Consequences of Credit Card Defaults

Consequences of Credit Card Defaults

Credit Cards

Credit card default is a topic that no one wants to have to deal with. However, if you do not pay your credit card bills, eventually they are going to go into default. Here are some of the consequences that you should expect with credit card default.

  1. Negative Statements:
    If you start to miss some payments on your credit cards, the first thing that is going to happen is that you will get negative statements on your credit file. credit  card companies regularly report to the three major credit bureaus. Whenever a customer is not making payments on their cards, the credit card company will alert the credit bureaus. This will start to do immediate damage on your credit file and your credit score. One of the biggest criteria that the credit bureaus used to determine a credit score is whether or not you make your payments on time. This will happen from the very first month that you miss your payment and will continue for approximately six months.
  2. Charge off:
    After you have not paid your credit card bill for at least six months, the credit card company is going to charge off the debt. This does not mean that they are eliminating the debt from your record. When this happens, the credit card company will again report something negative on your credit file with the credit bureaus.
  3. Collection Calls:
    At this point, the credit card company is going to start making collection calls directly to you. They will try to get you to pay the debt in a number of different ways. Many times, they will call you several times a day in order to speak to you about this matter.
  4. Collection Company:
    If they are unable to get you to repay the debt directly, they will turn your case over to a collection company. The collection company will then commence calling you on a regular basis in order to try to collect the debt. They are also going to start sending you correspondents through the mail.
  5. Litigation:
    If the collection company is not able to collect the debt, the credit card company may decide to file a lawsuit against you. You will receive a notice from the court that the lawsuit has been filed. At that point, you may need to hire a lawyer to represent you in court. You will be notified of the court date and you will be expected to show up at court if a settlement cannot be reached outside of court prior to the date.
  6. Judgment:
    If the credit card company takes you to court, in most cases the judge is going to rule in their favor. When this happens, a number of things could potentially happen to you. The court could decide to levy money from your bank account or they could even possibly garnish your wages for a certain amount of time until the debt is paid.

 

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