Auto Finance threating lawsuit??? Pls advise

[Mia]

What is the name of your state? California

My husband had bad credit so most of our debt/credit cards were in my name only. I had no problem making pmts because my husbands income was twice as much as mine. When we separated in 2002 he agreed to continue to give me money to make pmts on "OUR dept". He did for a while but then lost his job, I struggled but continued to make pmts on my own. I had a lawyer draw up a judgement against him for the money he agreed to pay me ($11,000) but he would not sign it. He did give me some money here and there to help. He got his car repo'd and they came after me for the remaining (I was a co-signer) balance which I paid. I was still separated with my husband when he got in a horrible car accident which left him in a coma. Since he was in a coma he could not work and the IRS came after me for back taxes he owed which I paid. I since lost my job. I now live with my parents and stay home to take care of my son. My husband did not make it out of his coma, he died after 9 months in the hospital on April 7 2006. Since I have no income of ANY kind and my husband died I was planning on filing for bankruptcy. Most all the dept I accrued with my husband was in my sole name. It was all credit cards, will I have a problem filing for bankruptcy? Also yesterday I received a letter from my auto finance company stating "To avoid a lawsuit, contact one of our reps in 10 days of the date of this letter to conclude an acceptable repayment plan. otherwise the bank intends to refer your acct to an outside law firm for filing a lawsuit against you for the entire balance of $6,000 plus court costs." (the 10 days are up May 14th)
What is the best thing to do? I was planning on including this in my bankruptcy. Do I respond even though I want to file bankruptcy on this? Do I tell them I am filing for bankruptcy? Maybe I can somehow file before this actually goes to court??
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for any help

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by Mia

What is the name of your state? California

My husband had bad credit so most of our debt/credit cards were in my name only. I had no problem making pmts because my husbands income was twice as much as mine. When we separated in 2002 he agreed to continue to give me money to make pmts on "OUR dept". He did for a while but then lost his job, I struggled but continued to make pmts on my own. I had a lawyer draw up a judgement against him for the money he agreed to pay me ($11,000) but he would not sign it. He did give me some money here and there to help. He got his car repo'd and they came after me for the remaining (I was a co-signer) balance which I paid. I was still separated with my husband when he got in a horrible car accident which left him in a coma. Since he was in a coma he could not work and the IRS came after me for back taxes he owed which I paid. I since lost my job. I now live with my parents and stay home to take care of my son. My husband did not make it out of his coma, he died after 9 months in the hospital on April 7 2006. Since I have no income of ANY kind and my husband died I was planning on filing for bankruptcy. Most all the dept I accrued with my husband was in my sole name. It was all credit cards, will I have a problem filing for bankruptcy? Also yesterday I received a letter from my auto finance company stating "To avoid a lawsuit, contact one of our reps in 10 days of the date of this letter to conclude an acceptable repayment plan. otherwise the bank intends to refer your acct to an outside law firm for filing a lawsuit against you for the entire balance of $6,000 plus court costs." (the 10 days are up May 14th)
What is the best thing to do? I was planning on including this in my bankruptcy. Do I respond even though I want to file bankruptcy on this? Do I tell them I am filing for bankruptcy? Maybe I can somehow file before this actually goes to court??
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for any help

How many times are you going to post this?

[Chien]

First, I'm very sorry for what you've gone through and are going through.

Unfortunately, you sound like a good candidate for bankruptcy, and that may be the wisest route.

As far as the auto finance company is concerned, give them a call and let them know your situation, including a potential BK. Let them know that you're going to be seeing a BK attorney to evaluate your situation. Let them know that tey can call back in two weeks or you'll call them for a status update. In the meantime, focus your attention on making the BK decision (1) so you have some sense of where you stand and (2) so that you can refer any future caller to your BK attorney, if that's the decision that's made.

If they have any sense, they'll cooperate with you because, even if suit is filed, it will be stopped by a bankruptcy filing. That imposes an "Automatic Stay" on all collection proceedings. When they understand that, a week or two one way or the other will make no difference.

Just bear in mind that, until you make the decision and put the wheels in motion, keep the channels of communication open. It may be tedious but is much more likely to avoid collection calls and suits, if creditors understand that you're making the assessment and not being evasive while you do.

(I'm responding here, because there has been no response as yet to your duplicate, but delete one or the other, before you stop getting responses to both.)

[Mia]

Originally Posted by seniorjudge

How many times are you going to post this?

sorry this is the first time I have ever been on this website and I didn't know which topic to put it under and/or if they were seperate. I will delete the other. Thanks

[Mia]

Originally Posted by Chien

First, I'm very sorry for what you've gone through and are going through.

Unfortunately, you sound like a good candidate for bankruptcy, and that may be the wisest route.

As far as the auto finance company is concerned, give them a call and let them know your situation, including a potential BK. Let them know that you're going to be seeing a BK attorney to evaluate your situation. Let them know that tey can call back in two weeks or you'll call them for a status update. In the meantime, focus your attention on making the BK decision (1) so you have some sense of where you stand and (2) so that you can refer any future caller to your BK attorney, if that's the decision that's made.

If they have any sense, they'll cooperate with you because, even if suit is filed, it will be stopped by a bankruptcy filing. That imposes an "Automatic Stay" on all collection proceedings. When they understand that, a week or two one way or the other will make no difference.

Just bear in mind that, until you make the decision and put the wheels in motion, keep the channels of communication open. It may be tedious but is much more likely to avoid collection calls and suits, if creditors understand that you're making the assessment and not being evasive while you do.

(I'm responding here, because there has been no response as yet to your duplicate, but delete one or the other, before you stop getting responses to both.)

Okay, thank you so much. I was scared that if I told the auto finance company that I was going to file that they would try to hurry and get me in court. I wasn't sure if a bankruptcy covered a judgement (if they were to win the lawsuit, which I'm sure they would). I used to work at a bank as a loan processor right next to the underwriting dept. So I knew how important keeping good credit was. My credit score was a 720 before I got married. (Automatic approval ) I always kept on the straight and narrow..... Now I am too scared to get a credit report.
Thank you! Thank you! I feel a little better now