If you do not pay on your unsecured credit cards can they take away any of your assets?
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if you dont pay unsecured credit card debt can they take your assets?
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7 Responses to “if you dont pay unsecured credit card debt can they take your assets?”
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If you are talking about an unpaid credit card debt, the answer is generally no for small balances (maybe $2000 or less, all depends on the company). What will happen is they will charge-off the account, you will be harassed by collections, and you will have a nasty credit record for the next 7 years.
True, for larger amounts, they will place a judgment against you that may need to be satisfied if you buy or refinance a house. As a mortgage underwriter, I rarely saw garnishments for small credit card collections. Child support or tax liens were much more frequent.
Also, "assets" is rather vague. If you have liquid assets, maybe talk with them about a settlement, which will also put a nasty mark on your credit, but you won’t be referred to collections.
If your in the UK the answer is no.
No they won’t. But they can send it collections, then possibly court or mark as a discharge on your credit report and still hold you responible for the debt.
In the US they need to first get a court judgment against you which is almost automatic if they ask for it. Once they get a judgment just about anything you own, your bank accounts, and your salary, are fair game (depending on state laws).
Although they can get a judgment they usually don’t bother because most people in debt don’t have anything worth going after or don’t owe enough to make it worthwhile. Between court costs and the sheriffs fee to seize assets, and auction fees, unless there is big time money involved it costs them more than they could recover. So they just harass you for a while, turn it over to a collection agency who will harass you for a while longer, eventually they make you an offer to settle for less than you owe and in the end just write it off as a bad debt.
No. This is why it is called UNSECURED debt. 99% of the time it will go to collections and the credit company will write it off as a business loss. It most likely won’t even end up in court, no guarantees though. Now if you don’t pay on something like a car loan, they will take back the car. That is a SECURED debt.
If you are current, your creditors do not have the need to garnish your wages because they are receiving money from you on a monthly basis. But the minute you become delinquent your creditors have the right to take legal actions against you, garnish your wages since the banks do have a right to proceed legally to recover their money. When you stop making monthly payments, your creditors or collectors make it seem like they could garnish your wages from one day to the other, but in reality, it requires a lengthily legal process.
No, but they should be able to. People charge all kinds of things, then they get to keep them??? Thats not fair to the people who pay their bills