credit card debt

[creditcardwoes]

What is the name of your state? Texas
My husband and I have a large amount of credit card debt. We are having difficulty making the payment to a credit counseling service. If we stopped making the payments what could happen besides messing our credit up? What recourse does the credit card companies have?

[coffeeboy]

My wife and I are in the same boat. We are just not going to make it much longer on our Consumer Credit payment, it is just so darn high! We don't want to file bankruptcy, but we don't know any other options. If you find ANY other options please let me know. We are in Iowa

[K'Ta]

Originally Posted by creditcardwoes

What is the name of your state? Texas
My husband and I have a large amount of credit card debt. We are having difficulty making the payment to a credit counseling service. If we stopped making the payments what could happen besides messing our credit up? What recourse does the credit card companies have?

They can sue you, win and sieze your stuff. Your house, car, anything of value they can sell to recoup their losses and legal fees. Garnishment too depending on what state you're in. If they get a judgment and you have nothing of value they can renew it for quite a while, indefinitely in some states I think, so if you ever DO end up with anything of value they can take it and they can keep doing that until they've recouped their expenses, including their lawyers' fees. So on top of the original debt you'll be paying for their lawyers to sue you too. Nice thought, eh?

Oh, and it won't 'mess your credit up'. It'll ruin it for at least 7 years, probably longer. I hope you don't plan to buy a house or a car or anything else that requires credit for a while if you plan to just stop making payments.

Your credit counselor should be working with you. What do they say about your inability to afford the payments?