Does anybody know if a credit card company can take your house...

[zanne]

We owe under $3,000. We got a summons from small claims court today. Does anybody know if they can take our house? We've only had it for two years so we don't have much equity.

[Boojatta]

1. Did you use a credit card to buy the house?

[zanne]

3. No, we didn't use a credit card to buy the house.

The house was my inheritance from my mother. However, she had a reverse mortgage on it, so we had to take out a mortgage to pay off that debt,which was huge. My brothers and sisters also have a mortgage on the house, because when my husband and I are deceased, they will split the money from the sale of the house after the reverse mortage debt is paid.

[Bunny]

2. No. Credit cards are generally unsecured loans.

So unless you put your house up for collateral on the credit card (very unlikely), they cannot take your house.

[snailly]

9. Yep. Listen to Bunny.

[PassingFair]

23. Credit card debt IS secured.

Many people have had to claim bankruptcy to keep
their homes.

The bankruptcy bill of 05 allowed for credit card
debt to be secured debt, considered as just chargeable as
child support, under the legislated MEANS TESTING.

I may be wrong here, but this is the way I recall it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/08/opinion/08krugman.html

[Captain Hilts]

34. When CC companies sell your debt to collectors, they're 'unsecured'. nt

[david13]

4. They can't take the house. But they can get a small claims judgment

and record that with the county recorder which then is a lien on the house, which, before you sell, must be paid, or the new buyer can't get their loan approved, etc.
You can wipe out the cc debt in bankruptcy. You have an exemption by state or federal law in the equity in your house, or if no equity, nothing to exempt.
But you would not want to declare bankruptcy without first consulting an attorney and doing the debt counseling now required and generally making a plan to see what your financial alternatives are.
Your best bet is to see a lawyer, check all the info on the internet, ask friends, then make your own decisions based on what you want to do, and what is best for you. Be very careful about listening to people who are not lawyers. Friends, family, neighbors, and generally know it alls will give you all kinds of bad advice and untrue statements.
Shop around. Don't be afraid to take 3 free counseling sessions from 3 different licensed lawyers.
One little credit card is not sufficient reason to declare bk.
dc

[zanne]

5. Thank you all for the information....

We will try to get some free legal advice, though waiting lists are long. Both my husband and I are disabled and living on Social Security, so unless the bank puts a lien on the house, there's no way they can get money from us, because we just don't have any. We were paying our credit card bills on time every month, but as time went by, the interest got higher and higher and finally we were unable to pay on time, then we couldn't pay the full amount and they started calling us ten times a day (now it's at least twice an hour). We finally figured we couldn't satisfy them so we started to buy things like real groceries and started ignoring the credit card bill. Paying them every month didn't help and they wouldn't work with us on a payment plan.

[SoxFan]

6. Call me on Monday

You've got my number. They're probably trying to scare the hell out you (looks like that part worked).

[HopeHoops]

7. I've got a 77 lb border collie and a shotgun.

Nope.

[Orrex]

8. I'll tell you exactly what credit card companies can take

They can take a telephone pole, whittle the end to a dull point, and shove it up their evil, collective, corporate ass.

[rebel with a cause]

10. Exactly!!!!

I lost my job, became disabled and was without any income for five years. I owed two store credit cards which together now comes to a little over 3,000. After I lost my job, I started paying everything I could to try to get the cards paid down, but with one bogus penalty after another the amount owed rose instead of decreased. After almost three years of this, I gave up and quit paying because I was getting nowhere but deeper in dept. That was nine year ago. I now receive SIS and SS, which means I get very little and they are still sending me threats.

It has been almost twelve years since I used the cards and was employed full time, nine years since I made a payment, and two weeks since I received my last letter from one of them asking for payments. The funny thing is that the letter proclaimed how this creditor was such a caring debt collector to those that owed them. I have never received any notice about any court dates, so if they have taken me to court I don't know about it. I own nothing, so even if they could there is nothing to take.

When I die I may will them my ashes. I'll have someone scatter them in their stores in a nearby town. :evilgrin:

[vadawg]

13. woohoo if you havent paid anything on them for 9 years the statute of limitations will probuably

apply, look into your states rules, they will keep trying to get you to repay to reset the clock, but you may be free and clear...

[rebel with a cause]

14. I know.

Sears did that once in 2ooo. They promised me that if I make a payment they would lower my interest so I could get it paid off. I took part of my rent money and paid on it. They lowered it by 1%. I learned my lesson then. I wonder what the rule is on corresponding with them, because they keep trying to get me to send them letters.

There use to be a seven year limit here in Illinois but the laws have changed now so I am not sure what they are. I just ignore them and wait for them to go away. They have spent more money on trying to collect this debt than what I originally owed. Probably many times what it was originally.

[vadawg]

16. i looked it up, it looks like its 5years on open accounts

so i think you are reasonably okay, i would let the company keep mailing you shit and wasting their money...

[rebel with a cause]

17. Thanks,

That is what I am doing. Time will tell what they will try next. :crazy:

[zanne]

18. I never thought of the amount of money they spend...

trying to collect. I'm sure they've spent over $3,000 on us so far. This has been going on for some time. We have a cell phone, and they just discovered it. My husband takes it with him when he leaves the house because I have severe heart disease and a couple of times, I've had to call him to tell him I was headed for the hospital. When I go out on my own, I need it for the same reason. With these creditors calling all the time, there's a tendency not to answer the phone or even look at who's calling. It makes me a bit nervous.

[rebel with a cause]

21. I understand what you are saying about the heart problem

and those calls making you nervous. I have a heart problem also but my mine is not as advanced as yours must be. Because of the calls and the cost, we got rid of our land line and now depend only on cell phones. Our cells are in my daughter's name, but I am sure they will find me eventually. Right now it is all postal. ;)

[zanne]

25. They didn't find the cell phone number for over six months.

I'd like to get rid of my landline phone, too. I just think it's unnecessary to have two phones. We have one out of habit, but we'd save money if we dumped it. I'd have to get a cell phone of my own, but I'm sure there are family plans we could take advantage of.

I think that, at this point, creditors are using illegal tactics to collect debt. It'a s desperate time. I'm not saying that we don't owe this debt. We do, and we'd like to pay it back over time, but they won't allow us to do it that way. They have called our tenant, who has her own phone number and connection. They only did it once, but I could just picture the person on the other end of the line hoping for a commission. They're getting dirty.

[rebel with a cause]

27. Calling your tenant is illegal.

If they mention anything about what the call was about. They are not allowed to call a third party in an attempt to collect.

I use of live in a neighborhood where I would get calls for people I did not know but who supposedly lived within a few blocks of me. I just started telling the callers that I had no idea who these people (were which was true) and to not call me again. Of course they did, but they never told me why they wanted the people for so they were walking a thin line between legal and illegal.

Yeah, get rid of the land line and get a couple of cell phones on a family/friends plan. If you want a bit of invisibility perhaps there is someone else (a relative) who will help you get the phone in their name so you would be harder to find. I feel deviant saying these things but sometimes things make you feel trapped, helpless and desperate.

Good luck with it all. I know this can be traumatic.

[zanne]

28. Thank you. nt

[JCMach1]

19. Usually, the court thing is a BLUFF

They would use this as an open threat. Most likely, they would never shell the funds for a court date.

[prolesunited]

11. This Web site has a lot of good advice

Including how to get them to stop harassing you. Calling every two hours is abusive and you do have rights.

http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/index.html

[debbierlus]

12. They can't. Homestead your house, if it is available in your state

Credit card companies can't take your house.

And, homestead your home if you are eligible. It is really cheap & easy.

[rebel with a cause]

15. In Illinois they cannot take any of your property.

I do know that. In fact there in not much they can do except ruin your credit rating and my ex had already done that to me. With them, I just got to take credit for doing it to myself. :evilgrin:

[elehhhhna]

20. NO, cc debt is UNSECURED.

& go to legalzoom.com and look up bankruptcy law in your state just in case it becomes an option in the future...

[treestar]

22. Not unless they get a judgment they can record as a lien

Which would depend on the state's law.

And then they would be a junior creditor - after the mortgage company.

[flvegan]

26. This is the correct answer.

[david13]

29. Did you read #4?

[flvegan]

30. I have, and much of it, short of the subject is correct.

Depending upon the state, any final judgment can be executed upon property, both real and tangible. Ultimately, for example in Florida, any judgment (small claims or otherwise) once executed upon can result in what's called a Sheriff's Deed which does vest fee simple title (subject to superior liens and mortgages) in the holder of said judgment.

So...yes, there are times in some jurisdictions where one could ultimately lose their home due to a credit card debt.

I do agree that speaking to an attorney is what one with any real concern should do.

[david13]

31. Trust deed or judgment lien sale. But then the credit card company

or their collection agency has to do what? Pay the first. Do you think they are going to do that? Do you think they want to do that?
Does it make any economic sense for them to do that?
In the meantime, the debtor can remove the lien in a chapter 7, as a non purchase money security interest.
Florida the homestead exemption used to be unlimited, and in a chapter 7 non purchase money security interests can be avoided, and therefore at one time a 4 million dollar house could not be touched.
I think it's now limited, to what I don't know.
dc

[pitohui]

24. no a credit card is an unsecured line of credit EOM

.

[Catshrink]

32. Here is another website with useful information

I scoured it once when I had problems with creditors calling me for someone with a similar name. The site has sample letters and tons of stories/advice.

http://www.creditboards.com/forums/

Good luck!

[mdmc]

33. --