your advice appreciated
Date: Mon, 03/02/2009 - 18:19
I and a partner own a small business (S-Corp). We have two additional employees. The business is current on our bank pyt and has no credit card debt. We are barely making ends meet tho. We owe, at the bank, all the business is worth.
I, personally am not doing so well. I have over 60K in personal unsecured credit card debt, and it has gotten to the point that I am getting further and further behind on paying them down. Additionally some of the cards are getting ready to reset to a much higher interest rate.
Several questions - first off, it is conceivable that I could make my card pyts if I could get them all interest free. I am not opposed to trying this. At the present time I am current on my personal credit cards, and am tempted to call them one by one asking for some kind of assistance. Am I crazy for thinking this? As I said, unless I could get absolute 0% interest, I cannot keep up. Another question - will they go after my small business even tho it has no credit card obligations? Will they harass my partner and try to cause me embarassment? Will they even be able to know that I own a business? What kind of questions will they ask me when I call them? Is it possible to obtain a settlement without being behind? What if I present overwhelming evidence to them? Finally, should I just wait the three? months, and not pay any card bills and then try for the settlement thing? All help greatly appreciated.
hardship programs
first, welcome
second....the only way the company will offer you a hardship is if you stop paying or call them to tell them your situation. They have many temporary plans but it sounds like you might need a permanent one...
Struggling, I'm not familiar with business credit, but they wil
Struggling,
I'm not familiar with business credit, but they will probably call your partner to try and contact you. Not initially, but probably down the road.
Honestly, it's better to start working on a solution now than to wait
the first thing i would do is call each of them and see what the
the first thing i would do is call each of them and see what they can do. Im hearing alot lately about hardship programs for people were they elliminate interest for a year, or defer your payment for 3 months or so. Each company is different though and they may not offer you anything.
I too am unsure of how this will effect your business but i dont think it would other than them calling you there or trying to reach you somehow.
My only advice is if you choose to take the settlement route(which works well) be sure you are well informed as to how it works before you get involved. be sure it is something you are comfortable with and you know the facts about everything and you will be fine.
But you will need to do something and soon. Its better now than later maybe discuss it with your partner once you reach a decision so that he is aware as to what you are doing and that they may contact him to reach you. just so he has a heads up on the situation