Bank Of America - Are they easy to settle with?

Are you working by yourself or with a debt settlement company? Some factors to consider:
It depends on what status the credit card is in now. If the card is still with BOA, they should be pretty willing to work with you on a debt settlement. If the card is in-house collections, they may be willing to work on a debt settlement. If the debit has been sold already then it is a different ballgame.

Recently within the last year Bank of America has been fairly aggressive in their collection efforts but they like other creditors can still be settled.

Mobile......

how on earth would you know this...are you in the settlement business.....do you have settlement friends???
I just don't understand how you would have this kind of information and openly tell people on this website without stating facts.
My 2 cents worth

My husband had an account with BOA and was about 9 months past due. They contacted us and settled for 75% off the original balance. They have worked with us and been very easy to deal with. They've also been very professional. I say deal with them because we've had other companies that have been awful and BOA, and actually discover, were the only two that were decent. Good luck!

I have worked in the credit card "Citi Bank " , debt settlement and credit counseling industry for years.

I have, rather had, a bank of american account it was settled using a settlement company they settled it fo 22cents on the dollar. Don't think I could have gotten that by myself.

we have an account with bank of america. they were (at first) the most aggressive collections people, telling us that they do not use debt settlement, stuff like that. But they are the ones who are continously submitting offers to debt settlement usa. They have already knocked 10,000 off what we owe, but we are still saving money we are not quite in a position to pay them off yet. Our chase account has is already in legal. Citi bank has been very quiet so far.

^ that is very good to know. we are looking into working with superior debt relief and two of our cards are boa cards. bank of america credit card settlement department have been very polite when they call as i am a couple of months behind, atm. i told them that we were looking into our options and they have pretty much left us alone.

bank of america is one of the easiest creditors to settle with. there is no need for a settlement company here, you would be giving your money away. At about 130-140 delinquent you should be able to settle for about70-80 percent off.

Settlement companies will tell you anything to make money. Do a Google search for do it yourself debt settlement, you will find information and companies that will coach you to settle your own debt for much less than a settlement company would.

Again, bank of America is easy to settle with before charge off, do not give your money away to settlement companies!

I hired a Superior Debt to help me with my settlements. Really did not want to do my own settlements with risk of messing it up and making things worse. I'm not a proponent of do settlements yourself, just like self-medicating I would not recommend that either. The 3-cycles of credit repair was really a big deal for me and my wife, being able to get the credit cleaned up. After doing some research the level of work it will take to clean up the credit on your own will require a lot. Being with Superior, again they will pay for a professional company that will do that. For me I do have the time nor the patience to do it myself, needless to say what if I'm rude to the creditor while trying to do it mysel, hhmmm i would think there was going to be some impact that would not be positive for me.

Those looking to do it yourself, lots of luck.

I work for BOA, and I am thinking of going with a debt settlement to settle all of my debt with them and elsewhere. Does anyone know if they can fire me for doing this?

Nothing to screw up. Get it in writing before you pay and save yourself a ton of money.

bank of america credit card settlement department --- Tread carefully. Read your handbook. I'm not a BofA employee, but do work for a bank, and our handbook has a section related to that department.

I am wanting to settle some dept with BOA, Chase, and Citi. Has anyone settled with them personaly? What should I say when I call them? Should I give them a story why I can't afford the full payment or should I just come out and ask if I can get 80% off?

BofA is by far the best bank to settle with on your own before charge off (When done correctly and when your card profile matches that of 90% of their non performing accounts). I am with the other poster that said save yourself the money and dont pay someone.

In fact, by paying fees to someone else on BofA accounts you may not be able to fund the offer at 5 or so months. A company is going to let it charge off and then generally settle with a 3rd party at a rate that would have been beat by BofA itself (again 90% profile thing) and you would have saved one additional charge off entry on your credit report which you should try to do whenever possible (I know its not always possible).

BofA was my easiest account to settle with. I paid 25% of my balance before charge off. Save yourself the money, no need to pay someone to do it for you. Check out the "Do it yourself" link on this page for how to information. If you have a lot of debt with different creditors check out zipdebt .com. for a DIY seminar. For me, I had 70,000.00 in debt and found their seminar, consultation and email support to be priceless and well worth the 300.00. 9 months later I have one acount left to settle.

I think the common sense answer here is that no one will settle for 20% on the dollar unless they think that's all they can get from you. Not that I've been through it, just starting the process myself. But you're going to have to tell your story on why you can't pay them. Then, it would seem from most people's experiences here, that it could take 90-120 days before they're willing to reach a settlement with you. Maybe even longer, if you are pushing for 20%. This forum seems like a good resource. I'm picking up a lot as I read through the old posts.

What does a credit profile of 90% of their non-performing accounts look like? What charateristics do they share?

Just trying to understand what creditors like BofA are looking at during their decision making process.

The folks that will not see the best of the best offers from BofA are the ones that have had their file coded for differrent reasons.

Reasons can include recent balance transfer and cash advances as well as monetary protestor garbage sent in. Several active and current accounts on your credit profile. There are some things a consumer can do to srew things up along the way as well.

90% is admittedly what I speculate. I will posit that I speculate based on experience.

I have agreed to a settlement amount with BOA..... I do have one problem and it scares me. They refuse to put it writing. BOA wants the money first, then will send me settlement letter. I am
VERY skeptical of this. Not sure what to do. Any ideas ?

Don't do it. Tell them you must have the agreement in writing first. Do you have a fax machine? Most would rather fax it then mail it because its faster. Many times I would receive the fax and call them back in the same day to pay them.

I just settled $63,000 worth of credit card debt with BOA for 15K payable over 4 months. Did this on my own and it was relatively easy.
I would recommend being honest with them about your situation and telling them straight off the bat that you want to reach a settlement. DO NOT WAST TIME WITH THEIR HARDSHIP PROGRAMS.
Do your best to get as much cash together as you can and then make a proposal under what you can afford with the goal to go back and forth with them a couple of times to get as near to what you can afford as possible.

In my situation, I offered 5K, they countered at 40K. I told them no at 40K I might as well file BK. I then countered at 10K they came to 25K. I then gave them what I could afford 15K and they accepted.

Be persistent and dont be afraid to talk to them. 25cents on the dollar is better than the 4cents on the dollar they will get when the charge off, pool and sell the debt.

Good luck

Displacednyer,

How far behind were you when you talked with them about a Settlement?

Did you call them or did they call you and make the first offer?

How old were the accounts?

I was right around 90 days late. They called me for some time and I ignored the calls. I then spoke with them and they tried to push me to various hardship programs. I told them I had no interest and was ONLY interested in the potential for a settlement. They then immediately started talking settlement with me.

I just settled with BOA for 85 percent of what I owed. Felt badly not paying in full, but their error in erroneously changing my interest rate. Both of us were satisfied in the end. Very polite to work with.

I'm looking for help to settle with BOA. I am still in good standing with them, but right now I am fighting to get my interest rate back to 6%. They changed it to 19%, so I called them and they changed it back to 6% (I was not told I could not use the card anymore or I would default)
Well, I used the card once and they changed it back to 19%. I have had this card for 10 years, and have not made a late payment. It seems like it has been at 19,000.00 forever.
I called again and explained that I was not told that I could not use the card and I asked them to review my conversation, but they said they did not have it.
I wrote 3 letters for a reconsideration explaining what happened and asked them to please give me back a lower interest rate. I have made a couple of payments with this ridiculous rate hoping that they would see I am willing to work with them, but there is no way I can make a 500.00 a month payment with 350.00 going towards interest!
I did call and talk to someone and they took information about all of my bills and what money I have coming in. They gave me all of the info for the hardship program (I think that is what it was).
They want me to pay 400.00 a month for 5 years at an interest rate of 5.25. I told them I would have to think about it and I would get back with them.
I can't pay this, they are crazy! I do have a husband, and we are on a limited income. I also have another account with them and I am wondering if I should pay this one off. It's only for a 1000.00. That way they can't make me go on a program with this one also. (they said I have to and they told me what I have to pay each month).
I am so mad that they would not give me back my interest rate and I think I now want to settle. I have been a faithful customer for 14 years, I've never missed a payment and have not been late. When I wrote to them I told them I would give them 5000.00 towards my balance if they would give me a lower interest rate!
I also asked them why they would give it to me 2 months ago but now they can't and they said because I have too many cards with high balances.
I do have other cards (4 of them) and I can and will continue to pay them off so I don't ruin my husbands credit. The BOA cards are in my name, I never had a card made for him.
If I settle, what will happen to my credit? I don't care about mine, I don't want my husbands ruined.
I need some help please!

I also want to say (that is my message above) that I did mention to the person on the phone about a payoff and she said that I could for 14,000.00! (5,000.00 less than my balance) I didn't think about offering a lower amount.
She then said something about having to pay taxes on something. Is that true?
Should I just try to get 19,000.00 and pay it off? Is it worth it to settle? Will I mess up my credit with my other cards?
I know I'm asking alot here, I hope someone can help.

I'm just doing research into some options, seems like you all know quite a bit about this process. We will be rec'v a workers comp settlement soon, and we obviously want to pay off our BOA card, that has a $19k balance. The settlement won't quite cover it, short by a couple thousand. We are current on our payments, but are only making the bare minimum. Do you think it is worth it to call and offer a settlement even though we are not behind?

All they can do is say no, which is highly likely the response you will get.

last month i was offered a settlement of 20% of my balances between me and my wife. We have over 100k in debt with B of A alone. I said i would get back to them with an answer. I called them back after the end of the month to tell them i would go ahead and pay the 20% at which they replied the 30% is no longer available. It is now 26% of the balance for a settlement and they will not look at the numbers again. They are telling me that thye are not allowed to settle at the 20% anymore due to some government guidelines that they have to follow. I have agreed to settle with Citicards for 20% of the balance and they have sent me a letter stating that. Has anybody ever come up against the problem of the bank changing the settlement amount and if they did could you get it resolved back to the original offer amount.
Thanks very much.

I settled a BofA account just last month (Feb) for 20%. I have heard of the "rules" changing but not AFTER you have accepted an offer. If you didn't accept their original offer then I would say it is unfortunately bad timing for you. I was originally planning on getting a settlement that allowed 6 payments on the settlement balance, (because that is what BofA was doing for most of their settlements) but when everything went down it ended up being only 3 payments. Just like you, BofA informed me that they USED to be able to offer 6 payments but according to government guidelines they now must receive the entire settlement amount within 90 days from the agreement. Bad timing for me, but luckily I was able to make it work.

That is the only problem with settling, especially in today's economy. We really don't know how or when the rules will change. I think it is possible that the government could step in, nationalize all of the banks and say settlement is no longer an option...kinda like student loans.

In my opinion if you think that settlement is your best way out right now.. do it before it is a thing of the past.

Can anyone tell me who to call at BofA and what number? I have 13K in debt and would like to settle for no more than 30% if possible. Thank you.

I spoke with BofA last night about a settlement. I'm close to the 180 mos charge off. Their first offer was 35% which I can't do so I offered 10% but no go. I have a legitimate medical hardship so I'm hoping we can meet in the middle. I was told BofA doesn't approve any lower settlements but reading the posts here you know that's not true.

From speaking with the client rep, the only government regulations are on the hardship programs which can not be for any longer period than 60 months. That's the max for debt management plans and bk.

Brokemama, if you want to start settlement talks, call the 1-800 number on the back of your cc and ask for the settlement dept. That's what I did.

If you are currently in decent standing with BOA and discover but owe over 24k with BOA and 8K with discover and have paid but slow less than 30 days over that last few months, what are the odds they will take a settlement with continued payments. My husband has lost his job and we can't continue at this rate. We were hoping for 50% reduction in balance with both companies with no harm to our credit other than a settlement accepted on our credit and the other 50% that they wrote off as a loss not to affect our credit. Is this possible? Thanks for any advise.

I have about 75k in CC debt and been for 6 month trying to stay on time with the payments. We have reached the point we cant pay them anymore. I have 3 with Capital One about 8k in total and the rest are on 3 accoutns with BOfA. My plan with now is to just wait till 2-3 month when they start calling me and asking about payments. I hope to settle with them by taking a loan out against my 401k. I have not hear about goverment guildlines about settlements before I read it here. Where did you get this info I tried to look it up and cant find anything about it. Are you sure it was just not something they said to make you pay what they wanted you to pay? I have read alot and most people say to start our low with an offer. And if you cant get it to under 25% then tell them you will have to see what you can do. Call back a few weeks later and see if they have gone down at all. But we are at the point that if we cant get out of the CC bills when we will have to file Chapt13. So we really dont have any choice but settle at around 25% or tell them see what they get from the chapt13.

BOA, to me, is the most reasonable bank to work with. I've had issues with other banks in my area (particularly SunTrust and BB&T) and of the three, BOA is the most reasonable and where I've had all my accounts with the longest. They are like any creditor though, they are persistant, but in my experience they are not nasty like some other creditors I've been in contact with.

What is the 90% profile thing? Anyone that worked in this industry know?

I have a written settlement offer from BofA to settle debt for 25% of what is owed. I called to proceed with the settlement and was told that they would/could not settle the debt for the amount stated in the letter. Can they do this or is the written settlement offer binding as long as I make the initial payment?

Hello all. I'm new to the whole settlement idea, but it seem's like it's the best alternative for me right now. As my family is heading into some rough circumstances. I just want to get rid of this debt and start moving on. I currently have a $9,800 card with BofA and I am in good standing. From anybodies experience, do you think they will settle with me if I take it to 90, 120 or even 150 days? Also what percentages have they been offering. Thanks alot!

how does the settlement effect your credit scores and for how long?

I am trying to figure out how I can go about settling debt with BOA. When I called and talked to them earlier today (my account is 60 days past due), the agent told me that they don't deal with debt settlement companies.
She could connect me with a debt management company that they work with though.
I ended up speaking with someone from the debt management company for a while on the phone. Is this their standard operating procedure?
How long do I have to wait until they will settle the debt? How does this affect credit scores and ratings?

Thanks for your input.

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hi, I recently settled with Chase at only 47 days late. They called and offferd a 35% settlement on my 25k acct. We took it. Now I have 2 cards totaling 35k with BOA to settle. I have always been current for 13 yrs but our business has failed andI cant keep up. I am about 45 days late and they told me they were sending me to collections in 2 weeks?? Does anyone know if this is a bluff? SHould I offer them a settlement now in hopes of not being sent to collections. Does that mean I will be charged off before 60 days???? I have to say Chase was much easier for me.

Thanks for the info

Do it yourself, I did. 40K at 25% at 120 days.10K 4 payments, got in writing before first paymentwas due..

On my first phone call, I was offered 30% at BOA. Should I settle for this, or should I go for less?

'Depends on how old account is. I was offered 30% at 150 days. Held out some and now 25% offer. Charges off 1/30

Hi, I have a debt of about $50k with BofA and it is going to almost 150 late. So far I have been telling them things should get better and they have been going with me on that. I asked about settlement and got the standard answer that they do not settle. How do I go about starting the negotiations for settling? Or should I wait for an offer first? What is the lowest I can expect to settle for?

I am surprised they are not offering you anything at 150 days late. Next time you talk to them tell them you can come up with 20% over 4 payments. That is if you can.

Most seem to settle with them at 25-30% and even lower if business card.

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