How big is the amount before the bank can sue a creditor? I hope the answers have legal basis. Thank you.

Everyone makes mistakes at times and one of those instances is forgetting to pay your credit card. No one so far has ever gone to jail for non payment of credit card... In the US credit score downgrade could be the worst that can ever happen but elsewhere it could contribute to non approval of loans or new credit card applications if the previous credit card unpaid shares info with other financial instituions.

Banks or credit card companies has the right to recover whatever a person owes them but they would usually send credit collector over to the house to ask for payment, send several notices, sherifs could be one of the last few options if there are things that can be recovered such as your car or any appliances. Legal suits is their last option but it would be more expensive for credit card companies to exhaust that is why they try their best not to get to such a last resort option.

There is thus far no law in any given state or country about Credit card non payor immediately going to jail. Even if a lawsuit is exhausted, the judge would still give considerable consideration to the state of finances of the family or person, work etc. and for humanitarian consideration may only opt for settlements or the judge might obliged the one who owes to ask for Promissory note or schedule of payments. bUt that is way to far already.

Not sure if jail is available, but they can get hit on their credit report ("FICO score" - Fair, Isaac, and CO.), defaulting can make it harder for them to get loans such as mortgages, car loans, and credit cards in the future. The company that developed the formula for the credit score is based near where I live. If a person with a lower FICO score does get a loan, it can have much higher interest payments than if the person had a higher score - there is what is known as a "negative corellation" between the two - if one goes up, the other goes down.

No one is going to jail for not paying a credit card... in the UK it known as a 'civil offence' rather than a 'criminal offence'

The bank is probably within its rights to sue a *debtor* for any amount owing ... lets say it is $100, then its not worth their time and legal fees in pursuing the matter.. but let say the amount is $1000 then they will more than likely pursue the debt.

I hope that helps.

yes

I would think that it would have to be over $5,000 before it would get into a high enough court to consider jail but I doubt they could send you to jail. My b/f had a $1000 credit card and they just kept sending letters, it went on his credit history but he has never paid anything back and it gets cleared after 5 years.

If it was that much for a court to consider jail, you could come to an arrangement to pay a suitable amount back a week e.g. $25 untill the debt is all repaid or you could settle and pay a smaller amount than what was outstanding in one payments

no but you will probably definately be harassed and maybe even brought to court.

No. We do not have debtor's prisons anymore.

If they cant they should be put in jail. Too many irresponsible adults out there have no clue how to control their spending.

There is no such thing as a debtors prison anymore. You cannot go to jail for not paying back credit cards. You cant even have your things repossesed if the credit was unsecured.
The only thing a credit card company can do is sue you. They will get a judgement against you and if you do not repay it in a timely manner they can request your wages or bank accounts be garnished. At that point a judge will look at your living expenses and decide if and how much to garnish your wages.
It costs a lot of money for a credit card company to go to court and do this so they are probably not going to bother going after you unless you are thousand and thousands of dollars in debt. Even if they go to court and get a judgement against you, unless its probably at least over 5-10 thous dollars they wouldnt bother trying to recoup the money legally.

You may go to jail if you attempt to hide money or refuse to go along with court orders or summons in response to any lawsuits against you by the credit card companies.

Credit card companies know that they are going to lose money from people that dont pay it back. It is part of their costs of doing business. What a credit card company usually does if the amount isnt that much is sell your debt to a collection agency for pennies on the dollar. If you are majorly in debt with a credit card company my best suggestion is to call them and try to figure out a way to pay it off. If you show good faith in trying to pay it off or explain that you just cant do it a lot of times they will suspend the interest or lower it, or give you the option to settle the debt for a smaller amount. All they want is to get some of their money back and they know if you havent been paying for a while it is better to make some sort of deal with you and get some money back then have it go to collections and get really no money back.


There are very specific laws on how debt collectors can approach you or contact you concerning debt. If they threaten legal action when they really have no intention of doing any then they can be in trouble. They also cant tell you that you will be arrested or threaten you like that in any way. You can actually sue them for doing things like this. When dealing with these people I would record your conversations or at least document emails. There are also statute of limitations that differ in each state but basically if they havent come after you for the money after so many years they cant legally get that money from you unless you acknowledge the debt and agree to pay it back, so careful what you say and check out the laws in your state regarding that. But if you owe the debt the honest thing is to try to find a way to pay it back.


Anyone here telling you that you can go to jail over this in the US is completely wrong. You cannot go to jail for not paying back an unsecured debt. You can only go to jail if you mess around with the legal system if the credit card companies choose to use the legal system or avoid court ordered appearances or judgements in regards to hiding money or trying to block garnishments.