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BofA & Citi

Date: Mon, 03/22/2010 - 10:35

Submitted by anonymous
on Mon, 03/22/2010 - 10:35

Posts: 202330 Credits: [Donate]

Total Replies: 22


I have a bofa ($14000) that is about 70 days and another one ($15000) that we have missed the first payment on. My husband has been out of work for a year and is doing side work, but has no steady income.

They are offering a 5 year repayment program for each card. Does anyone have expereince with their repayment program? I asked what would happen if we missed a payment and they said nothing, we would just keep making payments when we could, this sounds too good to be true. I was told that the if we didn't take the repayment program, the account would charge off at 180 days. They haven't said anything about settlement. Should I ask them?

My husband also has a citicard ($30000) with is also about 70 days. When he called to ask about their hardship program, they said he doesn't qualify b/c I work. They never asked about income or expenses. They did send a settlement offer letter for $13000, but they want it paid all at once. Does anyone have any experience with them?

Thanks!


Well Yellowrose, charge-off will definitely hurt the credit score in the future. You may extend for settlement but I guess it's too early.

There are consequences if you miss payments in a repayment plan, so it's better to discuss with BofA beforehand. As they may take some legal course and that will make the counselor powerless. As far as Citi is concerned you may start a negotiation, as they have already sent you a settlement letter provided you have the necessary funds to manage with.


lrhall41

Submitted by Chris Samuels on Tue, 03/23/2010 - 01:16

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Citi is always a bit difficult to deal with. So when you have got a settlement offer from them you may give it a thought.

Regarding BofA, they are easier to deal with. You may consider making a settlement offer to them.

You may search both the lenders here to learn more about dealing with them.


lrhall41

Submitted by SC on Tue, 03/23/2010 - 02:24

( Posts: 3937 | Credits: )


When do you think it is too soon to offer Bank of America a settlement offer. I have $217k in CC Debt, $85k is to B of A. I am about a month behind right now on all of my cards.

(For all of the haters out there, my business was failing and I maxed out everything to save it and keep my 35 employees employed. I was able to keep it going for 2 years from the point that I thought it was over. I finally folded, and was able to find jobs for 2/3's of my employees. Since then I have dutifully made my $5,000 a month payments to cover all of my CC's. Now, I am out of money. I can't make the payments any more.)

I have family members that will loan me about $50,000 to settle all of these out. That would mean about a 25% settlement for each card.

I would appreciate any insights that anyone has to offer here on this forum. I am pretty open about this situation. I guess you have to laugh or cry, i'm done crying so now I just choose to laugh about it.

BofA Line $41,000
BofA CC $43,000
AMEX $42,000
Discover $17,000
US Bank 1 $15,000
US Bank 2 $7,500
Wells F 1 $14,000
Wells F 2 $10,000
Chase 1 $17,000
Chase 2 $2,000
Chase 3 $9,000


lrhall41

Submitted by on Tue, 03/23/2010 - 02:50

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Lots of debt: you should call them and explain your situation. See what they offer you. If their offers are not doable at this time, then you will have to let them default until they come back with better offers. In the meantime squirrel away any money you can for settlement. Perhaps they may offer you a repayment plan over 5 years. If they do, make sure they reduce the interest rate to 0% otherwise you'll just be piling more charges on. Don't let them know how much money you have access to. Make an offer and let them counter. They may not offer anything right now. Keep good notes of when you called them, who you spoke to and what they said.

Good luck.


lrhall41

Submitted by aubrey on Tue, 03/23/2010 - 06:19

( Posts: 1203 | Credits: )


Lots of debt: It is too early to start working on settlements. Do you have any assets that they can come after if they tried to sue you? If you are not worried about your credit report, then just let them go for a few months. You can get them to settle for the 25% that you have if you are willing to work at it and take your time. Be patient!! You will have to wear them down... They will break if you keep at it. Remember that you are dealing with huge companies that are not run very efficiently and most are coming out of bankruptcy themselves. I would be happy to give you more advice. I had over $80K in cc debt and settled it all for about 30% in the end.
Posting your email is against the TOS.


lrhall41

Submitted by David Stew on Fri, 03/26/2010 - 21:07

( Posts: 6 | Credits: )


Thanks for the advice so far. I have been getting lots of calls. So what I have been doing is explaining my story to each of them and then telling them that the last person that called from their company told me to borrow money from friends and family to get current. Then I tell them that I have a family member that will loan me $xx.xx (10% of their balance) and that I can send that to them as full and final settlement. I of course get a no each time.

Am I doing this the wrong way. Should I even make offers right now? Is there something that i can say to make them know I will never make monthly payments again and ship me to the collection company as fast as possible.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Sat, 03/27/2010 - 13:24

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Anonymous
When do you think it is too soon to offer Bank of America a settlement offer. I have $217k in CC Debt, $85k is to B of A. I am about a month behind right now on all of my cards.
(For all of the haters out there, my business was failing and I maxed out everything to save it and keep my 35 employees employed. I was able to keep it going for 2 years from the point that I thought it was over. I finally folded, and was able to find jobs for 2/3's of my employees. Since then I have dutifully made my $5,000 a month payments to cover all of my CC's. Now, I am out of money. I can't make the payments any more.)
I have family members that will loan me about $50,000 to settle all of these out. That would mean about a 25% settlement for each card.
I would appreciate any insights that anyone has to offer here on this forum. I am pretty open about this situation. I guess you have to laugh or cry, i'm done crying so now I just choose to laugh about it.
BofA Line $41,000
BofA CC $43,000
AMEX $42,000
Discover $17,000
US Bank 1 $15,000
US Bank 2 $7,500
Wells F 1 $14,000
Wells F 2 $10,000
Chase 1 $17,000
Chase 2 $2,000
Chase 3 $9,000



I'm sorry for your hardships. You tried to do the right thing, but really all you did was ruin your own finances for the sake of your employees. I have to wonder how it is possible for one human being to even qualify for that much usnsecured credit. This more than anything tells me that the banks really want to own us, and will extend us as much credit as possible hoping we overextend and become their slaves.

Why not file for bankruptcy? That is an insane amount of debt that will be close to impossible to payoff unless you are making like $250,000 a year. Bankruptcy is a reasonable option: it's not the end of the world like some would have you think, and you'll be amazed how rich you feel when that $5,000 a month is going into your bank account instead of to your cc.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Sun, 03/28/2010 - 11:11

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Adding briefly...why send good money after bad? BK just costs the filing and attorney fees, and leaves you with a zero balance. Even with good settlements you will be spending tens of thousands of dollars to settle this debt, and your credit will STILL be ruined by all the settlements: PLUS you will owe thousands and thousands in taxes to the IRS because the settlement difference will be taxable 10-99 income.
I see BK as a no brainer in your case. These laws exist to help people like you. You won't be able to borrow much money for a while, but big deal...borrowing money is what has made your life so hard to begin with. Thoughts of others?


lrhall41

Submitted by on Sun, 03/28/2010 - 11:28

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For me the decision on going bk or settlement was 3 years. That's the difference in your credit. If you settle the items stay on your report 7 years from the date of the last activity - if you declare bankruptcy it stays on your credit 10 years.

Other considerations were if you have certain professional licenses in your state. I'm a real estate agent. In my state I would have to file a form with the Division of Real Estate stating that I had declared bankruptcy and my license is on probation meaning they will most likely tear apart all of my transactions each year to make sure I'm not doing anything funky because I'm in financial trouble. I also have to inform my broker creating tremendous embarrassment for me.

Soi these are some of the reasons that I decided that I would just settle.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Sun, 03/28/2010 - 18:16

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OK. Good reasons. I could not bk either because of a business interest. I have settled over $150,000 in cc in the past 2 months at 31% avg. I was NOT able to get anybody down below 29%. Almost everything was settled at 30% and though it might have been possible to settle at 25% on a couple after a few more months, the default interest and late charges were adding up so fast it was better to settle now. The only thing I can tell you is that 10% is not gonna happen and anything less than 25% is unlikely unless these go well over 6 months. boa has tightened up and 30% was the best I could get. I had good info on them and they changed procedure in feb. Good Luck


lrhall41

Submitted by dantheman on Sun, 03/28/2010 - 18:26

( Posts: 860 | Credits: )


Hey guys,
This is "LOTS OF DEBT." I registered and decided to pick a more empowering user name!

BK isn't an option because of different licenses and positions that i hold in the community. Plus it could put in jeopardy other deals that I have but that will not mature for 3 to 5 year.

I can come up with the Cash to pay 30% on these to settle them out. It sounds like I just have to wait a while before anyone will deal with me reasonably.

As far as the 1099c goes, I am not worried about the tax consequences there because there is a rule that says you can exclude 1099c income to the extent that you are insolvent (more debts than assets) before the CC settlement. That won't be a problem for me right now :)

As far as the credit. I know it is a hit, but I have talked to friends who have used credit repair companies and gotten all of the bad marks on their credit removed within about 11 months. I don't know how they do it, but I have seen credit reports of people who have had foreclosures and CC settlements and now they don't even mention that they had the CC's or even ever owned the home that was foreclosed on. I am going to try that after this is all done so that hopefully I don't have to have the scars on my credit report for 7 years to 10 years.

Someone mentioned that they don't even know how people get this much credit... LOL... me neither! One day I got 2 letters in the mail. Both from BofA. One said that they would raise my credit limit from 10k to 50k and the other said I qualified for a Gold Option Line of Credit up to 50k. I called on both and within 30 mins they had transferred 100k into my checking account! Go figure. I was just scratching my head.

Oh yeah, I left out that I have a Citi Bank Card (home depot) with 4k on it.

Lastly, THANK YOU everyone for all of your advice. I was totally lost before I found this forum!


lrhall41

Submitted by DebtfreeSoonToBe on Sun, 03/28/2010 - 21:02

( Posts: 13 | Credits: )


Quote:

Originally Posted by dantheman
OK. Good reasons. I could not bk either because of a business interest. I have settled over $150,000 in cc in the past 2 months at 31% avg. I was NOT able to get anybody down below 29%. Almost everything was settled at 30% and though it might have been possible to settle at 25% on a couple after a few more months, the default interest and late charges were adding up so fast it was better to settle now. The only thing I can tell you is that 10% is not gonna happen and anything less than 25% is unlikely unless these go well over 6 months. boa has tightened up and 30% was the best I could get. I had good info on them and they changed procedure in feb. Good Luck



Dan,
Where did you get the good info and how did you confirm it? This is a little frightening for me as I can barely come up with the 20% that I will need to settle with BOA. I am currently between 90 - 120 days and haven't discussed any settlement or hardship plans with them yet. I'm now unsure as how to proceed as I have no idea how I'll be able to come up with another 10% if they won't go any lower.

Also, were you at 140 days or 180? I thought I had read a post somewhere by you stating that you had thought you were almost at 180 but they said you were 140? I looked for that post again but couldn't find it.


lrhall41

Submitted by desiretobedebtfree on Mon, 03/29/2010 - 05:49

( Posts: 47 | Credits: )


I was 150 to 180 when I settled, by their count. By my count it was about 210. One account was about to charge off in days.

I have a contact within BOA who told me about the change in the way they do this and the threshholds they place on each account.

I did not want to charge off, so keep that in mind. My balances were skyrocketing at 32%, late fee and overlimit fee on 3 accounts. It was in my best interest to settle. The will give 3 payments that you can stretch to 90 days if you do it right. Good Luck


lrhall41

Submitted by dantheman on Mon, 03/29/2010 - 12:32

( Posts: 860 | Credits: )


Quote:

Originally Posted by DebtfreeSoonToBe
Hey guys,
This is "LOTS OF DEBT." I registered and decided to pick a more empowering user name!

BK isn't an option because of different licenses and positions that i hold in the community. Plus it could put in jeopardy other deals that I have but that will not mature for 3 to 5 year.

I can come up with the Cash to pay 30% on these to settle them out. It sounds like I just have to wait a while before anyone will deal with me reasonably.

As far as the 1099c goes, I am not worried about the tax consequences there because there is a rule that says you can exclude 1099c income to the extent that you are insolvent (more debts than assets) before the CC settlement. That won't be a problem for me right now :)

As far as the credit. I know it is a hit, but I have talked to friends who have used credit repair companies and gotten all of the bad marks on their credit removed within about 11 months. I don't know how they do it, but I have seen credit reports of people who have had foreclosures and CC settlements and now they don't even mention that they had the CC's or even ever owned the home that was foreclosed on. I am going to try that after this is all done so that hopefully I don't have to have the scars on my credit report for 7 years to 10 years.

Someone mentioned that they don't even know how people get this much credit... LOL... me neither! One day I got 2 letters in the mail. Both from BofA. One said that they would raise my credit limit from 10k to 50k and the other said I qualified for a Gold Option Line of Credit up to 50k. I called on both and within 30 mins they had transferred 100k into my checking account! Go figure. I was just scratching my head.

Oh yeah, I left out that I have a Citi Bank Card (home depot) with 4k on it.

Lastly, THANK YOU everyone for all of your advice. I was totally lost before I found this forum!


That is the SAME WAY I got into trouble with BOA. They gave out those huge credit lines and practically begged me to accept the money into my bank account.

I would settle out what you can at 30%. I had someone tell me that this may get more difficult to do in the next year or so because of all of the people opting to settle simply because it is an option. Also, if this economy takes off somehow, they won't need the money so bad and the little guy will once again get screwed.


lrhall41

Submitted by dantheman on Mon, 03/29/2010 - 12:36

( Posts: 860 | Credits: )


Quote:

Originally Posted by dantheman
That is the SAME WAY I got into trouble with BOA. They gave out those huge credit lines and practically begged me to accept the money into my bank account.



I would settle out what you can at 30%. I had someone tell me that this may get more difficult to do in the next year or so because of all of the people opting to settle simply because it is an option. Also, if this economy takes off somehow, they won't need the money so bad and the little guy will once again get screwed.



Suntrust(BOA) did the same thing to me - kept pushing me to accept their business line of credit - I kept saying thanks anyway, not interested when they would call. So they finally sent two sales reps into my shop and they said oh, you should just take this anyway, you never know when you might really need it, just sign here. I finally ended up saying ok (I wasn't going to use it anyway except for an emergency) and they gave me 40k on a struggling new business that in no way qualified and of course "stuff' happened like an real estate crash and I slowly spent it just trying to keep things going.


I too think debt settlement is only going to get harder to do as time goes on. We should all be able to see the writing on the wall and realize that a good thing won't last forever. A lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon with many to follow and it will eventually have to tip over. The banks will have to start really complaining before too long if not doing so already.

I don't think the economy will be taking off any time too soon but the big banks will probably somehow get congress to legislate something that helps them and the little guy, not so much. Maybe they'll just put it into one of the next bills that they pass without even bothering to read.


lrhall41

Submitted by desiretobedebtfree on Mon, 03/29/2010 - 14:41

( Posts: 47 | Credits: )


Quote:

Originally Posted by Anonymous
For me the decision on going bk or settlement was 3 years. That's the difference in your credit. If you settle the items stay on your report 7 years from the date of the last activity - if you declare bankruptcy it stays on your credit 10 years.
Other considerations were if you have certain professional licenses in your state. I'm a real estate agent. In my state I would have to file a form with the Division of Real Estate stating that I had declared bankruptcy and my license is on probation meaning they will most likely tear apart all of my transactions each year to make sure I'm not doing anything funky because I'm in financial trouble. I also have to inform my broker creating tremendous embarrassment for me.
Soi these are some of the reasons that I decided that I would just settle.


Well, it is three years difference in the credit report, but having a BK on your credit report that is old won't necessarily keep you from borrowing, especially after 7 years or so. The other difference is the 10s of thousands of dollars you save by not settling. But, yes, there are certainl good reasons to to turn to BK.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Mon, 03/29/2010 - 15:11

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