**Disclaimer – DebtPrison.net does not administer legal or financial advice. The contents of this website are my opinions on collection agencies and how to deal with them. Nothing on this website should be interpreted as legal advice or council. No opinions on this website should be used to replace the advice of your financial advisor or your legal council.
A reader at The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act wants to use the debt snowball but the collection agency has placed an ultimatum on another debt… should she pay it?
Hi, I would like to thank you for this website!!! I do not feel so alone anymore!!!! Here is my story…. My husband worked for MBNA for 5 yr. and when Bank of America took over they told him to look for a new job b/c he made too much money. They let him go w/i 2wks. This is when all hell broke loose for us.
He was out of work for 10 months. Slowly but surely our cc debt crept up. Our once perfect credit that we once used for convenience purposes and paid in full monthly had totally gone out of control. He did get another job and made $60,000.00 less a year. So we were fighting to just get by never mind paying off our $20,000.00 in cc debt. Well in Sept. he lost the only job our family has. So now we are really screwed. We get about 10-15 calls per day from collectors. And now Bank of America’s legal department contacted us on Friday saying that they will be pursuing legal action if we did not pay them $268.00 by the end of this month and $150.00 every month there after.
The kicker is that we are one month away from settling a $20,000.00 debt on our other Bank of America account. I am begging, borrowing and stealing to make sure that gets paid! I just cannot afford this extra $268.00 right now and they are so unwilling to wait until December when the $20,000.00 will be paid off.
We literally have nothing we are feeding the kids with food stamps at this point b/c we have no income. We have to let the legal department know if we are willing to do this by Monday. Do you have any advice? If they do pursue this legally will it make them look bad that we couldn’t pay on both but are trying to pay the one? I am at wits end and can’t even sleep anymore. The woman from the legal department was so mean and said “well I pay my bills” AAHHH!!!! I have read your threads and have found them all very helpful.
Thank you,
Sheila
Debt Prison response…
I would just stick to the program you are currently on. I would inform BOA that they can pursue legal action if they’d like.. but you cannot pay anything until December. I would settle the other debt first… and then begin repayment on the other account. And not one damn day sooner.
It’s because you can’t afford minimum payments that you have to default in the first place. Continuing in the cycle of unreachable minimum payments will only postpone the settlement process for you. Stick to the debt snowball, pay/settle off one debt at a time, and chances are you won’t go to court. However, if you do find a summons request in the mail, go represent yourself and do your best to cooperate with the desires of the court.
If we all agreed to the terms of debt collectors we’d never get out of debt… Remember their job is to get a payment out of you right now. You can’t blame them for this… after all you do owe them the money. However, you have to pursue the actions which will do the most good for your financial health overall. Keep that in mind as you deal with collection agencies.
Related Articles
* The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
* Reasons not to file Bankruptcy or Settle Your Debts
* Can you go to jail for not paying your debts?
* How to settle your debts on your own
* How to deal with collection agencies
* Sample Debt Validation Letter
* Information on Credit Card Balance Transfers
* How I Escaped Credit Card Debt
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