My husband had a long term temp position that ended in December (we got married and went on our honeymoon after that, because everything was paid for in advance.) and he is unemployed. We have a VERY small reserve fund, but we use that to pay for utilities/rent shortcomings. The job market here is CRAP right now (we're talking 100 applicants per open position) so he's not having much luck. We have already cut out "extras", use 1 car only, and live in a glorified craphole (at least it has a roof), so there's nothing left to cut back on. He gets to go out this weekend and apply at Wal Mart/Target (I'd say K mart too, but things don't look too good for them right now either.) He has 5 credit cards that he is now 2 months behind on. (We're talking First Premier, Cross Country, Next Card, Household, real "great" companies to deal with, and a chevron card) They are calling/mailing constantly, and today, it would cost him around $500 to get caught up on the MINIMUM payments alone. Would it be better if he tried to negotiate sending $5 per month to each creditor via the mail (to have it in writing) or when they call us from 8am to 9pm every freaking day. If better by mail, can someone give me a letter template to go by? When he gets a job, he can send them more, but right now, $5 is all we can spare per each one. I, thankfully, am not behind on anything.... but I don't know for how much longer. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
From my experience, writing letters did not help. I sent letters to several different creditors explaining a change in my financial situation BEFORE I was ever late on any payments and did not receive a single response. I continued to get the phone calls and explained the situation to them but their response was to offer "hardship" programs...which basically meant that I might get reduced monthly payments for a period of time - but nothing near $5/month. In addition, if you just pay the $5/month you will still be hit with late fees each month and eventually overlimit fees if you are near your maximum credit balance. The only other difficult situation that you will face in answering the phone each time it rings is that there will be a different individual on the other end each time who only wants to know when they can expect payment. There is no "form" letter, every situation is different and you would want to style anything you sent laying out the difficult situation that you are currently experiencing. The quickest solution may be to call each of your creditors and explain the situation and see what programs are available. They document each time you call because every time I spoke to someone I mentioned previous calls and they were able to verify the dates that I called and the purpose of the conversation. Good luck.
Have him check to see if he has the unemployment insurance on those cards. Most do, so you should definetly use that route until you get back on your feet. good luck.
