View Full Version : making the phone calls, scary
So I am making the phone calls for the 2nd mortgage issue. I know I have much support for bankruptcy however I want to give it an honest try to make this work out if I can without another bomb on my credit. I started by calling our employee assistance line (a good thing about working for a large organization I guess). They talked me through some of it and made me feel a little more confident.
Now I have called the recovery company and talked to someone I spoke to before. I made an offer which she says is much too low probably. Possibly that with some monthly payments. I just need to get my head around this, something really bad happened to our family. We lost the house and before that I went to school for 2 years to become a teacher and did not get a job. Starting teacher with masters salary would have been enough to possibly get a deal on a mortgage and keep the house. And now I have to come up with money for this rather than move towards some of my goals such as owning a house again. The sour grapes are not going to help me or anyone deal with this. And I know in general I always feel better dealing with things. It also makes me kinda angry at my friend who has much worse financial crap than this and just does not take care of it. She waits to get served papers on debt that was assigned to her ex, hides out at her sister's house, cannot get a checking account but does not use her employee assistance program to just declare bankruptcy and move on. I have offered some support but it has gone nowhere.
I am waiting on a call back and deep cleaning the fridge while I wait. I finally threw out the maraschino cherries that i cannot eat and some really old blueberry syrup no one would eat. And re-reading all the supportive comments I got here when I first posted about this. I guess it is a big deal to handle things huh,
It's a huge deal.
I look forward to making that call to my student loan company. Every year they send me a letter that lists the principal, the interest, and the "legal fees." the last one is $20k alone. I talked to a lawyer friend of mine and he said that if you save up for the principal and a little more for "interest" -- they'll usually accept that. He recommends that I offer $35k less than their "total owed" amount. This is what he had to do with his remainder that went through the same 'issue' that mine did (same law school, same private student loan company, same problems!) and they accepted that offer of his. He was able to pay it off last year (on his 40th birthday no less!).
It'll be good to have this off your back. Hopefully they'll accept your first offer. :)
Okay I talked to them and then to my friend who does the collection side as a job. They offered me a 50% reduction on my 50%, and I had until the end of tomorrow to come up with part of that. About 5K. Yeah. Most people who go through a foreclosure have 5k available in 24 hours. I had offered about 2K and payments on another couple thousand. They were very generous and I could have 5 years interest free and total 16K to pay.
So the paperwork says I have 21 days to respond, and that is from the date served which is last Friday. I have 15 more days that means. I can file something with the court, a counter claim or affirmative defense asking for documentation that they own the debt and saying something about not being contacted in any way when the debt was sold to them over a year ago. I had a cease and desist however they still are required to inform me if the debt is sold before filing in court. Also it says the loan was secured by the property and the property is sold. I know I paid ahead and paid a higher interest rate for the 2nd because it had less standing than the 1st, so paying off this huge of a loss still is not something I am willing or capable of doing.
What I could use a little support on is dealing with this through standing up and negotiating. My mom seemed surprised that I was doing this instead of just filing bankruptcy. That doesn't solve all my problems after all, and I have an amount I can pay, although it is closer to 5% - 10% of the total.
Other Zoe, you don't happen to work for public service in any way? I don't know if it matters since the loan is private however I got a great deal through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. I pay a much more reasonable payment and in 10 years of public service it is forgiven
No, I didn't/don't work in public service. One of my friend's did for 7 years before the place she worked was switched to being military. They gave her forgiveness in 3 more years as part of her severance. But, the private loans don't qualify, apparently, so she's still paying those.
I was offered a job right out of school in government in Montana, and I should have taken it. We could have lived there for 10 years adn then moved here. ;) But, yeah. my husband didn't want to move to Montana, which was mostly him being stupid (which he can be quite good at sometimes), so I didn't take it.
Kicking myself for that, honestly.
But now that I have a more clear game plan AND -- from chatting about it on here -- I'm come to better emotional terms with the debt AND acknowledged that I've paid off a lot of it already. I feel much better about the whole thing. :)
That's a huge amount of financial spring cleaning you are dealing with. Keep at it, one step at a time and your dream of owning your own home in the future will happen :)
Saw a lawyer myself yesterday about my student loan services mismanagement of my loan. Major breach of contract on their part and all of my communication with them has been in writing so she could see all of their errors and was very supportive. She was very confident about a reasonable solution without any hits to my credit report.
Good luck!!
Also, you can choose whether to settle or to file affrimative defense. It's just up to you.
Settling is often "easier" -- even though it usually costs more. Whereas going through the court is a longer process, and requires a lot more attention. You have to pay attention to ALL details in order to 'win' -- and you may not win and have to pay the total (including their legal fees).
If you can settle, and you feel confident with the settlement, then do. If you can't settle, then go forward with the legal case.
So far, the idea of $2k now and several payments up to $16k seems very do-able to me.
If you can settle, and you feel confident with the settlement, then do. If you can't settle, then go forward with the legal case.
So far, the idea of $2k now and several payments up to $16k seems very do-able to me.
Thanks for the advice. I am not actually willing to pay up to $16, I make under 30K, which I am sorry and keep working on however I am just as much in the middle of this as anyone else. I can pay the 2K and then make payment up to about 4K or so. I am sure that is very low but compared to bakruptcy it is a better deal for all. I will continue to work at settling.
Zoegirl, good on you for facing this head on and dealing with it.
If they are willing to accept that deal, I would go with that deal over going to court over 4k and possibly loosing and having to pay $16k+.
I was able to do that with one of my student loans (they might not have had the paperwork right, but fighting that would have been difficult). I was able to chew them down to 60% of the principle. If they'd gone to court and won, I would have paid something like 40% more than the principle and outstanding interest due to court fees, etc, so I decided to go ahead and take the deal. And, I was able to get a decent interest-free payment plan which helped a lot, too.
My current loan situation is such that I cannot get the same deal (it's a different company). I have approached them several times with different offers, but they usually decline and demand a much larger lump sum than I can afford or lump plus payment plan that is untenable for me. So, I'm just saving up until I have the principle plus a bit more, and I'm hoping that they'll accept that when I have it all in hand. I hope to have that by 40 (so 3.5 more years).
Sounds like their ace in the hole is that they have a bunch of call-center people, lawyers and others who will try to get you to pay as much as possible. Your ace in the hole is bankruptcy, and them getting nothing. If they were supposed to file a claim on you a year ago and didn't, what are your chances of getting this whole thing thrown out according to a legal professional? If you tell them you have 2K now and maybe a total of 5K later with payments and that's it, that's the MOST they can get unless you don't file bankruptcy. The house has been sold and probably the title cleared. So actually you are in a position of some power. I think you are doing the right thing by trying to make good on your debts, but keep in mind you are likely working with a faceless corporation who paid pennies on the dollar for debt that likely has already been written off. So don't pull out your inner Hercules if they try to hardball you: you have kids to support and an ex that doesn't always come though with the money when it's needed. IF this whole thing is actually legal and IF you can work out a deal, great. But it's not the end of the world if you have to tell them sorry in legal fashion. Keep your chin up, get agreements in writing, do what you need to do. Good luck!
I agree with Rosie there. It's a good, clear perspective and description of the situation.
Okay, I am breathing. I sent an email today (since they wanted payment on either one of their offers today) saying that I was willing to work with them however both of these plans were well outside my ability to pay. I gave brief information on my earnings and that my children live with me and I provide health care for them. I have 2 more weeks of time to respond to the court paperwork.
My mantra is 'this is only business', like most everything else in this world it is just business and not personal, which means there is a push to close today because the person I talk to probably has some quota or deal she can make to close more in March, and it means that my situation is just mine, and it means that I have to protect myself because if I get into a payment plan and life sends another cruve ball they won't help me pay my rent ya know.
sweetana3
3-29-13, 11:55am
Exactly Zoe Girl. I used to have to work on "hardship" cases for the IRS and I always told people to remain positive and calm while on the phone with the caseworkers because the caseworkers have a script they are graded on. Demand full payment, if no then go to step two and get a big lump and big payments, if no then go to step three and work thru a full installment agreement. This was the IRS and collection people are even harder to work with.
Always have a plan and goal for your self before calling and have your own script. Have the details written down so you don't get lost in their questioning. Don't be afraid to constantly repeat your position and facts even if it seems that they are being "stupid". They are just trying to work you to their position.
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