Thread: Wife's credit card debt; court in May...

My wife has driven her credit card into the ground to the tune of 264,808 baht...! Yeah, I'm shocked too...She just received a notice stating that she has a court date in May. I am actually beside myself in shock as she is not a stupid woman, (teacher of 26 years), just lacking common sense I guess. Thank God it's not my money and I can't afford to bail her out. She doesn't gamble, drink, but has an affinity to attend temple celebrations. There is nothing to show for this amount of spending. I'm not sure how these things are handled in the courts and I am quite worried. I would welcome any and all advise regarding this situation. I would hate to see her lose her house, car, etc. over this. HELP...!

PS; We are married by ceremony only, there are no legal ties between us.
Thanks in advance.

What did she blow that amount of money on? Anything you can sell? Sometimes if you make a big enough 'good faith' payment to the credit card company, you can back them off from legal action for a while. She does them no good in debtor's prison; they want their money.

Well she wouldn't be taken to court if she had paid her bills, so I would suggest you contact the bank or credit card company pronto to arrange a payment schedule and try and settle before it goes to court.

And take the fucking thing off her. Debit card only!

I'm told that before the court date was arranged your missus would have been contacted to try and negotiate a way to pay off the debt. You need to ask her why she never took
up that option.

It would be hard for a teacher to get that large of a line of credit. You need to find out if its one card or many more. Find out how many she has. If you make a good offer to pay you often can get quite a discounted rate of repayment.

You must have known she was living beyond her means. I sure hope she was not taking cash withdrawals and then giving it to the temple. More than anything when you said temple I hope to hell not Dammakaya....

Originally Posted by flyfisher davis

My wife has driven her credit card into the ground to the tune of 264,808 baht...!

She doesn't gamble, drink, but has an affinity to attend temple celebrations. There is nothing to show for this amount of spending.

Then, where is the money going....or....where did it go?

You're not legally married so....I guess you can only give moral support.

It's an addiction to using the CC perhaps.

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

your missus would have been contacted to try and negotiate a way to pay off the debt.

My second thought. Why did she ignore it?

Originally Posted by aging one

It would be hard for a teacher to get that large of a line of credit.

My first thought. What is her limit. The card should have been declined once it reached that limit, and if it wasn't, she has an argument to the bank that it was their fault for allowing her to go over.

Originally Posted by Cold Pizza

where is the money going

The temple, apparently!

Or is it possible she's been skimmed or her card details stolen? If that's the case, she has recourse with the bank.

I suggest you look over her statements with her.

Originally Posted by aging one

It would be hard for a teacher to get that large of a line of credit.

And why did she use a CC, with high interest rates, when she could easily have obtained a loan from her local 'Teachers Bank' with lower interest rates?

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

And why did she use a CC, with high interest rates, when she could easily have obtained a loan from her local 'Teachers Bank' with lower interest rates?

Speculation, but it could have just gotten away from her. Sounds strange, but I know people who have just blissfully kept on charging like it was free money until the shock of reality hit when the bills arrived.

A credit union loan would suggest prior planning, and it would be harder to ignore how much one was spending/giving away.

Originally Posted by flyfisher davis

PS; We are married by ceremony only, there are no legal ties between us.
Thanks in advance.

lucky

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

her local 'Teachers Bank' with lower interest rates?

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Speculation, but it could have just gotten away from her.

She probably reached her credit limit at the 'Teachers Bank' which take repayments direct from her salary. Hence why she went for the dearer CC?

Well, we'll never know until/unless the OP shows up again.

Originally Posted by aging one

It would be hard for a teacher to get that large of a line of credit.

I worked with a Thai teacher who showed me a spreadsheet with her being 303K in debt over several credit cards.

^ Had a farang come here to be matched up with a teacher. Only on arrival did he find out she was in debt to the tune of 1.5 Million. He didn't stay.

One thing I would say: If she refuses to show the OP the paperwork, pack your bags and fuck off pronto!

you can negotiate the debt in court as much as 50% off under the right conditions, banks will take the loss,

Thai women and money, they can't manage it properly, never give them too much power over money, they will lose control

^
Not just Thai women. I divorced my ex in the US for just this reason. She also signed my name on two signature cards to get even more CCs. Women seem to be very good at hiding all their overspending from their spouses.

My recommendation is to walk away since she will never change.

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

^
Not just Thai women. I divorced my ex in the US for just this reason. She also signed my name on two signature cards to get even more CCs. Women seem to be very good at hiding all their overspending from their spouses.

My recommendation is to walk away since she will never change.

If the OP ever returns, I still want to know if she bought cool stuff with the money, or gave it to the boys in orange. If she gave it away, one could possibly make a case for mental illness as a defense.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

gave it to the boys in orange. If she gave it away, one could possibly make a case for mental illness as a defense.

Ha! I don't think many lawyers would dare stand up in court and suggest it's mental illness to give to the temple.
No matter how true that is.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

My first thought. What is her limit. The card should have been declined once it reached that limit, and if it wasn't, she has an argument to the bank that it was their fault for allowing her to go over.

Not sure about LOS, but here in the US its pretty shocking the limits you can get with very little salary. They want to get you in over your head, then you pay interest forever.

Cut the ties now.

The deepened affliction of mindless consumption and want will not heal.

its often a smaller debt snowballed with interest and expensive cash advances this month used to pay off last months bill,

What can happen in court ?

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

^
Not just Thai women. I divorced my ex in the US for just this reason. She also signed my name on two signature cards to get even more CCs. Women seem to be very good at hiding all their overspending from their spouses.

My recommendation is to walk away since she will never change.

If the OP ever returns, I still want to know if she bought cool stuff with the money, or gave it to the boys in orange. If she gave it away, one could possibly make a case for mental illness as a defense.

Or of course she could have given it to her Thai boyfriend/husband (the one she told her "husband" was actually her cousin) so he could gamble and piss it away.

Originally Posted by Stinky

Move on before she takes you down with her.

Or before the loan sharks' heavies come knocking on the door for the rest of the money she owes from borrowing once the cards ran out.