not_always_sane

You stated that your heart problem started with a virus. Would the virus still be active and therefore damage/destroy any new heart from a transplant?

Just some personal observations from a small rural town in northern Nevada.

My GF was just 6 weeks ago sued for a credit card debt that a collection firm in Las Vegas claims to own. This county has the volunteer police serving the notices and collecting a fee for it. She was served on a Monday. I asked him how many people he was serving that day. His count: 28. He would not answer if all 28 was from the same firm but this was an astute question on my part. I got the impression that this legal firm does this in batches when they have clients in a particular area.

A trip to the court resulted in a lot of volunteered information about our rights and responsibilities via handouts. She is 70 and retired with no assets of note. Her mobile home and property is homesteaded and therefore exempt. Her pensions are exempt. A vehicle valued to $15,000 is exempt. Personal property to $15,000 is exempted. A vehicle used in business nets an additional $4,500 exemption so the truck used for our chicken raising might count.

She did file a response with the court and the creditor within the 15 day limit following a format given her by the court. With that response she included the page of exemptions that Nevada permits. In her case it appears that merely filing the responses in a timely manner will protect her few assets making bankruptcy unnecessary. Any judgement would be worthless as she has no assets or ability to pay.

My point is: The collection companies do not do these filings one at a time but in batches to cut down on expenses and hope many people will fail to file a response so the collection company can obtain a default judgement. It appears that this process is largely automated.

Often the elderly can have much of their personal property protected by law. Pensions and retirement funds can be protected. Nevada permits up to $550,000 in IRAs and 401(k)s. A house to $550,000 or a mobile home in a park (I don't remember the amount offhand). The local senior center also has a lawyer who assists the elderly in cases like this--she is the one who advised my GF that bankruptcy was not necessary and to wait out the statute of limitations for debt collection.

My GF is a military widow and was swamped with bills when her husband died. She lives month-to-month so repayment would be a burden to her. LOL, one of the creditors is Bank of America for $44,000.