Should I Stop Paying my Credit Card Bills before Filing Bankruptcy ?


Once you make up your mind about filing for bankruptcy you must sort out the bills and debts that you intend to clear through bankruptcy and those which has to be paid anyways or the non-dischargeable bills. Credit card bills are dischargeable and are the most popular types of debt to be sorted out through filing for bankruptcy all over Michigan. But when do you stop paying your credit card bills and consider filing bankruptcy ? Or what amount of credit card bill can actually be considered large enough and beyond your capacity to pay off ? Factors like whether if you can pay off your debt, or harassment you are facing from creditors or the amount of non-exempt property you own all together exert a vital influence on your decision for filing bankruptcy.

credit card bills

Is my credit card bill large enough to be considered for filing bankruptcy ?

While you deliberate upon the decision of filing bankruptcy the first thing to be considered is whether you can afford to pay your credit card bill. If you have enough money to do so you may not be eligible for filing bankruptcy.

I am eligible for filing bankruptcy. Do I still need to keep paying my credit card bills?

Once you qualify as eligible for filing for bankruptcy, even before you file the petition with the federal court, you can stop paying your credit card bills as that would be nothing but wastage of money since these are the very debts you are going to wipe out through bankruptcy.

Is there any chance that I would be sued or harassed by the credit card company once I stop paying ?

If your last credit card bill is within 90 days from the day of filing for bankruptcy and was spent on luxury goods, the credit card company can sue you in that case. This situation would be posed as fraud on the grounds that you deliberately made these purchases without any intentions of paying back at all.  We strongly advice for delaying the filing for bankruptcy if this is the situation.

Apart from this, credit card companies cannot legally harass you for payment as the “automatic stay” gets active once you file your petition with the federal court that prevents creditor from extracting money legally from you.

However for the time being before filing for bankruptcy, it is likely that you get frequent calls from debt collecting agencies asking for payments. It is best to ignore these calls till you file for bankruptcy.

I am not sure if I will end up filing for bankruptcy, should I stop paying my bills anyways ?

If you have decided firmly about filing for bankruptcy, stopping your payments to the credit card company is fine but if you are not so sure would advise against non-payment. The longer you will leave out your payments the more likely you are to fall prey to lawsuits and harassment and probable damages to your credit records.

Not paying your credit card bills once you are absolutely decided on filing bankruptcy is a feasible idea but one should always be careful about any loopholes in your financial situation that may go against you. Let an Experienced Detroit bankruptcy attorney only to evaluate your financial conditions before stopping payments.

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