RUDE CALL from United Collection Bureau / Settlement offer Hi all, I've been reading some of the comments here seeking advice. I am going through tough times right now. Long story short, I attended school for the past few years so I was unemployed. My husband took care of bills under my name. I've been looking for work but no luck yet. Separated from my husband so he obviously stopped paying a major credit card I had ($11,000 brought down from $30,000 in the past three years). I have no funds, no job and no assets as everything was in his name. . . house, car. I've been dealing with citibank for the past 3 months and explained I was trying to get a job and next thing you know I get a call from the collection agency. A rude annoying woman called me and I was cordial and explained what was going on and that I did not know I was now in collections. Today I get a call and when I answered the phone, she started yelling at me and never identified herself. She just kept asking how I was going to pay over $12000 (amount is going up - not sure if it's supposed to be charging interest and fees at this point). I kept asking her to stop yelling at me and let me talk and she started cursing and would not stop yelling so I finally hung up on her. I called citibank who said the account is being handled by UCB and they gave me a number. I talked to a manager and he was kind of nice but I don't know if it's shady or not. He offered me 45% on the 1.00 or $5,471.23. First of all, I have no funds and don't really want to ask friends for a loan. He did say the account would go to attorneys withing 60 days. I'm afraid of it going to court but then again, I have nothing for them to take. Is this a good offer? We've paid citibank $560. a month for almost 3 years and they're still adding interest and fees so this just keeps going up. It's the first offer and I don't know if I should seriously consider asking a friend for help or do I hold off for something better. Or is my best bet to look into bankruptcy. I don't want to really run out on my debts but I don't have any options right now. Not even sure I can file for bankruptcy considering I'm still legally married although my name was never on the house or vehicles. My credit cards did not have his name on them so I don't know if he's liable for any of it. Advice please!
They must have really appreciated your business to have treated you that way. I realize you feel you have a moral obligation to pay but here is the way I look at such things. First of all, this is not about morals. If you want to have someone preach to you about morals, go to church. They will take care of that quite well, I'm sure. This is about being practical and making good business decisions. Here is an example of how I look at such things and deal with them. I bought a magic jack telephone system. Gave $110 for 5 years of unlimited calling with all the bells and whistles then went to Radio Shack and bought one of their VTECH cordless phones to hook up to it. Another $130 (more or less). I disconnected from AT&T and told them to send me a final bill. They never did. They sent me to a collection agency for the sum total of $114. Obviously I can pay the $114 with no problem. Most people could. Instead, I sent them a validation letter and am waiting to hear from them. That was over a month ago. Truth is that I wouldn't pay them a crying dime, let alone $114. Of course they can't call me without violating FDCPA and so far they haven't done that. I'll just sit back and wait for them to run the debt up to a few hundred more and hope they send the account to a lawyer. That's when I'll sue the collection agency in federal court, Then I'll respond to the complaint and start setting up the lawyer for his trip to federal court. Now I'm getting letters from AT&T telling me how much they valued my business and won't I please come back and get new service. Of course I'm about as likely to do that as I am to take my next vacation on the moon. Fact is, a trip to the moon might just be more likely than the chances I will ever hook up to AT&T again or the chances that I might pay that collection agency any money. A trip to the moon is also much more likely than the chances they have of keeping out of federal court unless they just go away and forget about it.
1) It is a good deal, 2) Citibank is very litigious; and, 3) A judgment can and will haunt you for years. At some point, it will have to be paid if you ever want a house and moreover, they could garnish any future wages. In light of the above, consider BK or get a loan. If this is your only issue, I'd strongly advise the latter if at all possible.
When you have just one creditor, it's probably best to settle. See if the ex might cough up the funds in the interest of getting the divorce over with.
