“What happens if I can’t pay my credit card debt?” This is a very popular question nowadays during the economic downturn. Many people are concern about the consequences they need to face if they are not able to pay their credit card debt.

There is no standard answer for the question as it much depends on your personal view to deal with your debts and your ability to pay back.

Currently, it is very normal that right after you stop paying your credit cards in a promptly manner, you will first receive a courtesy call or a reminder from the bank, followed by numerous collection calls on weekly basis. The frequency of calls will increase if there is still no payment made.

At the same time, you will also receive letters in the mail about the reminder for your debt and maybe some suggested settlement offers. After a certain period of time, for instance, if you ignore the payment for 6 months, then you will receive calls which are not from the bank, but from debt collection agency.

This is because the banks who issue your credit cards may have sold your account to a third party collection agency. The agency has the right to call you day and night at any time to chase for payment. The agency may use different methods to force you to pay the debt in a harassing and nasty way.

Besides, when you can’t pay your credit card debt, you need to bear more expenses too where you need to pay many additional charges such as late payment charge, over credit limit charge, finance charge and all these charges will accrue on your balance in addition to you existing fees and interest rates. The longer you drag to pay, the more debt you need to bear.

For those banks who do not appoint any third party collection agency, they will take legal action on you when you quit paying your debt. They will place a judgment on your credit report and your account will be blacklisted. It will definitely affect your financial status when you need to apply for all types of loan including mortgage, car loan, study loan and personal loan.

In the situation where your balance is not excessive, you may not be sued. You may be blacklisted by the particular bank and you are not allowed to apply any other bank facilities from the particular bank.

However, if the balance is excessive, the bank or credit card company will definitely take legal action to recover their money. If the creditor wins in the judgment, the creditor has the right to proceed for wage garnishment, i.e. deduct your paychecks in order to settle your debts.

If you own a house or other property, the creditor has the right to place liens on the property or force the sale of the property. Furthermore they can even liquidate your assets to get back their money.

The above mentioned are all the possibilities you may face if you don’t pay your credit card debt. Always bear in mind that when you have credit card debt, find the solution to solve it and do not run away from it.