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One primary creditor. BK or negotiate?

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    One primary creditor. BK or negotiate?

    Thank you all for the great resource that this forum represents. I was hoping someone might have some feedback on a specific question about some difficulties an employee of mine is having and which she recently confided to me. She is a very nice woman, kind and honest as the day is long, but not especially financially sophisticated and has ended up behind the eight ball as a result.

    In a nutshell: She went through a divorce a few years ago and was left without an income for an extended period. She contacted the creditor bank (BOA) immediately, but they refused to work with her at all and she eventually fell behind on her small balance and saw her rate jacked up to 30% or so, where it has apparently remained. Once she found work again, she resumed payments but has never been able to get current and the principal continues to spiral as a result. I believe it is now over $20,000. She has no other delinquent debts. In fact she has very few other debts at all.

    In a situation like this, with one primary creditor, what is the likely best course of action? My gut feeling is that -- given their recent difficulties -- the bank would probably accept a fairly small settlement if convinced the alternative was bankruptcy. But I've got no experience at all in this area and frankly, given how badly they've treated her, I'd be happy to see them get nothing at all.

    Would anyone care to volunteer an opinion? Much appreciated.

    #2
    If you look on my blog at the link in my signature, choose the "Creditors" category and you can follow what's happened with our BofA accounts - last thing they offered me was a 15% settlement, but she'd have to be willing to take the hits to her credit, and her results may be different than mine.
    BKForum Blog: The Journey

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      #3
      Yes

      Yes, I would try the negotiation route first. Her honesty and nicety might be the problem here because she will need to play hardball. She has to threaten them with BK.

      I don't always suggest this route because there are a lot of shady outfits that exist. But a debt repair place might not be a bad idea for her simply because they probably will be better at the negotiation aspect of the game than she will be.

      It makes me angry because I bet that of the 20K, 15K is probably interest and even if BOA settles they will wind up making money off of the loan. Put that's off topic, sorry.
      So the poor debtor, seeing naught around him
      Yet feels the narrow limits that impound him
      Grieves at his debt and studies to evade it
      And finds at last he might as well have paid it.

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        #4
        Maybe you, EtcEtc can negotiate the settlement for her. She might need to sign an authorization for you to speak directly to AMEX. You might have the temperment of steel that is needed to get this deal done.

        Debt settlement companies are basically scam artists, JMO.
        Filed CH 7 9/30/2008
        Discharged Jan 5, 2009! Closed Jan 18, 2009

        I am not an attorney. None of my advice is legal advice in any way..

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