I can't pay my credit card debt... I woke one day to that realization. I can't pay my credit card debt and I don't know what is going to happen to me. It was a very scary time, filled with uncertainty and doubt. Will they take my home? Will creditors take my truck? Will my collection agents take my furniture? Now that I have been through this process, I'd like to share a few insights into what will happen when you can't pay your credit card debt.

Are You Upside Down In Debt?
Credit cards can be seductive, the additional ability to make purchases, and to worry about the payments later. I found myself listening to their call and loved how easy it was to keep track of my finances with credit card statements. I would use my credit cards to pay my utility bills, my rent, everything I could find, rationalizing that it was how I would keep track of my costs. Well I found I found myself upside down with credit card debt.

I fell into default, and avoided dealing with my out of whack finances.

The creditors and collection agencies start to call you and they want you to take a deal. Everyone seems to have a solution to your debt problem. I told them the truth, that I didn't have the money to pay down my credit cards debt and I couldn't support paying away only interest and making no progress any longer with what little money I was making.

I proposed an amount to pay that I could manage, but the credit cards would not accept it, saying it was not enough. When that happened I went into full default and stopped paying all together on my credit card debt. I was worried, can they put me in jail for this, press charges, what is going to happen to me?

What Really Happened with my Credit Card Debt:
The months passed and I was not thrown in jail as a debtor. An attorney representing a collection agency contacted me and told me I had to pay. I did not. The debt obligation was then sold to a separate company. This new collections company then began to contact me to try and get me to pay my debt. It was as if the process started anew. I of course did not pay them either.

More time passed, my credit was ruined, the harassing collection agencies continue to call, as every 6 months or so the debt is sold to another company who feels they might be more successful in collecting what is due. After 7 years the credit card debt falls off your credit report, but with the multitude of inaccuracies in the system I still receive phone calls from collections agents intent on making me miserable and collecting. It is a nightmare, and there are better ways to go about resolving your credit card debt.