Thoughts on making a TINY payment during default?

[Randall948]

As some of you know im in the middle of doing a default prior to hopefully settling out some debt. Who I have in my sights right now is BoA as they are by a large margin my largest creditor. Im repeating my reasons for not being able to pay every time I let them speak with me (around every 2 weeks).

Im around 60 days past right now. As you can imagine the calls are getting more frequent and the parties are getting more terse and insistent.

What are your thoughts about me maybe making something like a $20 payment to them to show "good faith"? Im not concerned with resetting the SOL right now as Im very nearly judgment proof and if they DO sue and DO try and take what very little assets I have I can always push the BK nuke.

The main reason I was thinking this is to possibly push charge off date a little further back but I dont know much about the conditions for chargeoff.

Does ANY payment let them not charge it off at 180 days or do they just charge off if the account isnt "current".

Any input thrown my way would be much appreciated. Right now ive sent them nothing since I think late June.

[tokyogp]

All you'll do is reset your SoL. Unless you can bring the account current, there's no reason to make any payments, IMO, because it's headed for charge off regardless.

Put that $20 into savings and work on negotiating a settlement with them instead. The closer you get to the 180 days the lower you should be able to talk the % of balance due as the settlement amount.

[willingtocope]

Does ANY payment let them not charge it off at 180 days or do they just charge off if the account isnt "current".

There is no law that says CO occurs at 180 days...

[donqII]

As some of you know im in the middle of doing a default prior to hopefully settling out some debt. Who I have in my sights right now is BoA as they are by a large margin my largest creditor. Im repeating my reasons for not being able to pay every time I let them speak with me (around every 2 weeks).

Im around 60 days past right now. As you can imagine the calls are getting more frequent and the parties are getting more terse and insistent.

What are your thoughts about me maybe making something like a $20 payment to them to show "good faith"? Im not concerned with resetting the SOL right now as Im very nearly judgment proof and if they DO sue and DO try and take what very little assets I have I can always push the BK nuke.

The main reason I was thinking this is to possibly push charge off date a little further back but I dont know much about the conditions for chargeoff.

Does ANY payment let them not charge it off at 180 days or do they just charge off if the account isnt "current".

Any input thrown my way would be much appreciated. Right now ive sent them nothing since I think late June.

No, They will charge off at the 180 day mark if you do not make a very sizable payment.

Without getting into specifics, I had made some on some of my accounts.

This did re-age my accounts, and were reflected on the CCs, for the most part... not all, but the chargeoffs happened 180 days after the first month of really missing my payments.

[chuckygee]

There is no law that says CO occurs at 180 days...

The FDIC says it:

http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/5000-1000.html

[donqII]

The FDIC says it:

http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/5000-1000.html

Yep, but on 2 accounts that were defaulted on in 2008..

One was still showing listed in the good side of my credit

report in March of 2010.......

All the negative marks and reports were posted there but it still was

not COed. Now it is not reported anywhere and that makes

me very nervous.

A second one, was reporting, even on the negative side,

as still being open. And that was at the end of 09.

So, they do not follow the rules.

[chuckygee]

So, they do not follow the rules.

That is why the FCRA and the FDCPA laws were passed. They do not always follow the rules. But if you want to be in the best position to defend yourself, it behooves you to know them.

Small payments will not help your cause. You are in default when you miss the minimum payment. Small payments only help to extend your SOL and take small bites out of the accruing interest. It will not prevent a 180 day default if they decide to label it defaulted at that time. If anything, it just shows that you acknowledged your obligation to pay the entire amount because you made a payment without disputing the total amount.

[Massive]

I agree do not make payments. Prepare to fight the debt collectors. You CAN beat them.

[willingtocope]

The FDIC says it:

http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/5000-1000.html

We've been over this before. The FDIC regs apply only to FDIC insured banks. We have no evidence that the CC issuing subsidiaries are included. Given the fact that many CC's are not charged off at 180 days, I conclude they are not.

[Denita]

OP, why do you want to push the charge off date further?

What is the end game here?

If you are looking to push out the time in which to settle, sending in small amounts won't help you and can hurt your case as noted above by chuckygee.

Also, sending anything but the full past due payment will not stop the phone calls

If you think you might recover eventually (financially) and you are looking to buy time, then you might consider going with a BOA hardship program. If you decide to go this route: search here under 'hardship program' for details. You can get zero to 4% rates in exchange for closing the account and allowing an auto draft out of a specific account you have set up for this purpose. Don't let BOA have access to your main accounts at all.

If you think you are going not recover financially for the foreseeable future, then don't continue to pay small amounts. If you have a bank account with BOA close it. Move your main funds over to another bank or local CU. Keep a stash of cash. Begin the moves to protect you and your accounts so you can build a fund for settlement if that is the direction you prefer.

[OZZIE69]

I recently settled $30k with them for 20-25%. I first got on the hardship program and then latter defaulted. The good thing though was that I was only being charged 4% during default period. I am guessing you are being charged a lot more.

So you may consider calling and getting on hardship program to get small interest rate. Then bail.

[Randall948]

OP, why do you want to push the charge off date further?

What is the end game here? Settlement and or BK as a last ditch fall back if they wont settle.

Also, sending anything but the full past due payment will not stop the phone calls. I know. The phone calls really dont bother me.

If you think you might recover eventually (financially) and you are looking to buy time, then you might consider going with a BOA hardship program. If you decide to go this route: search here under 'hardship program' for details. You can get zero to 4% rates in exchange for closing the account and allowing an auto draft out of a specific account you have set up for this purpose. Don't let BOA have access to your main accounts at all. I dont plan to let them or anyone else have access to main accounts.

If you think you are going not recover financially for the foreseeable future, then don't continue to pay small amounts. If you have a bank account with BOA close it. Move your main funds over to another bank or local CU. I already did. Keep a stash of cash. I already do. I leave only subsistence amounts in any financial institution to protect from possible levies. Begin the moves to protect you and your accounts so you can build a fund for settlement if that is the direction you prefer. I am. Only goal was to have more time to save pile of money to settle with. Its going slower than I expected so I wanted some time to save more. Hence the thinking of pushing charge off back.

Edited August 26, 2010 by Randall948
Screwed up post

[Recovering Attorney]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[mac123]

If you are looking to settle before charge off ..... I got a 15 % settlement right before charge off .... about 165 days late

on 4 BofA accounts with very large balances .... they gave me the 15 % on all the 4 cards ....

they thought I was going to file chapter 7 ..... I did too .... for a while ....

they let me pay ove 93 days and the CR will show settled with a 0 balance ....

alot of people have got between 15% and 30 % with bofa .... just work it ....