hardship program question

I firmly believe that you should get everything in writing wherever money is involved although in this case, it should not be an issue. Just keep a sharp eye on the account and see if the changes are reflected in your monthly bills.

You can also request them to give you everything in writing. No harm in asking.

OK, this is not good advice.

You MUST have this in writing--what is to protect you in the event that the debt collector suddenly says "we do not have any settlement arrangement with you"? and they do this all the time--they tell people anything it takes to get them to pay, and then suddenly, they develop amnesia. A third party debt collector's one and only goal is to get the money coming in--and many of them will tell you anything and everything in order to get that to happen. Once they have your money, they dont care about anything that was said a lot of times, so you need to protect yourself.

Call them back ASAP and inform them that you require a written statement showing the 0% for 5 years that they agreed to. Also, who is this that you made the arrangement with? If it is the original creditor, then you are more likely to see them honor it. Debt collectors often do not even have the authority to make such deals--it all depends on the agreement between the debt collector and the creditor that hired them. Let us know who made this agreement with you and we can help you more from there.

Arrangement was made with original creditor.

Exactly, that is what I was taking into account. The deal was with the OC. Collectors I do not trust and for obvious reasons. But if you are talking to creditors like BofA or Discover, they are pretty much honest and stick to what they say.

All in all, I agree with what you (skydivr) say completely. There is no substitute for getting things in writing from the get go. Better not leave a margin for error and then have to pay through your nose for it.

Steve,

You need to understand a couple of things about this situation.

First, not all OC's are honest. Just because youre dealing with the OC and not a third party CA that does not mean you can let your guard down. Please, do not advocate in here that someone would probably be OK without getting something in writing--getting the deal in writing needs to be the requirement every time. It isnt just a good idea, it needs to be the only idea.

Second, I have yet to deal with an OC in a situation like this where one would have to ask for that documentation. The OC would have you sign an agreement to cover their butts, because they know that without proof that you agreed to something, they cannot enforce their rights under the new agreement. The fact that the OP made no mention of the OC as much as suggesting that they would put it in writing on their own should be a red flag.

Third, we do not know what kind of deal this is. Who is the OC? Is it Discover? Or is it WFNNB, which handles a lot of different credit cards and is not really known for being honest? You need to stop advising people of something like this by saying "youre probably OK". We ALWAYS want it in writing, it is the one and only way to do business. Anywhere else in the business world, it MUST be in writing. Should be no different here.

I requested the hardship program in writing, but they said they denied. They said I would receive my next statement which will reflect my new payment also reassuring me by saying all the notes are here in your file stating 0% for 5 yrs. Creditor is World foremost bank.

Not going to really comment on the dispute above, but I will say that (unfortunately) as a member of the consumer credit industry, I have heard the worst things about WMFB. They run a fly by night operation and screw people over all the time. I'm talking worse than GE Money Bank and GE Capital Retail Bank...

i did receive a letter in the mail confirming what was agreed upon.
states new payment, acct number, creditor, original balance, agree to stop all late fees and lower interest to 0%.

only thing that worries me is the letter states my next payment is due in november when they told me december, i called to dicuss and they again said the notes in the system show december. they said the letter was generated through the system and it didnt take the re age into account.