by angella » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:10:57 AM
First: Survival comes first. Pay the mortgage/rent, utilities, food. Then worry about transportation and secured debt. Whether the credit card companies like it or not, they are unsecured debt, unnecessary for daily survival, and will just have to wait. Take care of you and your family first. Do not pay the debt at risk of becoming homeless.
Second: Any damage to your credit rating is done. There is nothing you can do at this point to fix it and there is now no hurry to pay it. Again... a warm place to live and food is most important and should be the only thing you think about. There is no logical reason to risk homelessness simply to satisfy a collector. Educate yourself as to collections legislation and keep the agencies within those guidelines. Do not allow them to harass, intimidate, or abuse you.
Third: Do not call your creditors to settle or make payments until you're actually in a position to follow through. That will simply make a bad situation worse and risk that, when you are finally financially able to do so, they will not work with you.
Fourth: Even if they do take you to court, the court will be far more lenient with you based on your financial circumstances than any collector - and the collection calls, once you have a judgement and terms, will stop. If you keep records of harassment and violations you may even be able to go after the agency yourself if necessary.
Fifth: If you haven't already done so, you should consider picking up a part time job to at least hold the wolves to the curb rather than having them howling and scratching at the door.
Sixth: Collection agencies have been known to make threats directly to children. Make sure that, not only you know your rights and the limitations on collection agencies... but that your children are aware of them as well so they cannot be scared or intimidated.
Finally: Try not to stress about it. Try not to let it get you down. Live your life. Hang up the phone on collectors and/or give them an agent/paralegal/lawyer/credit counsellor of some sort to contact so you are not receiving the calls yourself if that's what you need to do. In fact, you may even want to contact a credit counsellor or lawyer to help you manage this and find some legal means of ending it through orderly payment of debts order, etc.