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Most people start these stories with an explanation of how they ended up maxed out and charged off. I'm no different. Lost my job when the balances may have been reasonable. Lack of job ballooned those balances to untenable territory. All told, by summer 2019 I chose to stop making the minimum payments. Let roughly 16 CCs go to the tune of $40k+. Lowest was a lowly Disco at $600. Highest was a Chase Sapphire at nearly $11k.
Some more unfortunate stuff happened and my car was repossessed in Feb 2020. So at this point, my credit (which was in the mid 700s when I was employed) is not exactly state of the art. I contact a BK attorney during the early days of Covid. A few consults get shifted around. I end up not rescheduling.
Fasy forward to late summer 2021. I'm approved for a car loan (sky high interest, but by this time I'm back to being gainfully employed and have no issue paying the five year loan off within a year). I'm also approved for a Mission Lane CC (CL $400 with an AF of $59) and a secured Cap1 QS (CL $300). Three months later I'm approved for a basic non-secured Cap1 for another $300 (even though I owe them roughly $7k over three CO cards). I'm also now an AU on a AmEx Gold and Chase Sapphire.
My question(s) are simple, and I'm not trying to be sarcastic. Why am I being let slightly back in the game with all these outstanding debts that I clearly haven't tried to resolve? Why is Cap1 even dealing with me again? And the big one: I'm nearly to the halfway point of the SOL... is there a chance I can still be sued? I honestly don't see what the point of going BK at this juncture would be, since I've already come this far.
First off. Your siggy shows total CL 60k. Did you keep some accounts positive? Might want to update it. No longer applies. Think about the thousands Cap1 let back in. Folks run balances/swipes which makes money for Cap1. Might make up for who nows how many accounts that were charged off or folks who filed BK. They get some $ back. The closer you get to the end of the SOL limits thats on your reports. Thats usually when they get more agressive in some cases. Chase for one. So you can contact them all and work out a plan to get all the CO accounts to $0 balance or last resort file BK. Thats your decision. Will they all go into the night quietly and just fall off? Probably not.
Yes there is always a chance you will be sued even past SOL. You have to assert SOL as a defense if you are sued past SOL. I would lay low until SOL passes and not poke anyone unless you are able to settle with them, you can always settle for less.
Oh they will most definitely come out of the wood work as SOL expiration approaches. Also, it's worthwhile to note that while you've been "let in" to build new credit, it's with subprime issuers (or at least subprime cards in Cap One's case), and with subpar. sky-high interest rates as you noted. So your credit can definitely still stand to be improved. The way to achieve that is by paying back what you still owe, even if settled for less, and get all the COs zeroed out. That would do wonders for your credit and open up the door to better cards/better interest rates.
Alternatively, if you try to wait them out, as I mentioned above, most, if not all, issuers will start coming after you right before SOL expires, potentially causing you to have to consider BK if they all come after you via the courts.
@mysterythemoon i would be thankful and not question why... just appreciate where you just were and look at where your going - your already turning things around which is awsome! As for me, capital one still refuses to let me back in the door which at this point is just comical .
Failed to mention: I incorrectly assumed the SOL was 7 years, when in fact it's 4 years. This changes my thinking entirely.
May not be the most honorable thing, but at this point I'm hoping to just play for time. I live in CA, so as I understand the law, the SOL starts the day I made my last payment. For nearly all the cards, according to CK, that was in late April 2019. So I have four months to see which companies, if any, will file suit against me.