Is this just a scare tactic?

[sofarindebt]

Bank of America called me. I got this credit card in april of 06, the balance is $13,500. I made one payment of $3000 and then never made a payment again because I joined some stupid debt settlement company. She called today and said she needs a payment of $133.00 or else the account will be charged off and that will be "so bad" for my credit along with a bankruptcy. She also said they will probably fight this if I file bankruptcy because the account was taken out less than one year ago. Do you think they will really fight it? I would think they wouldn't tell you before you filed?

[HHM]

Although it is probably a scare tactic at this point. However, if you were to file any time before April '07, and under the circumstances you described, I wouldn't be surprised if BofA showed up and objected to the discharge of the debt, they have pretty good grounds and it's a large enough balance. A large balance immediately charged on the card after it was taken out, only one payment made...that scenario can fit into a couple of the exceptions to discharge provisions of the BK code.

The charge off issue is not too big a deal, although more and more people are having problems having charge off's removed from their credit report after filing BK. (I wonder if there has been some recent court decision, because we are seeing more and more people unable to successfully dispute charge off entries on their credit report after filing BK).

[sofarindebt]

How can they have grounds?

I guess I don't understand how they could proved I had no intention of paying, why would I join a debt settlement company? Plus, I lost my job in June.

[sofarindebt]

Also, what are the chances

of them objecting to the debt once it is in the hands of an attorney or third party debt collector?

[HHM]

If BofA actually charges off the account and turns it over, 3rd party collectors typically do not object to discharge. Usually because so much time has passed, it becomes difficult to prove, and the 3rd party doesn't have enough of the account information to make a case.

By no means to I intend to imply that BofA has a slam-dunk case, only that, given the overall circumstances and the amount involved, if you file BK any time soon, an attorney will probably look over the situation to see if an objection to discharge is worth pursuing and possibly show up to your 341 meeting to ask you some questions.

But keep in mind, these are negotiations, if you owe $13,500, odds are, an attorney for BofA would be looking to settle with you at a reduced amount, via a reaffirmation, instead of filing and objection.

[SinkingFast]

The charge off issue is not too big a deal, although more and more people are having problems having charge off's removed from their credit report after filing BK. (I wonder if there has been some recent court decision, because we are seeing more and more people unable to successfully dispute charge off entries on their credit report after filing BK).

This is certainly true. The Charge Offs.

We didn't have any of our accts Charged Off when we filed BK. 3 had been moved to 3rd party Collections, but no acct had been Charged Off. Nothing showing that way on our Credit Reports.

We file BK, and almost all the Creditors that we BK'd against are showing our accts as Charged Off. Bad Debt. Citi revised their reporting back to the last time we made a payment and shows our acct as Paid. Closed.

We've disputed 3 times now. Some fell off because they did not respond to the disputes. Those were mostly Chase that fell off. Others remained. BoA is the worst. They have reasserted that their reporting is correct every time we've disputed.