Writ of Garnishment

To those of you who have credit card debt and are struggling to pay it and your credit cards are late or in collections, my hubby and I found out about Consumer Credit Counseling Services (www.cccsfl.org). We called them up and they consolidated all of our credit cards and lowered the interest rates, took away all the late/overlimit fees. Most of our cards had a 30% interest and they got it below 10%!!! Their website also says that they can help if you are behind on your mortgage or are facing foreclosure. I strongly suggest that you check them out before it gets to the garnishment situation that C. mentioned above. If you want any more info about them, their website is very informative, but you can also call and a representative can answer all the questions you may have. Hope this helps anyone who is struggling during this difficult financial time in our economy.

That is awful... i think that could happen to the a lot of us. Good luck I hope it all works out.

This is terrible and i totally understand. We got into a little bind and tried to go with a credit counseling service. Most of these are scams so be carful if you decide to do this. We were told the norm that they would work with the cc companies to lower the intrest and consolidate payments. Come to find out that while we were paying the credit counselors we were still being hasseled by the cc companies and was told by the credit service that we would still have to continue paying the bills to keep everything out of litigation while also paying them. Now if i had the money to pay all the cc i would not have needed to go with the credit counselor company but now they were expecting me to pay my cc bills and also pay them 350.00 a month. After one month of being with this company we ended up being contacted by attorneys requesting a settlement with the credit cards or take us to court. Now we are trying to fix this and it has been 8 months since i cancelled the counseling service and it is all still a mess. My friend also went thru this and after 9 months of paying the counseling service she had her bank account wipped out by chase leaving her with no money to pay any of her bills or care for her baby. I wish there was more ligitimate help for real people who have financial problems due to the economy. Warning to all be careful with credit cards they are outsourcing everything to india and they refuse to help you.

HI, I'm wondering if the bank warned you on the freeze, or did the y freeze your account on behalf of the credit card company. The bank cannot freeze you account unless you give them permission to access it from another entity, without your permission. It happened to me 10 years ago. the bank I was dealing with refused to take payment for a vehicle, and then decided to call my credit union and wipe me clean out. I then decided to file for bankruptcy to stop payment all together, and to force the bank to send written statements on their refusal to take any payment(which they cannot turn down). It was ruled in my favor, and all money was returned to me in full with interest. Hope this helps D.

Hi C., sorry to hear that you have been having such a rough and trying time, hope things are looking up for you and your family. Thanks for passing along such useful and enlighting information, did not realize they could go as far as to put a lien on your house or take your car. I have to wander how they expect to be paid back if you can't get to work because they took the car. It also boggles the mind how they won't even listen, don't they take into account your payment records seems that hard working people like yourselves is being penilized for things you have no control over. Hope your husband has fully recovered and things will soon be looking up for you.:)

M. S.

Sorry to say but it is not just credit card debt that you have to worry about. If you have a loan you have not paid off they can freeze your finances also. Getting a credit report would not have saved you from this unless you were willing to pay off the debt you owe. Medical bills also show up on your credit report. They can not freeze your assets for this but it does hurt you when you apply for a loan, etc... But yes, getting a credit report each year is a good idea. They mess them up pretty bad. For example: My husbands last credit report had him using two different names. We had to get this corrected. But some errors they are not so willing to correct and will leave them on your report even though they are false. For example: They had my husband living at former addresses that he did not live and and they refused to correct it. I had a hospital bill showing up on mine that had been paid eight years ago as not being paid. That is why you need to hang onto all receipts, check your credit report each year. If there is a financial mistake they will correct it if you send them copies of the receipt (most of the time) they still refuse to remove a doctor bill on mine even though I have sent them a copy of the canceled check and receipt. They say the doctor needs to notify them. This doctor has since left the state and there is no way to contact them. I was informed that some things can stay on your credit report up to 20 years depending on what it is. As for the doctors bill, that was paid, this was in 1995 and is still on the report. We as people have no saying in what is on our report and if they don't want to remove something from it. They don't have to. But yes, it is good advice to check on it and try to get it corrected. Sometimes they will put a note that you dispute the bill. That sometimes helps when applying for credit in the future.

No advice - sorry! Just thank you for putting your story out there. That way we're all warned. And good luck to you in getting your life back together.
E.

Hi C.,
I have been listening to Dave Ramsey lately and he is a big anti-credit card fan. He gives alot of great ideas on how to get out of debt and clear your name. I have also purchased an identity theft protector service that will hopefully help me and my family (including my 2 yr old son) if we ever get our identities stolen. It is a scary world out there. Take care and God bless you and your family.

C.

C.,

This happened to someone I know as well. The credit card debt was incurred over 8 yrs ago. She contacted someone ( a lawyer) appealed it and won. I would keep looking for a lawyer that deals with this or call the courthouse to have an attorney appointed to you. Evidently there are companies that buy up these old bills and then reopen the case to collect the money. Good luck!