Great Settlement offer from CC company--Is this for real?

[Phillymanhere]

I am about to start the process of filing a chapter 7. My attorney hasn't allowed me to forward calls to him until I've paid him in full. So I've been getting calls for months. I owe about 46K in CC debt.

Last week, I got a badgering call from Bank of America. I foolishly engaged the person on the other end, who got very very verbally aggressive and bullying.

Anyway, the guy says he can offer me a settlement of 20 cents on the dollar for the 20K that I owe on the BOA cards. I think wow, 4K isn't too bad. Well today I get a call from a different person, who was more bullying than the previous one. In the course of the bullying, the guy says he's willing to take 3K in total to cover the 20K I owe BOA.

The threats were about two balance transfers I made to BOA cards in May of 2007 and July of 2007. I made regular payments until March 2008.

I'm confused: are these real offers? I don't have $3K, and I owe an additional 26K to Chase and Citi. What the heck happened that these BOA folks started to bully me? They didn't do this before.

Should this (a settlement) be something I should at all be thinking about? Today's caller said they will contest my bk when I file it. Should I take that seriously. I'll meet with my lawyer soon.

I've been thrown for a loop on this one. Any feedback and insight would be appreciated.

[Mi Bankruptcy]

It's a scare tactic when then say they will contest. Tell them to mail you the offer and you will review it. DON'T promise anything. Don't ever say or "Yes" or "no" to any questions. Also, don't take any calls until your attorney can field them for you. I just paid off my attorney last week and started taking calls the prior week. Here's what I did and I have not received any calls. In a couple weeks I will actually have the money to file ( 299.00)

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=27825

[BKParalegal]

In regards to settlement, they are getting more aggressive ( in discounting). The problem is, if you want to avoid BK, you will have to be able to settle with all of your creditors to make it worthwhile. If you have $46k in debt, and assuming you can get them all down to $.30 on the dollar then that is roughly $13,800. If you have access to the funds via 401k, home equity loan,etc, then it is something to consider. One other issue, is that they may send a 1099 to you for the deficiency and that could add to your tax debt to the tune of $4k to $5k, depending on your tax bracket.

Good Luck