Process of dealing with creditors
to be honest dealing with the law office may be better than Citi
to be honest dealing with the law office may be better than Citibank itself. treat it as a regular collection call, keep notes on everything said, if they threaten you with any legal action over the telephone by law they must follow up on it or you can sue them in small claims court for 1k. try it and have fun while doing it.
Dealing with lawyers is not hard, it is the same as dealing with a collection agency, try to work a deal that best suits your current financial situation, remember any agreements must be put in writing, before signing any paperwork from the law office have a lawyer take a look at it for you and do not make any payments unless your council approves the terms.
There's no law that says you can't deal direct with the creditor
There's no law that says you can't deal direct with the creditor, but the creditor isn't required to deal with you if they have their attorneys involved. Most bigger companies won't. They'll just direct you to call the attorney so that they don't end up with the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.
Like FreakyFriday said - usually once it is sent to an attorney,
Like FreakyFriday said - usually once it is sent to an attorney, the OC will refuse to work with you directly and instead refer you to their attorney.
This is mainly just due to their contingent fee arrangements with the attorneys -- once the attorney has the file, they usually get 33% of any payments received, regardless if you pay the OC directly or the attorney. To the OC, if they have to pay the attorney regardless, they figure "may as well let the attorney work a little for it".
