Cosmo88 asked:
im an australian. recently when overseas (USA) I was in an accident where the rental car I was driving was totaled. I didnt get the optional insurance of the car because I thought my travel insurance would cover it so now i have a problem. Im a 21 year old student who lives at home who has $400 in my bank account and now I owe $20,000 that I wont be able to pay before im 30. A U.S government collection agency are now down my back and want to take me to court. I know I will loose if it does go to court and I will be left with a bigger debt. What will happen if I go to court, what will happen if its just impossible for me to pay it? can they make me sell assets to pay for it? what would you do in my situation and can you think of any way out of it?
thank you very much
im an australian. recently when overseas (USA) I was in an accident where the rental car I was driving was totaled. I didnt get the optional insurance of the car because I thought my travel insurance would cover it so now i have a problem. Im a 21 year old student who lives at home who has $400 in my bank account and now I owe $20,000 that I wont be able to pay before im 30. A U.S government collection agency are now down my back and want to take me to court. I know I will loose if it does go to court and I will be left with a bigger debt. What will happen if I go to court, what will happen if its just impossible for me to pay it? can they make me sell assets to pay for it? what would you do in my situation and can you think of any way out of it?
thank you very much
Tags: Assets, Car Travel, Insurance Cover, Legal Insurance, Rental Car
They probly will not go to court if they know you have no money. Collection agencies always threathen to do that to scare you.
Call the collection agency and see if you can make monthly payments to them no matter how long it takes. I know someone that paid for 20 years a small amount every month. The insurance company was happy to even get that.
In your case, I would have asked the insurance company to have a settlement outside the court. Since its a huge amount, they would not let it go off w/o paying the damage.
I would have done a settlement for a lump sum $5000 which I could have got it from my parents.
Other option is to have paid monthly installments to the company.