Should I file or not?

Ohio
I am unable to pay my credit cards. I will be 74 in a few weeks, my sole income is $528 social security. Credit card payments take more than $400. Car insurance and phone are added expenses. A chiropractor fractured my spine two years ago and I have been unable to work. Otherwise I am healthy and have no other other debts.I had to move from Arizona to Ohio and now live in my son's basement. The move was costly and was put on a credit card. I have $28 a month food stamps and no other income.I have no assets, nothing of value, no money to pay for bankruptcy. An attorney told me to simply not pay on the cards. Is this good advice? I am truly desperate.

I won't give you a legal opinion because frankly, there are others here much more qualified than I in this arena.

But I do have a few questions you should ask yourself before any decision is made. And although they may sound harsh and unfeeling, there is a valid reason.

Did you use the cards for the move knowing you wouldn't be able to pay them?

Do you expect to live until you're 100?

Do you have any assets that creditors could seize?

In reality, what you are considering is not very nice. Bordering on the illegal. However, what could they really do? wait until you die and take your estate?

This is less a legal decision than a moral one. And only you can make that decision.

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

TOP 10 Things That Can Happen With Too Much Credit Card Debt - -

NUMBER 10: I forward my credit card bills to Donald Trump and the idiot actually pays them!

NUMBER 9: Take lessons in on-line fraud so your monthly bill goes on someone else's credit card.

NUMBER 8: The next thing you'll be telling us is, besides your move, you also put your funeral expenses on your Visa card.

NUMBER 7: Two months ago you found out that MasterCard raised your credit limit from two thousand dollars to One Million dollars, and suddenly you're in over your head.

NUMBER 6: On the back of your credit card is a pre-nuptial agreement.

NUMBER 5: You get a note with your latest credit card bill from Saddam Hussein reading "Glad I'm not you".

NUMBER 4: Your credit card representative just called saying, "If you die before you pay us in full, I'm gonna kill you!"

NUMBER 3: After looking at your credit card bills, your CPA claims that the credit allowable under subsection (A) for any taxable year shall exceed the excess of the regular tax liability of the taxpayer for such taxable year reduced by the sum of the credits allowable under subparts A, B, D, E and F of this part, over the tentative minimum tax for the taxable year... "Kill me now, okay?"

NUMBER 2: Your credit card debts are so high, you decide it's time to defect to Russia.

AND NOW, the NUMBER ONE Thing That Can Happen With Too Much Credit Card Debt - -

To your astonishment and surprise, your credit card company accepts your offer to pay them a dollar a year for the next 70 million years.

IAAL

Thank you for your replies. I didn't put expenses on my cards knowing I wouldn't be able to pay for the move. I fully expected to be able to resume my career. I did not put funeral expenses on the card even though I don't expect to live to be 100.

I have no assets other than an older model car and a lousy computer.

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE: Very amusing but is #10 factual?

I fully understand the moral aspect of any decision and have paid my debts all my life. Now I can't, through no fault of my own and have lost my business. Do you equate filing for bankruptcy and walking away one and the same?

[frankrozanc]

Please refer to Ohio Revised Code Section 2329.66, which is that statute that lists that property which is exempt from seizure in bankruptcy or other legal process in this state. After applying this statute to your property, I believe that the creditors, if they should file suit, will have nothing to get. As to whether you should file, that is a legal, and not moral decision.