My estranged wife recently had her car repossessed while we are separated in another state 1000+ miles from where I am. I was not contacted by Capital One of the situation or the repossession. I was not informed of this situation till it was completely out of control and there was nothing I could do about it. The car had been auctioned off and since I was primary on the car I ended up getting a letter from NCO about a remaining balance. According to the divorce agreement my wife was responsible for the car and was supposed to get it refinanced but apparently never did. None the less, she did agree to try to work out something with NCO. I contacted NCO and thought I had worked out a reasonable settlement dropping an 11K debt to 5.5K and at a reasonable rate to pay back monthly. After negotiating this I contacted my estranged wife and informed her. She contacted the rep. at NCO and then was told a different scenario. They informed her that she would need to put $700 down and then make the minimum payments. I thought this was odd but if she had agreed to it then so be it. Unfortunately my estranged wife couldn't come up with the $700 dollars so I had to call them after I received a letter from them about this. When I called NCO, I got a totally different scenario from the NCO rep. concerning this deal. First off they were not going to drop the 11k down to 5.5k if she made the payment of $700 and the minimum payment of I believe $50 a month. That deal only would hold the account from being sent to some legal status for 6 months then they would try to negotiate a settlement. It blew my mind that my estranged was suckered into this and I immediately put her on conference in this conversation. So the NCO Rep told me the only option that she had now was to pay $1000 a month for 6 months (6k total) and the deal would be done. I informed her on behalf of my estranged that the offer was rather outrageous. I tried to counter the offer for 5K at $210 a month for 24 months but was told that they wouldn't accept that. After debating we were transferred over to a different acct. manager at NCO where we basically had the same talk with a few odd twists...He tried to get me to accept this 1k a month deal for 6 months and I countered with my offer where he blew that off. Then he told me I could get the car back if I wanted... this baffled me but inquisitive I asked him how he could get back a car that was already auctioned off. He kind of stammered through the question and couldn't really give me an answer other than there were other cars out there just like that. Seeing that he though I was an idiot the conversation continued to get heated so I let my estranged talk to him about making a payment settlement. They decided to continue the discussion without me tomorrow. So now that some history of this has been shed... it's rather apparent that NCO is not willing to work out something REASONABLE. Mind you I never accepted accountability of this debt but rather trying to come to some reasonable solution for my ex-wife. At this point I'm at a loss, I really don't want to have to file a bankruptcy over this (which would still probably leave my estranged having to deal with this) but they are being unreasonable about this. Do I need to get an attorney involved? Call a credit consumer counseling agency? Is there some type of protocol for this? Apparently at 1k for 6 months she could have made the payments on the car to begin with. I will say this... NCO tried to negotiate different scenarios with me, then tried to negotiate a different scenario with my x, which would have been ridiculous ($700 down, $50 a month for 6 months then go through all this again). They were supposed to send my ex the information they sent me and they never did at my request and her request on different occasions. Any helpful direction in this matter would be appreciated... I've never been in this situation before and really just do not know how to deal with these people anymore... I walked away feeling that they cannot be trusted and at this point I've kept my word with them to try to resolve this in a reasonable manner. Thanks for your time... GaPines...
Not sure what you are trying to accomplish? Settlement on behalf of your wife, or protecting yourself? And I don't mean that meanly. If you are trying to avoid being sued, your option would be to pay it, and sue your ex-wife or work out a payment plan with her (get it in writing!), as she violated the divorce decree However, if you search on NCO here, they can be made to go away relatively easily, but that won't resolve the underlying issue of the debt.
I have no issues paying the debt at a reasonable cost then dealing with the x through a contempt action if I desire... but to answer your question, I'm trying to avoid that and resolve this situation for all involved. Though NCO offered to drop it down to 6K, they are being unrealistic in the expectation that anyone can pay it off in 6 months at $1000 a month. Those are the terms they set and seem to not want to budge. I understand the cease and desist letters I can send... that doesn't resolve the issue of the debt. All I want to know is what it will take to get a reasonable affordable payment schedule set up. The above is not reasonable except to NCO. Thanks for responding though.
