Should I contact bank of america before I go bad?

Curious as to what others will say.

Prior to going delinquent on my home, I called my lenders (Wells Fargo has both the 1st and the HELOC). I just wanted to get out in front of it and let them know of my situation, which is actually a little different from most that are defaulting right now. I figured if I explained my unique situation, they might want to get creative and work with me...

Their response was pretty lame. Basically, they said they are dealing with people that were 2-3 months delinquent at that time. They tried to give me HUD's number, which I refused. And then they said to call back when I was 1-30 days delinquent.

The HELOC folks were a little more reasonable, but none of their solutions fit what I was looking for at the time.

My guess is that you won't benefit much from trying to talk to them before you become delinquent. But I doubt it will damage anything, other than they probably would turn off the card from future charges. Perhaps they can also start charging a default rate as well, if you are notifying them of default, but I doubt they go that far. Interested to hear what others think.

If you are current the only place your call will be routed to is customer service reps who will have limited options for you. They may offer you a temporary lower minimum payment hardship plan for 3, 6, 9 and perhaps as long as 12 months.
These reps are not trained to do much else and the system would not allow it in most cases anyway.

Normal time frame to hear about other options is after the 3rd and sometimes 4th billing cycle having been missed.

I have seen other offers made available at 60 days but the circumstances were unique.

If you want to call them and tell them you cannot make a payment and hear what they can do at this point it will not red flag anything that I am aware of. Or, just wait till you miss a payment and you are sure to get a call and you can talk then.

To be sure as the other poster pointed out you could have limit lowered to remaining balance.

I have been reading alot about folks having the limit lowered to their current balance amount. But even worse, is more and more, they are flat-out just closing accounts, even on people that are current and have NEVER been late. But, if it's a card you are going to default on anyway, and have the account closed anyway, you may as well give it a try and ask about a hardship program.

Quote:

The credit industry is panicking, especially with the new laws that will go into effect in July of 2010. They are afraid of these new laws, which will protect consumers. They don't like it, and are getting their digs in while they still can.

Bank of America will work with you. They took my interest down to 6.5 and cut my payment more than 1/2 for 5 years.

Mom of 2 brings up another great point.

In this current environment several banks have started their own 5 year hardship plan where they pretty much do what CCCS companies offer. They reduce interest and set you up on a 5 year plan based on that reduced payment until the debt is paid. They are cutting out the middleman.

They will likely close the account though.

Bobsak,

You should consider pursuing some kind of debt resolution before just walking away or defaulting

How much do you owe currently?

Is this a valid forum?