Help!! Can I do anything?? Bankruptcy???

[Bella1980]

My head is once again swimming. I am receiving mail for a family member who has left the country (no plans to return as far as I can tell).

I just received a letter from a lawfirm suing this family member for a charged-off household bank creditcard in arbitration. Is there anything I can do to help this family member?

They don't care and say to just ignore it and they are NOT going to be sending any money to pay it.

Also,this family member has been sued by their mortgage company for foreclosure. They weren't served (cos they are overseas) but it looks as if the local state county is now the defendant in their place. Once again is there anything I can do?

Should I tell this family member to file bankruptcy and just start afresh? (the reason I am so concerned is because I really feel like this family member may want to move back here in a few years) Also, is it even possiblefor them to file for bankruptcy from overseas??

This is really upsetting me as I am trying to fix my own credit and their problems are weighing me down evenmore.

[llecs]

If they aren't coming back to the US, then it is a non-issue for them. If they are coming back, then it is still a non-issue for them. Sounds like they don't care about the debt. If they say to ignore it and that they won't pay, then there isn't anything you could do about it.

Yes, you can file for bankruptcy overseas. It would be one expensive postage bill, though, with all the Fed Exs going back and forth (for signatures). Plus they'd have to hire a good attorney here.

If the local county is representing them, then someone in your family called for assistance.

[Bella1980]

Actually, no-one called the county. I am the only person dealing with the affairs.

The person who is in foreclosure is my mom and she didn't even know until I told her that she is being foreclosed. And I only knew because I got letters from attorneys saying they saw her foreclosure in the county records.

I found out that the state is the defendant because I looked in the countys public records.

I would normally disregard it but I know mom and know that within a couple of years she will want to come back (she switches countries like hairdos)

Should I just ignore this stuff and she can deal with it when she gets back? She cannot afford to pay for a lawyer.

[llecs]

I don't see how or why the state would step in like that.

If that happened to me, I'd be on the phone trying to figure out why the lender fail to credit my payments. Or maybe there was a special situation in the neighborhood, like due to HOA rules or something like that which caused the foreclosure.

Now someone should correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, please, but a decision to come back at a future date wouldn't be impeded. She can still come back in the US anytime. She'll have the chance to come back and get a new place and move on if that is what she wanted to do. A foreclosure wouldn't stop her.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry, unless she asked for help.

If I were you mom, then I'd come back and figure out what is going on.

[Anonymous]

I don't mean to be disrespectful, Bella, but if your mom had her own home, why in the WORLD are YOU getting the dunning letters?????

They should NOT be contacting YOU. Nor sending any communications TO you.

I personally, would write "No such person" or "person unknown" on the letters and send'em back. Really, I know that you're worried about your mom and I understand that you want to be apprised of everything that's going on. But realistically, unless you're prepared to pay all the delinquent bills and take over the mortgage payments, there's really NOTHING you CAN do.

All you're doing is stressing out over something that can't be helped or changed (by you). Your mom has made clear that she's not going to pay and doesn't really care. So, really, you shouldn't either.

I don't mean to sound all "Tough Love" on you, but really, you're just leaving yourself open to unnecessary stress and aggravation. And since you're currently working on YOUR credit ills, you can't afford to voluntarily adopt someone else's woes. At least, not until you've solved your own problems.

But let's go further. Let's say that you HAVE fixed your credit and you're sitting pretty at NO baddies, and a nice 850 FICO:

What CAN you do? Can you pay ALL of her bills? I doubt that. Mortgages ain't cheap. If it was, she'd be able to pay it.

Can you file BK for her? Nope.

Can you act as legal representation on her behalf? Nope (unless there's a law degree you didn't mention).

ALL you CAN do is advise her. And even then, all you can do is advise her to pay her bills. Which, I'm sure you've done.

Beyond giving her advice, there's nothing you CAN do. You've given her the benefit of your wisdom, you've given her options. It's up to HER to decide what to do. And since you said that she said she ain't paying. That's her decision.

You've done ALL you CAN. You're done. You can listen to her, commiserate with her, maybe even pursue a few options for her IF she ASKS (such as DVing, HIPAAing, etc), but that's IT.

The rest is just, honestly, crap you can't do a durn thing about.