agreement can only be changed by agreement of both of you AND the bank- so, unless the bank is a party in the divorce action, the bank’s rights are unchanged by the divorce decree.
Understand, I’m not saying the bank won’t honor the terms of the divorce decree, I’m saying they don’t have to. You signed the note individually; the status of your relationship is irrelevant. The terms of that note will remain in effect until the bank chooses otherwise.