by Cid_Yama » Fri 31 Aug 2007, 09:18:06
If it is your Primary Residence and it is owned they can not take it from you. If it is not owned outright, but you continue to make your mortgage payments, they cannot take it from you. If you are in default on your credit cards they will call. Get a caller ID, it always says 'unknown name' or the name of some company, you will know if you know them or not. There is even a gadget you can get where you can enter a phone number, and after that, it will ring on their end but not on yours. Eventually, they will quit calling until they send it to another collection agency. Usually, it is not profitable for them to force you into bankruptcy unless the debt is very large. In Texas they cannot garnish your wages as a private company. Only the Federal and State Govt. can. (taxes, student loans) Garnishment is limited to 15% of disposable wages. Exemption is made for bills. Thus, garnishment might be better for you as it could be less than what you are now paying. Once you are in garnishment, no one else can touch you. Quite liberating actually. There is a pecking order for garnishment in states other than Texas. Fed, then State, then all others. Example, if you are being Garnished for non-payment of a Student Loan, The Dept of Education has first dibs on your 15%(unless you owe the IRS, they get first dibs over the Dept of Education). If you owe your state they cannot collect until the federal agencies have been paid off. Anyone else you owe waits further down the line. Assets like cars, you are entitled to keep one, and your wife can keep one. Boats and other assets can be lost in a Bankruptcy judgement, but YOU are not required to file and like I said above, most creditors will not do it themselves. They will keep sending it on to the next colllection agency until they finally write it off or it hits Statute of Limitations which are different by state. New bankruptcy laws exempted Credit Cards from S of L, but not retroactively. Statute of Limitation Clocks start over if you make a payment, so if you are going that route, don't make another payment.
Last edited by
Cid_Yama on Fri 31 Aug 2007, 13:03:45, edited 1 time in total.