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Need some advice...long! - Kinda off topic...hope that's okay!


Lily wrote: Okay, let me give you all a bit of background info first. My dh and I live in Texas. About 2 years ago things were way different. Adam was in the Army and we lived in Kentucky. We were getting paid really well and had run up some credit card debt that was no problem to pay at the time. Then his re-up or get out date came and we chose to get out. Really, there was no choice. Adam was a nutcase in the Army and we almost got divorced. We are SOOOO much happier now and hardly ever fight. It was all the stress he was under.

Anyway! We took a half salary paycut when we got out. So of course we weren't able to keep up some of the bills. Home Depot being one of them. We only owe them about $1350.00 and the way they are harrassing us you'd think we owed them millions! I get at least 3 calls a day. I used to try to talk to them but soon learned that it didn't matter. They have told me nothing but lies. I started taking down names and numbers of supervisors thinking that the lies would stop if I had that info but suddenly those people didn't exist when I talked to them the next time. It was really getting to me. I was making myself sick from worry. So I got online and looked up the law concerning this thing and discovered that I don't have to talk to these people! By Texas State law I am not required to talk to them and they can't sue us if we keep sending money and they accept it.

So I stopped talking to them. Mostly I pick up the phone and hang it up again. It will ring about 20 times if I don't. We just got a new phone (from a friend so it's "new to us") and it doesn't have caller-id so I accidently picked up the phone this morning and it was Home Depot. I told the lady once again that nothing has changed in our situation and that I will send more when I can. She offered me a payment option of $40.00 a month for 3 months to bring our account current. I told her I was very skeptical about taking any offer since I had been offered "deals" before and they had just disappeared after I got off the phone. One time I agreed to pay by phone which usually has a $9.95 phonepay fee but the supervisor said she would wave the fee if I payed $15.00 instead of our usual $10.00 for that month. Well, when I got my bill there was my $15.00 payment along with a CHARGE for $9.95!!!!! This created more fees for using our account when we were behind on monthly minimum payments! Sound like a scam? Does to me. I told this lady this. She said she had no record of anything I was saying but that the offer still stands for $40.00 a month for 3 months. I told her no, that we're getting ready to move and I don't think we can do that right now.

Here's where I need advice, I'm starting to think that maybe I should take the offer! It would bring our account current and probably look alot better on our credit report. But I don't trust these people at all! What if they take the payments and after 3 months just want more and don't bring our account current? UGH! I want to better our situation but I'm really afraid they're going to take advantage of us. So what do you all think? Should I just go for it and hope they don't screw us? If they don't our account will be made current and our credit will look a bit better. Anyway, I'm just really confused. Thanks if you got this far! I know I just about wrote a book! lol wink.gif

Julie (jem0622) replied: I know your situation far too well. My DH and me just filed Ch 13 bankruptcy. To keep our house and our cars. Long ugly mess, laden with a totalled car, layoff, 20k loss of income, etc. Just a mess. But regardless of how heavy our hearts are with doing this it is the only option at this point and we will percervere (sp).

I would say that if they send to you, IN WRITING (I am stressing this part), that your paying 'x' payments of 'y' will bring you current and that they will update your credit report after you fulfill the agreement then I would say go for it. Many companies do this now and it is legit...because they have to have a means to get their compensation for the debt.

Eat beans and weenies if you have to make it happen. But if repairing this one thing to get to where you want to be then go for it.

BTW...you don't have to communicate over the phone. And if they call you more than once a day then I'd pick up the phone on the second or third attempt and say 'do you know that this is harassment? i have an answering machine. leave a message.' Also, you can tell any creditor (they sometimes want it in writing) that they can only communicate to you through the USPS.

HUGS
Julie

Kaitlin'smom replied: I say if you can get it in writing then go for it. also calling more than once a day is harrassment! I hope you can get things better under control. Best of luck.

Lily replied: Hi Julie! Thanks for you help. And you know what? Here's just another example of how they are lying to me! They told me that they have the right to call as many times as they want until 9:00 pm because my account is delinquite (sp?). I knew that was harrassment! I guess I'll have to write them and request no more calls. And that's a good idea about getting the agreement in writing. We can do the $40.00 a month. I can cut corners elsewhere and we'll be okay. I just don't want to send it all for nothing ya know? I'm starting to lean toward going ahead with the deal. Gonna talk to my dh and see what he thinks too. Thanks alot! And by the way, I'm sorry you had to file bankrupcy. I've had relatives that had to go through it and it is so horrible. Hopefully the time will pass quickly and you guys can get back on track. Hugs!

Lily replied:
Thanks! Is your name Kaitlin or Di? Just wondering! wink.gif

Kaitlin'smom replied:
mine is Di, my daughters name is kailtin smile.gif guess maybe I should change my name so peopel dont get confused

MilMunchMOM replied: yep! put it in writing! Good Luck with everything! I just left the Military too! It's hard.

kit_kats_mom replied: I'm a former collector but I prefer to think of myself as more of a debt counselor. tongue.gif

First, it does sound like they are harrassing you. As a consumer, you have rights and the collection agencies do have to abide by the law. here is a link to the fair debt collection practices act which was passed in the early 70's. Read it and know your rights. http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm

All collectors know of this law but since so many debtors are uninformed, they don't always follow it. I will admit to placing more than one phone call to a debtor if I received an answering machine the first few times. The goal of the collector is to get the debtor on the phone and pin down a payment arrangement that is acceptable to both parties. So keep in mind that the person on the other end of the phone is probably making hundreds of calls per day prompted by a computer screen of data. If one collector does not note their accounts properly, then the others have no idea if you've been called today or if there were payment arrangements made.

It is your right to write to the creditor or collection agency and request that all further contact be made through writing.

I understand that you are in a tough spot. Have you considered a credit counseling service? The good ones are no cost to you and they will sit down with you, go though your budget and see how much money you have each month for payment to creditors. They will then work out a payment plan and communicate with the creditors that intended plan. Many creditors will reduce or remove late fees, lower their interest rates and the monthly payment required. You then write one check to the credit counseling service each month and they will pay the bills for you. One warning, DO NOT EVER MISS THAT PAYMENT TO THE COUNSELING SERVICE!!! if you do, the creditors will not get paid and that is your final chance. I have more than once added back interest to loans and sent the files to small claims court over a missed Credit counseling payment. It's just really frusterating to the creditors. However, I have seen many people in your situation avoid bankruptcy and come out of the plan debt free.

Just communicate with the creditors, keep your promises to pay, document everything and it will all work out in the end.

Feel free to IM me if you have any more questions.

Boys r us replied: Hi! First, I'm sorry you're going through all of this..but it sounds like your future is getting brighter biggrin.gif

I work for a large bank and I see thousands of accounts each month messed up by bill collectors who do as they please with people's accounts!
Once they get your account number, they are relentless and they then have a authorization agreement on file for them to debit your account!
If you are interested in doing this, I would first, set up a different account strictly for this money. Most banks now a days offer completely free checking and you wouldn't have to worry about buying checks or anything if you're going to do this over the phone with home depot.
So..open an account, let them debit for 3 months, get yourself current, then close the account..or only put money in the account that you want to apply and can afford to apply to your home depot account!
Voila..you're brought current, with no risk of them jeopordizing yoor account that has money in it that you can't afford to pay them right now!

aspenblue1 replied: I am so sorry you are going through this. I would definately get it in writing. I would also tell that that you do not want to receive anymore calls on that acct. I know when the company I work for handled the home depot account we would mark the number so it couldnt be dialed by collections. I also know the bank that is handling the home depot cards. The should have the same options. Also home depot prides theirselves on their customer service. I would maybe talk to the home office and tell them about the practices of this bank.

A&A'smommy replied: (((BIG HUGS))) I understand where you are coming from. My parents were in BIG time debt and still aren't doing so well with their payments and stuff. I can't give you any advice because I don't know what I would do, but I can offer you some support and hugs! Good luck with what you choose to do.

Lily replied: Wow, thanks so much for all the suggestions and advice AND just for the well wishes! It really helps alot just to hear people understand and don't think we're some lowlifes trying to get out of paying. I've actually been told that very thing by these people. I really don't think it would help to try to talk to them anymore. It's Citibank that is trying to collect from us. I've gone up the "chain of command" with them so many times and get the same treatment everytime.

I'm going to talk my dh first but I really think we're going to take the deal. Although, if it's on the condition that it's debited out I won't do it. I do not want them to have access to ANY account of mine. I've heard the horror stories. I figure it this way, if they want the money bad enough then they will take it how I want them too.

Anyway, gonna let my son play outside for awhile and then cook dinner. Bye for now!!!!

Lily replied:
I wanted to say thank you for posting the link. I am printing it out as I'm typing. biggrin.gif

Lily replied:
Gotcha! thumb.gif

kit_kats_mom replied: Sure, you are welcome. I temp'd at citifinancial (a subsidiary of citibank) and they did tend to use the strong arm approach. My experience has been that most people do want to pay and if you work with them, they will make you a priority on thier repayment list.

I actually had a lady write me a thank you note after I had her car repossesed. silly.gif Apparently her DH took care of the bills and never told her anything. When she called me I asked them to come in with copies of their bills and I helped them work out a budget. If her DH had just called me rather than having me leave message, after message, after message, with no response from him, we would have been able to avoid the repo. It's really great that you are facing your debt and not avoiding it. Great job! thumb.gif

maestra replied: We have a debt management plan that our two large credit cards are on. I have been on it since 1999, and my debt is only 1/3 of what it was. No one calls, and the payments are automatically taken out of my account. The company has negotiated lower interest rates on the cards (one is at 3.4 percent). It does show on your credit report, but when you make the payments on time for a year, it improves your credit. I was able to buy a house, and qualified for another just recently.

The company I have is Genus Credit Management

Hth!

kit_kats_mom replied:
Yup. Genus is a good one and so is Consumer Credit Counseling. Either one should be listed in the phone book under debt management.

Avoid any that require payment from you. I have yet to have had a debtor do well on one of those.

maestra replied:
Genus does require a $9 a month "donation" from me to pay for their administrative costs. I never thought it was bad, so I pay it. But I have heard of others (scams ) that want a lot more.

Julie (jem0622) replied: I only want to provide a bit of caution on credit counseling. Please don't beat me up over this gals! I went through a CCCS program with 100% success when I was in college (they throw credit apps to you in college and don't care what you make or if you lose hours). However, when I re-entered a CCCS plan over a year ago (almost 2 yrs ago) with DH we were doing fine but then it became a huge struggle a few months after Gabe was born. And we felt the brutal impact of DH's income dropping by 20k/yr. I asked my CCCS rep if we could renegotiate the terms and the monthly payment to them (which went to our creditors) because it was too much for us. We were struggling to pay CCCS and our secured debt. It shouldn't be that way when you are in a program like that. Long story short...they said 'file bankruptcy.' They could have helped us, but they shut the door on us. Because they work for the credit card companies. They won't tell you that. We could have reapplied and had a new payment. Heck, I could have dealt with paying for 5 yrs if I had to in order to pay late or overlimit charges. But they shut the door on us. And we fought filing bankruptcy. We tried to refi. No one would take us. So here we are. on 3/2 our Ch 13 was filed with the US Bankruptcy court.

So I had a great experience and an awful experience. If you can handle the payments and you don't have any changes in your income (layoffs, firing, change in employment (PT vs FT) then I would recommend CCCS. But check on their BBB rating first.

HUGS
Julie

Lily replied: Thanks so much y'all. I talked to my dh last night and he wants to take the Home Depot deal. So at some point today or tomorrow I'm going to call them and request the deal in writing. Then we'll just have to see what happens. Home Depot is the only one harrassing us like this. We have a credit card with USAA that has over $6,000.00 on it and they even worked with us and didn't harrass us. They have dropped our finance charges and the debt is actually going down. I just don't understand why Home Depot is so mean about it. One of our friends who works at one of their stores has about $300.00 on a credit card with them. He was late on 1 payment (just 1!!!) and they have started to harrass him too! For $300.00!!! I just don't understand their reasoning on this. But whatever, Thanks again! I really appreciate all the advice. thumb.gif

Kirstenmumof3 replied: My advice to you is to change your number again, DO NOT give Home Depot your new number and continue sending them the monthly payment as you have been doing. Since they have been scaming you in the past I wouldn't accept anymore deals from them and if you continue to have problems with them I would phone the Head Office for Home Depot and talk to them about it. I hope this all goes away for you soon! Also how did they get your new number?

Lily replied:
Hi Kirsten, unfortunately I was trying to be a good person and I called them and gave them our number. Duh, right? lol But I never imagined I would be harrassed like this. If I had I wouldn't have given them the number. By the way, your screenname looks really familiar to me. I swear I know you from another group. Maybe MSN groups? Hmmm...or Baby University? Haven't been there in a long time. Anyway, HI!!! lol

Guest_julesmom replied: Hi. You can go to planetfeedback.com and send them a complaint letter too. The letter is sent to the higher ups!


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