Patti labell asked:
Last year I became a single mom with three kids. We had good credit until my husband left me. I have a card with a $1000.00 balance. It is now in collections. They will settle for three payments of $289.00 in three consecutive months. Obviously I cannot make those or I wouldn’t be in this situation. Can someone tell me what will happen next?
ABBY
Comments
Credit Card Company will get a court issued judgment against you. So added to the 1k will be court costs, late fees and more interest.
They can then put holds on your bank accts and any other assets you have.
They might garnish your wages. They’ll get their money one way or another.
They can garnish your wages. Are you suing for alimony/child support? Can you take on a part time job? Can you reduce things from your existing budget? Can you teach or babysit from home a few hours a week? Can your local church help you? Do you have friends that can help with food and other needs??? I am so sorry to hear about your situation but you can move on giving yourself and your kids a better life with you than with that deadbeat dad. Money cannot buy happiness.
How To Repair Credit
If you find you can’t pay
incoming bills, don’t
panic.
Call the creditor. Let
him/her know you’re
having financial difficulties.
You’d like a payment plan.
Will he/she work with you?
Some credit card companies
will reduce interest on your
credit cards. It isn’t
automatic, ask about it.
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Some of these answers are pretty drastic and probably not all that realistic. $1000 is not a huge amount of debt and you need to talk with the collections company, or better still the bank that issued the card.
The companies want to get paid, they usually don’t want the expense of garnishing wages or taking you to court over $1000. Make lots of calls to the collection companies or the bank and explain to them your situation and give them a realistic amount that you can pay. Most firms would far rather get $50/month from you than play hardball.
If you are unsuccessful with your calls, contact a local Consumer Credit Counseling office - make sure it is a non-profit organization (which they usually say in big letters up front). The CCCs have been set up by banks and credit card companies for exactly your sort of situation precisely because they would prefer to get paid rather than not. The CCCs also have more “pull” with creditors because that is what they are there for.
The link below was just a random CCC I picked, they seem to work on a state by state basis, so you’ll have to search yourself.
You have a short term problem and a long term problem. The short term problem is this $1,000 credit card debt. As another poster said $1,000 in the big scheme of things is not a huge amount. Maybe if you sell some your things on eBay you can come up with it. The longer term issue is making ends meet month to month. You don’t say how much you earn or what your general expenses are, but if you can’t come up with $298 per month for three consecutive months you’re not going to make it. You’ll need a better job. You also don’t say anything about child support or alimony. Good luck in figuring this all out.
If you’re worried about your credit report you can check it for free on this site..
if the debt was incurred during the marriage, then you ex is probably also responsible for this debt, but if that is not the case most likely they will try to get thier money through collections but not likely through a law suit. so most likely you will just have bad credit