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I'm coming to a point where I'm not able to make my payments on several credit cards totalling to around $25K. Most are with one bank institution $18K for several CC accounts. My only two options now are defaulting forever or bankruptcy. I'm not too worried about the nagging from collection agents, but I'm worried about my house. I need to know what could happen for each of those situations. Can a creditor get a court order to put a lien on my house or car? I live in Texas and have paid half of my house and car. My credit score is already very bad. How long will I have the non paid credit cards on my credit report of I stop making payments going forward?
The negative listings will stay on your report for seven years. And most likely the creditor will sue you and garnish your wages before they would put a lien on your house. But they will get their money. Have you considered a debt consolidation where you put all your bills into one payment? Or a debt settlement where you hire someone to negotiate and get the creditor to take less as pay off. Now I believe the debt settlement affects your credit. But those are the only other two I know of other than bankruptcy that you can consider.
You have a couple of options other than bankruptcy to resolve your unsecured credit card debts. Credit counseling is the first option. Credit counseling is a third party managed payoff strategy where your interest rates are lowered to the bank's concession rate and thereby your monthly payments decline. Typically, a credit counseling program runs around five years to getting debt free, but each consumer's experience depends on their own creditors and the size of their payments.
The second option is debt settlement. Debt settlement is a program for negotiating and settling consumer debt to a discount to face value. Frequently, resulting in lower payments, lower debts, and a short period to debt freedom while avoiding bankruptcy.
If you are concerned about your home home or auto and whether a creditor can place a lien against your property I advise you take a look at this link which provides the break down of State Consumer Protection Laws and Exemptions . My understanding, you may want to check with an experienced attorney in your state, is that in Texas there is not much a creditor can do. A home and auto in Texas have unlimited exemption.
The good news for your situation is that you live in a state that provides strong consumer protection laws.
In terms of your credit report most items, positive or negative, remain on your credit report for about 7 years.