I am in PA and considering filing bankruptcy. I just got off the phone with a collections attorney who told me the minimum amount of debt you must have before filing bankruptcy in PA is $25,000.00. I've never heard of this before. Is it true or is he lying to try to get me to pay. He also said he will be filing a judgment on Tuesday. Thanks, -Maria
On principal, I wouldn't trust a collection attorney who told me that the sky was blue. Stop talking to him, and contact a BK attny in your area to set up a free consultation. Before you go, prepare a thorough list of your debts, income and assets. I don't know specifically about PA, but I've never heard about there being a minimum amount of debt. I think it depends entirely on your ability (or lack thereof) to pay. You may also want to post this on www.chat-cards.com - it's a site devoted to bk issues. Good luck to you Poochie
There is no "minimum"....all that needs to be shown is that your liabilities exceed your assets. As previously mentioned, you should not be talking to anyone, but if you were to talk to him again, I'd tell him to go ahead and file whaterver he wants, and when you file your BK all his time and energy will be for nothing since his judgment will get vacated!
I only ended up talking to him because my mom thought that the girl who asked for me first was a friend of mine. They had the same name and sounded alike. Otherwise they get the "no she's not here" message. It should have been a tip off when the call came on the house line and not my cell phone. I just recently got a new cell phone number so no one has that number. And, I didn't believe him when he said that you needed at least 25 grand in debt or the judge won't allow it to go through. I told him that I didn't believe him. He also told me that a bankruptcy will be on my credit report for 20 years. At that point, I just hung up on him. Unfortunatly, I forgot to get his name and address before hanging up on him. It is with Household Bank and I am in Philadelphia, Pa. I think his first name was Joe. Any idea who it might be? He said he was going to file a judgement against me on Tuesday. If he doesn't, can I go after him for violation of the FDCPA? -Cindy
"file a judgement", was that literally what he said? Have you even been served? Is there a court case scheduled, that you have not been notified of, and he expects to get a default judgement? Is he actually an attorney?
What are your assets, outstanding debts, your current income, and what do you expect your income to be in the forseeable future? In other words, are you able to dig yourself out in a reasonable time, or not. That is what determines whether it is a good decision for you to file, regardless of what a collection attorney says.
I got the call Wed. night. He said he was going to file the paperwork for a judgement on Friday, then said because tomorrow is a holiday, it will be filed on Tuesday. Nothing has been filed yet. He said he will go ahead and file. At that point, I told him I have no money and no income. He said he didn't care and would proceed. I said I would probably be filing bankruptcy soon anyway and that is when he asked me how much debt I had and if it was at least 25 grand. I told him I wasn't sure and then he said a judge would throw the case out if it wasn't for at least 25 grand. At this point, I have no money and won't have any for a while so I don't really care. I will also be moving soona nd the phone will not be listed in my name. I plan on getting a pay as you go cell phone and using that number for anything public. I won't answer it, just check the messages every couple of days. They can call all they want at that point.
I have no assets. The only thing I have is a car and an old computer. The car is registered in my mom's name so they can't touch that. And the computer is about 4 years old at this point so I don't think it is worth much. Other than that, just clothing and a few personal belongings. My outstanding debts are at least 15 grand at this point and most likely more. I'm just thinking of the biggest ones right now. I have no income right now. I am getting about $200 a month from the state right now. That barely covers my expenses. The only income I might have in the future is SSI and that would be about 565 a month. But as I am in appeals right now I have no idea how long before that gets approved and payments start. Any back payment is going to a friend who has helped me out in the past. I don't think there will be much left over after that. So I nothing and won't have anything signifigant in the forseeable future.
If you have no income, and no assets you are basically judgment proof. Even if your creditors file judgments, there is nothing for them to collect. The down-side to this is that the judgments will last for 10 or 20 years and be growing in amount because of interest. BK would be a fresh start and eliminate judgments hanging over you for many years. The person you spoke to was WRONG! BK stay on your CR's for 10 years maximum!! PS: if the guy DOES NOT file a lawsuit by Tuesday as he claimed, then he violated the FDCPA for threatening an action which he did not carry out SEC 807 "A debt collector may not use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section: 5) The threat to take any action that cannot legally be taken or that is not intended to be taken." You should "memorialize" your conversation with him, writing eveything down, he is giving you a lot of mis-information! and the more he talks and threatens you, the more rope you will have to hang him with!!!
not to nitpick, but in some states judgements can be renewed indefinitey, so if you EVER apply for a mortgage or a home loan, the creditor can come after you, and they are entitled to attach your property for the amount of the judgement plus the legal maximum interest. I believe that the judgement only reports on your credit report for 7 years, but the fact that it falls off does not mean that it is gone. Check the laws of your states very carefully. You should, as the last poster stated, memorialize your conversation with the attorney, and attempt to find out who exactly contacted you, what the name of their company is, etc.
