What are the procedures and steps.....

What is the name of your state? NY

What are the complete procedures and steps a credit card agency can and will take against a person for not continuing making monthly payments?

How long are these procedures and steps going to take place or enforced?

What is the worst scenario that could happen to a person with a car and a house with a mortgage on it?

Thanks.

[Ladynred]

Ufortunatley, there aren't many hard and fast rules here. Some of it depends on the amount of your debt and the tenacity of who's trying to collect it.

First, are you talking about a credit card company (ie. original creditor), a collection agency hired by a credit card company, or a collection agency who's bought your debt ??

Here are some generalities based on the creditor being the original credit card issuer: (Sr. Members.. correct me if I goof on anything)

If you stop making payments, the first thing, besides endless harrassment, is that the account will be charged-off as a bad debt. This is purely an accounting function that allows them to write off your debt at tax time. Charge-offs occur anywhere from 150-180 days of non-payment.

Next, the debt will typically go to a collection agency. Some creditors will just assign it to a collector and try that way for a while before selling it, others will just sell it for pennies on the dollar to a collection agency right after charge-off. I don't know that there's any way to know just how long this could take. Some accounts seem to go for years before anyone hears from a collector, others hear fairly soon after charge-off. Usually you'll get an inital letter from a collection agency stating 'this is an attempt to collect a debt..blah, blah, blah' and that you must now deal with them. Some accounts appear to get sold over and over again until some scumball collector decides to really attempt to collect. Again, I think a lot depends on the amount of your debt. Collectors can tag after you for years, and some even try after the Statute of Limitations has expired !

Collectors are a nasty bunch, but the FDCPA binds them and gives the consumer some rights and ways to rein them in. IF it gets to the point where you are sued, which is more likely for larger amounts, a judgement can be granted against you.

If that happens, they can try to sieze your assets (your car), place liens on your property, or they can go for wage garnishment if you have no assets they can take or attach. If your state allows garnishment, each state has limitations on just how much they can take from you. There are also exemptions to protect your property against judgements, just as in bankruptcy, it varies by state.

Judgements, if granted, can last almost forever. Many states allow judugements for 10 years and they are then renewable forever. Again, the term varies by state.

Basically there are a lot of variables here, but that's a general 'flow'. There's now way to predict, aside from a charge-off timing, just how long before a collection agency gets involved, how long they pursue you, or how fast they go for a judgment.

Does this help answer your questions ?