Bankruptcy law - heads up to my DU friends

[makhno]

Dear DUers,

MBNA has just informed me that the APR on a VISA Platinum I have will rise from 9.99% to 19.99% starting with the October billing cycle. Why October? Here's the answer.

Needless to say, I will be writing MBNA a letter rejecting the changes, will stop using the card and pay off my balance. Most of us knew it was coming, and, thankfully, some of us are in a financial situation where this change will not affect their financial well-being beyond incovneniencing some consumerist patterns we should ween ourselves off anyway.

If any of you had doubts about the real intent of the law, here it is. Black on white.

I truly wish, however, that the Democratic elected representatives who voted for that travesty had half the communal foresight we have on this site.

On edit: I thought my 1000th post would make me happy.

[WCGreen]

1. Yep....

I tell all my cleints, I am an accountant, that if they are contemplating bankruptcy, they should do it <<<<<NOW>>>>>

[Wcross]

2. They are about to put the pinch on millions.

I have one card with a 2500 dollar balance. It is supposed to be 0% until september 06. I am prepared to pay it off at any time (with some financial pain) if they try to pull that crap on me,

I have a friend who is deep in the hole (20-30k) on credit cards. His annual income is only 30k. I have warned him about the doubling of minimum payments and the changing bk laws. He is still charging expensive items. He is going to lose it all.

[WCGreen]

3. Tell your friend to bale now....

[Wcross]

6. He won't listen.

A couple of month ago he mentioned "I can make double my minimum payments" and "I can keep getting 0% cards to transfer the balance too". He is a state of denial about his spending and how credit card companies operate. I hate to see it happen but you can't convince some people.

[WCGreen]

8. He is going to ruin his life......

But, you have the sterile consolation of telling him I told you so...

Credit and spending addiction is as bad as some drug addictions....

[Wcross]

10. As a matter of fact- he went from alcoholic to spendoholic.

This guy had a terrible drinking problem for years. He would drink every night and have blackouts. He was forced into treatment due to DWI arrests. I live in another state but even from afar I knew it was getting bad. He is now clean and sober. I have a strong feeling he replaced his drinking urge with a spending urge.

[WCGreen]

11. As a recovering Alcoholic myself....

One addiction does, from time to time, replace another....

[sniffa]

15. how can he baLe?

decLare bankruptcy? find a new card to transfer?

[WCGreen]

16. Declare Bankruptcy now....

After the law takes effect....

There will be no saving this individual...

The Baks couldn't stop themselves from granting credit to anyone who was able to breathe....

Now they are going to punish others for thier bad judgement...

The pain should be suffered by both......

[sniffa]

17. can bankruptcy be denied?

i'm way over my head in debt, but have avoided trying to take this road. but i can bareLy make the min. payments now, so if they doubLe...

[northzax]

18. cal the companies before you file

explain your situation, tell them that you don't want to file for br, but it may be your only option, but that you'd prefer to pay them. I did this and had three major successes: MBNA gave me 1% interest for 60 months (in writing, unchangable unless I miss two payments in a row) Citibank gave me 0% interest for 12 months, and Chase settled for 35% of the tab. The last one will affect my credit, but not as much as filing for BR would have done.

remember, all they can say is 'no' and they'd prefer to have you pay them, even at a lower rate, than not pay at all.

[WCGreen]

19. You have to do it now....

Bankruptcy after the deadline will kill you...

Seek out the advice of a bankruptcy attorney TODAY......

[sniffa]

20. damn

it's just so embarrassing. :cry:

[WCGreen]

21. I did it... It is embarassing...

But I lost everything before I decided I had to go through with it...

Do it now, you don't want to be facing the future we are.....

[Blue Diadem]

4. We're refinancing right now,

after two plant closings and 1 yr of being unemployed, we have some debt..but have always maintained an excellent credit score so in my ignorance, I didn't think it would affect us. Our surprise came in August. Local bank sold their credit card to a major bank and we got the notice..7.99% going up to 23.99%.

I think they've declared open season on the American citizen.

[LynzM]

5. It's going to hurt

Many, many people. We're included in that right now. Looks like maybe I'll look at loans for school and paying off the cards, as school loans have low rates and can be paid back later...

[sniffa]

13. ...

:cry:

:hug: i hope we make it somehow.

[Renew Deal]

7. Cancel your MBNA.

They are one of the heaviest RW donors.

[graywarrior]

9. I just signed on the dotted line with a lawyer to handle

my debt. I gonna cry for a month.

[sniffa]

12. shouLd i just go ahead and decLare bankruptcy now?

[miss_kitty]

14. Yep. I'm filing-my attorney called last week.

We were hoping to avoid the whole thing-I've managed without it since 2001.
As a former credit analyst and credit card fraud investigator, someone who had spotless credit until I was hit with a catastrophic illness while unemployed and uninsured, I find that having to attend 'credit class' as a condition of filing after the 17th of October to be extremely insulting and humiliating. I will be dumping a high-mid 4 figure debt on both MBNA and BofA. Fuck them. They blow that much in a 5 minutes mailing promos out to people who don't want their shit.

[anarch]

24. that sounds very familiar...

Between student loans and credit card debt built up on account of 1. school expenses, 2. medical expenses, 3. S.O. getting laid off, 4. everything generally costing too much for me to afford to live...

I wonder if I should just go ahead and declare. It's crazy...I work more than full time, and I can't even afford to pay my rent right now. It's mostly medical stuff, and I HAVE insurance (I guess I would be one of the "underinsured, working poor"). Meanwhile, I'm paying my minimum payments, but it's barely covering the interest, so what the hell good is it doing me?

I sometimes wish I would have just gone ahead and become homeless a couple years ago...saving me from that is pretty much all I can say for the goddamn credit card...

:-(

[miss_kitty]

25. Move quickly

you'll need to get a lawyer yesterday. they are snowed. It's a $209 filing fee + whatever the atty charges. Since the new law makes it more complex, attys will be charging more after the 17th of October.
You can only file bnky once every ten years. You may never get a new SSN if you've ever filed bnky.

[anarch]

26. cripes

I love that there's a $200 filing fee when you are DECLARING GODDAMN BANKRUPTCY!!!

I expect, if things don't change around here, in the future they will just check peoples' wallets at the ER, and if they don't like what they see, they'll just send you back out into the street to die.


Sorry for the rant, I'm just so amazed at how fucked up things are sometimes.

:rant:

[IntravenousDemilo]

22. A 20-per-cent APR?!

What ever happened to usury laws, anyway? That, and windfall-profit laws (we used to have those in Canada). The time was, they used to throw these people in the clink.

[miss_kitty]

27. Usury laws were repealed

I can't remember when.

[IntravenousDemilo]

23. DUPE, self-delete

[graywarrior]

28. Well, it's official. I just filed Chapter 13.

Florida has the worst bankruptcy rules.