Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
NSF checks
I overspent with my credit cards in years past, and am now
in a debt repayment program with Consumer Credit Counselors
Service. This involves paying over $1,000.00 per month, to pay creditors. My car loan lender, Union Bank, has agreed to lower my car payments to $200.00 from $300.00. Even still, I borrow money from high-interest lenders each month, and bounce several checks toward the end of every month. I pay the NSF charges, both to my bank and to the creditor. My question is, can the law offices my creditors use to collect payments take punitive action against me? Would it be helpful if I sent part of the amount due, and a note promising full payment in future? I cannot pay all my debts at once, but I do want to clear my balances with everyone I owe.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: NSF checks
no they cannot. the only thing they can do is file a lawsuit to collect the money owed, no more. Have you looked at bankruptcy?
Re: NSF checks
You can create what is known as a "composition" of your creditors. That is make a list of all of your creditors, and contact them one at a time asking for their agreement of your putting in to a pot the same amount of money each month, an amount you can afford without paying for nsf check charges. Propose that they each get a pro rata share of your monthly contribution. Chances are they have given up on getting all of the indebtedness you owe them. So any proposal which gives them 100% will sound good. You might also attempt to pay nothing to anyone for awhile. That should permit you to accumulate some money, with which you could approach creditors offering to pay 50-60% of their obligation for a release in full. You might be surprised at how many of your creditors are in as much need of cash as you are, and will accept far less than 100%. You can't get hurt for trying.
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