round2

I stopped making payments about a year ago, I was hoping to be able to have enough saved up by now to settle all my accounts, unfortunately I've only been able to settle a few smaller ones, and three giants remain until I can save up the cash... what I thought to have already accomplished a year ago by now, suddenly seems like it'll take forever. Right now I have multiple collection agencies calling for me. I have always let it go to voicemail, and depending on the CA they go to town on calling my parents house & a bunch of their neighbors (I had their address listed on the applications from 10 years prior when I originally applied and regrettably never changed it because I moved a lot). Basically, I want to see what all my options are, and then pick one that results in the calls to my parents & neighbors from stopping: 1) From what I've read they can call my neighbors/family/relatives only to acquire my location. Once they have that they are no longer allowed to call... So do I call them up and say this is me, contact me all you want (even though I will let it go to voicemail) and give them my address (just give them my address, or get a po box or virtual office, etc?). Will that make the calls to my parents & their neighbors stop? I haven't done this & usually ignore the calls until I'm ready to settle, and even then contact them from a prepaid cell and arrange the agreement in writing... 2) There is still the possibility I might file for CH7, should I put a bankruptcy attorney on retainer? From what I understand the CA's must only contact the attorney from that point on, correct? And then I can continue with my plan to settle, or if worse comes to worse then I follow through with filing... 3) I read a funny post by IDare here, should I employ this strategy? My Dad likes to yell back at them, but all it seems to do is encourage the CA's to call even more. http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?s...st&p=697251 4) Send a limited C&D? My only concern is I don't want to encourage anyone to sue me if there's a chance I can eventually settle. The only asset I have is my condo. I have $20k equity, but my credit is a disaster so I can't refi to use that as settlement money... On another note, how much time does one typically have to settle before they decide to pursue a judgment? And this is probably an ignorant question, but the condo loan is in my name, but the title is in my dads - does that make me judgement proof? If not, what is the worse that can happen, can they force me to sell the condo... or just slap a lien on it & that is all? I know I've screwed up & I'm trying to make it right as best as I know how...

Thanks for the advice. I suppose I'll just keep hiding for the time being and suffer through the calls, don't want to wake any angry giants... I would like to settle but don't have the funds right now, I guess I will have to try my luck with PFD in about a year down the road or so.

So given the fact I don't have any money to make payments, still contact the OC and explain my situation, that it might be a year out before I can make consistent payments? Would it do any harm?

Thank you guys so much for your replies! Ok, I will just work like crazy on getting my income levels back up... In the mean time should I risk doing anything regarding the invasive phone calls? A limited C&D was suggested... so maybe something along the lines of: "Please keep all forms of communication to US mail only, thanks." Thanks again, this is a great forum.

I've fallen into some hard times, and have some big chunks of credit card debt I owe. I have plans to pay them all back, but it's going to take me a couple years to recoup since my industry is dead and gone and I basically have to start over from scratch... It has been a few months since I stopped paying, and it looks like the first one has finally gone to collections. I received my first collection letter at the beginning of this month... stating I have 30 days to dispute validity of the debt. I will be sending off a Cease & Desist via CMRRR. Should I include a request for validation too? Right now at this point I just want them to stop calling anybody and everybody (ex. neighbors, siblings in-laws, etc)... I do want to eventually pay off all the debt I owe, but like I said it's going to take a couple years as right now I can't even find a job... I was told to avoid filing bankruptcy because it would be harder to remove from my reports vs if I didn't. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!