Credit card debt?

My aunt who is in the nursing home and in bad health, almost out of money and having to go on state aid in the very near future. She has 2 cards she had been paying the min. or less on, one isnt very delinquient and the other is with a collection agency, each car is around $3400.00...what are her options, she doesn't own a home, has a little money left in her checking account til the nursing home gets it all. Therefore she is unable to speak with them, i just got her cell phone a couple wks ago and i don't know what to tell them or should i just ignore them or what, she did make me P.O.A. Thanks, the sooner i can get a little help the better, Consolidating won't help cause her money will be gone within 6 months or less.

I also should have mentioned, she is 80 years old and has no reason to need credit, i'll make sure if she goes into a nursing home, they don't have her contact info. Just worries me they might hound other family members who have nothing to do with her, etc... wish she had never gotten those cards but course her health wasn't bad then.

You've left some important detail out. You should gather her specifics and discuss them with a bankruptcy lawyer. A fifteen minute free consultation with two or three different lawyers should help you to determine whether this path is right.

Does your aunt qualify for social security, welfare, or disability aid? These should be looked into as well.

If this goes on unresolved, the debts will be transferred to her beneficiaries. The best route to go is to get all of your family members together and ask for them to contribute anything they can to getting the credit cards paid off.

I say.. stop paying altogether. Write the credit card a letter explaining the situation... you can't get blood froma turnip.

After she passes, the card company will be out of luck.

I wouldn't worry about the credit card debt. Why should she? If she stops paying on them completely, she will ruin her credit. But what does she need good credit for?

The credit card companies CANNOT take money out of her checking account. What will happen when she stops paying on them is her debt will be sold to a collection agency for pennies on the dollar. The collection agency will try to get the full amount out of her because that is how they turn a profit. All you need to do is NOT give anyone a contact number for her because they will hound her day and night.

When your aunt dies, the money that is left over from her estate is what should be used to SETTLE any left over debt. Collection agencies will settle a debt for less than the original amount.....but get it in writting first.

3400.00 isn't a big amount of debt. But if your aunt is out of money and is going to be turning to the state anyway for help.....I wouldn't give what she does have left to those dirty credit card companies. Good luck.

This is coming from a bank loan officer and former collections manager...Let the credit cards go to charge off! She is 80 years old and in a nursing home. Who cares if the cards are not paid! After 90 days the accounts will be written off and sent out to a collection agency for collection, if they have not been already.

If you are worried about phone harassment, this is easy to prevent.

Type a letter, specifically stating "You are ordered to cease and desist any and all phone contact, as well as any other form of communication other than U.S. Postal Mail to communicate information regarding this obligation!"

Have your Aunt sign the letter, and then mail it by "certified mail only," to her creditors or collection agency. By Federal Law they must and will comply with the letter, only if it sent specifically "certified mail."

At this point the creditor has no legal alternative, they may not contact anyone, other than by mail. The must charge off the account and either file suit, if they can show your Aunt has a job, or "collectible/attachable income," which she does not, or send the file to final write off, which means the simply know they will never get their money so they don't bother.

In your Aunts case, thats a no brainer. The creditor will just take the loss and move on.

FYI: I don't really like creditors getting hurt, but sometimes do to life circumstances, the money is just not there to pay them. That's why they charge "interest," to pay for that risk in advance.