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In 2004 my wife and I filed for bankruptcy; chapter 7. Afterward I knew we had previously acted like children with our money, and realized we needed to change how we dealt with our finances. I decided my wife and I were not going to borrow another dime again.
In mid-2008 I found out my wife had gotten several credit cards without my permission. I looked into the matter a bit and found it no problem to get the credit card companies to give away her credit information. This is of course illegal on their part, but informative for me. My wife denied ever having done anything without my permission except for when it was clear I knew what she had done.
I found out that my wife owed about $5,000 to credit card companies, and that she had been paying them with money from my checking account.
I got another checking account and I refused to allow my wife access to the new account. I started giving her an allowance to pay for groceries and small things.
I started getting collection calls from Capital One on my cell phone, which is also my work phone. At first it was one call per day. I looked into my credit record and found that my wife had attached my name to her credit card. I argued with Capital One saying that I never signed anything and never agreed to borrow money from them. I told them to stop calling me, since it was not my debt and it was my work phone. They told me my request would be processed. The phone calls continued and I complained more. Each time I called they told me they would take me off their calling list. Eventually I was told it would take 6-8 weeks to remove me from the calling list. Then the phone call rate increased over several days until I was getting two and sometimes three phone calls a day, every day. Then, after I made many calls to them trying to get them to stop calling me, I acted rude (BIG mistake). Capital One then started calling me 4 and 5 times a day while I was trying to sleep (I told them I sleep in the daytime because I drive an 18-wheeler at night). I didn't owe them a dime (the debt was in my wife's name), and I repeatedly told them that, but they continued to call my cell phone. I eventually told them I was afraid I was going to get into an accident and kill somebody because I was so tired from being woken up from the phone calls. They again told me they would take me off the call list, but it would take 6-8 weeks. Afterward I realized I made the mistake of being rude. Had I not been rude they wouldn't have harassed me so many times a day.
Just yesterday I talked to NCO Financial Collections, who called me on my work-cell phone. I was so frustrated by now that I told them the utter truth, which was basically "My wife has no income, she has no assets, the cars are in my name, she is disabled, she filed for social security and got denied because of a lack of previous income, and my wife will almost certainly never have an income again. You can't garnish the wages of someone that doesn't have wages. The debt isn't in my name and their is no legal obligation for me to pay a dime. However, I don't like that she is in debt. I am willing to pay some money to get rid of this debt, but I'm certainly not going to pay the original amount since Capital One knew ahead of time that she was a high risk, and since the garbage she bought didn't benefit me.
NCO Financial Collections agreed for me to pay them $2,000 to get rid of the $4,000 debt. The problem I have is that they refused to allow me to pay by any means other than a check-by-mail. They refused to send me the written agreement. I am seriously skeptical. I think they are just going to take my $2,000 check, cash it, and then say my wife owes another $2,000. If I argue they would simply say they never agreed to any settlement.
I was mad at my wife for all of this at first. We came very close to divorce. But I don't want a divorce, and we have been working things through much better. We get along much better than before. Still though, she has this debt that is a big problem.
I don't mind if she has bad credit for 20 years (like NCO Financial said she would). But I don't want to continue to worry about more lawyer's bills being added (like NCO said), and eventually me being stuck with having to pay it. I don't want to settle the debt at all. I want to ignore it. It's not mine. But I feel like I will only be putting off a debt that eventually the courts will rule that I have to pay (plus all the interest and fees for my not having paid in the first place). I'm also worried if the debt doesn't get paid she will lose her license or be pressured in some other legal way that puts stress on me.
Help please!!
In mid-2008 I found out my wife had gotten several credit cards without my permission. I looked into the matter a bit and found it no problem to get the credit card companies to give away her credit information. This is of course illegal on their part, but informative for me. My wife denied ever having done anything without my permission except for when it was clear I knew what she had done.
I found out that my wife owed about $5,000 to credit card companies, and that she had been paying them with money from my checking account.
I got another checking account and I refused to allow my wife access to the new account. I started giving her an allowance to pay for groceries and small things.
I started getting collection calls from Capital One on my cell phone, which is also my work phone. At first it was one call per day. I looked into my credit record and found that my wife had attached my name to her credit card. I argued with Capital One saying that I never signed anything and never agreed to borrow money from them. I told them to stop calling me, since it was not my debt and it was my work phone. They told me my request would be processed. The phone calls continued and I complained more. Each time I called they told me they would take me off their calling list. Eventually I was told it would take 6-8 weeks to remove me from the calling list. Then the phone call rate increased over several days until I was getting two and sometimes three phone calls a day, every day. Then, after I made many calls to them trying to get them to stop calling me, I acted rude (BIG mistake). Capital One then started calling me 4 and 5 times a day while I was trying to sleep (I told them I sleep in the daytime because I drive an 18-wheeler at night). I didn't owe them a dime (the debt was in my wife's name), and I repeatedly told them that, but they continued to call my cell phone. I eventually told them I was afraid I was going to get into an accident and kill somebody because I was so tired from being woken up from the phone calls. They again told me they would take me off the call list, but it would take 6-8 weeks. Afterward I realized I made the mistake of being rude. Had I not been rude they wouldn't have harassed me so many times a day.
Just yesterday I talked to NCO Financial Collections, who called me on my work-cell phone. I was so frustrated by now that I told them the utter truth, which was basically "My wife has no income, she has no assets, the cars are in my name, she is disabled, she filed for social security and got denied because of a lack of previous income, and my wife will almost certainly never have an income again. You can't garnish the wages of someone that doesn't have wages. The debt isn't in my name and their is no legal obligation for me to pay a dime. However, I don't like that she is in debt. I am willing to pay some money to get rid of this debt, but I'm certainly not going to pay the original amount since Capital One knew ahead of time that she was a high risk, and since the garbage she bought didn't benefit me.
NCO Financial Collections agreed for me to pay them $2,000 to get rid of the $4,000 debt. The problem I have is that they refused to allow me to pay by any means other than a check-by-mail. They refused to send me the written agreement. I am seriously skeptical. I think they are just going to take my $2,000 check, cash it, and then say my wife owes another $2,000. If I argue they would simply say they never agreed to any settlement.
I was mad at my wife for all of this at first. We came very close to divorce. But I don't want a divorce, and we have been working things through much better. We get along much better than before. Still though, she has this debt that is a big problem.
I don't mind if she has bad credit for 20 years (like NCO Financial said she would). But I don't want to continue to worry about more lawyer's bills being added (like NCO said), and eventually me being stuck with having to pay it. I don't want to settle the debt at all. I want to ignore it. It's not mine. But I feel like I will only be putting off a debt that eventually the courts will rule that I have to pay (plus all the interest and fees for my not having paid in the first place). I'm also worried if the debt doesn't get paid she will lose her license or be pressured in some other legal way that puts stress on me.
Help please!!
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