Creditors

If they wanted to be real sticklers, they could...

The terms in your membership agreement will define how they calculate your amount due; it will also define default situations and what they can charge if your account is in default. If they don't want to make a payment plan for you, they can just blame it on the cardholder agreement.

However, I don't think that it would really be in their best interest to refuse a payment plan to someone who is trying to work it out. After all, if they don't co-operate with you then they risk that you will stop paying them altogether. Since most credit cards *usually* do not sue people themselves --they usually end up charging the account off and selling it for pennies to a junk debt buyer. So by not setting up a payment plan with you they are cutting their own throats and guaranteeing themselves that they will end up losing money on you.

I agree, they could but chances are they will work with you to the best of their ability without them losing a bunch of money. not helping you set up a plan ensures them a load of hassles. I was able to set up a plan with most of my creditors before i had to consolidate them (no funds to pay after i made the payment arrangements). but for a while after there was a plan in place, i did well and i did see progress with my principal amount going down. good luck