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| Thu, 09-02-2004 - 10:43am |
Hi I am new here.My name is Angela.And yes I am big time in dept.Last year in October my dh had a stroke.And he was out of work for 6 months.Everything fell to pieces.Well he finally went back to work in April.And we some kind of way had the morgage and car payments help us with payments by lettin us pay extentions.Now we are caught up with those bills.But the cc's are a different story!!!My credit got bad years ago but I was able to get it back to normal.And the credit card applications came in and they gave me credit cards...My mistake...I went crazy with them...Now I get phone calls and letters....I am trying to send what I can...When dh went back to work our main goal was the house and car now that that is up to date we are workin with the cc's.But these people want 2 and 3 hundred dollars and that is totally to much..Please help.....
Totally in Dept~~~~~Angie

Welcome Angela!!
Becky
CL of 4th, 5th & 6th grade Scoliosis
Welcome to the board. This is the kindest, most supportive group of women I've ever 'met'. I'm sure you'll be fine, and know that you're cared for, and you're not alone.
One thing I learned by reading Jerrold Mundis' book "How to get out of debt, stay out of debt, and live prosperously", is that we have to be completely honest with the credit card companies when telling them how much we can pay. We can't just agree to their amount because we're being pressured. and I don't know about other states, but in massachusetts, more than one phone call per day per credit card company is called harrassment, and it's against the law. You have rights. You owe them some money, not your life.
If you have a budget worked out, and know the amounts you can pay, you can call up your credit card companies (you only have to call one per day if you want), and be proactive and tell them your story, then tell them how much you can send them, and when you'll send it. Then make sure you do it. Put in writing everything you agreed to on the telephone, and write them a letter re-stating everything. Keep a copy of the letter for yourself. Of course they're going to demand more, but you stick to your guns, offer to send them a copy of your budget, be calm, be polite. If they get nasty, ask for a manager. Surprisingly, the higher up you get, the more 'human' they get ;-) Get the person's name that you make the agreement with. Then just keep sending in the amount you said you would, month after month. If it ever *did* go to court (worst case of the worst cases), the judge would laugh the credit card lawyers out of there, because you've shown you're doing your best.
Before I was even close to paying off my credit card accounts, I called and closed the accounts, making sure they wouldn't demand the entire amount due. Usually they came back and offered lower interest rates! Then I kept making monthly payments, but was unable to rack up new charges (besides interest and late fees).
Good luck, keep posting here, get to your library and borrow Jerrold Mundis' book if you can.
All the best,
Lee Ann
Lee Ann
www.werenotafraid.com
HUGS~~~ANGIE