Hi Everyone, It's been years since I've last posted on this great forum, and once again I turn to you for advice. In the past many of you helped us with very good advice that was always correct. Now my wife needs help. She has high credit card balances and needs to drop the APR's so we can have an easier time paying now that I've been layed off. Pretty much all of her banks worked with her to drop her APR, all except BofA. The only choice they gave her was to go on a consolidation program which drops the APR down to 5% but raises the minimum payment so it pays off in 5 years (so monthly payment is actually more). Obviously this does not help us now. The "manager" on the phone told her to either take that offer or don't pay - she doent care either way. This sounds like BS to me, and there has to be something my wife can do. She has not missed one payment with any of her creditors, and she would hate to start now. Is there anything we can do, that we haven't already done? Thanks in advance,
Uggghhh...I hate BofA. They are the absolute worst to work with- ON ANYTHING! Don't give up after one try though. Call back and try to get a different supervisor. Chances are you'll get a different answer every time. That said, 5% APR is not a bad deal if you can figure out a way to make it work and pay the debt off faster. How's the job search coming and how much debt are we talking about here?
I had some success after contacting the office of Ken Lewis (CEO of BoA) and pleading my case there. They gave me a better interest rate after the customer service higher ups said no. You have to bug them and eventually they will fold. You can find the CEO contact info through research on bbb.org! Good luck!
BoA tried to screw me with the IRS this year. I settled the debt in December of 2009. They didn't send me a 1099. I waited and waited for it and it never came. Before I filed my taxes, I called them just to see what was going on. They said they mailed it out to me on time...and then they rattled off the address for THEIR ATTORNEYS. I'm like "You sent my 1099 to your own attorney, dumbass? How is that supposed to help me know what you reported?" Then he said they should have forwarded it to me. I laughed, "You think those a-holes care whether I do my taxes wrong after they get paid by you? They probably threw it right in the trash and then laughed about the IRS coming after me."
If BOA offered you Debt Management it is because you messed up somewhere in the qualifying process. I assume you where trying for Hardship assistance with BOA. They do not tell you how to qualify, but I will to help you out. You will need to go over your household budget first. Write down all your monthly expenses. Meaning ever little monthly bill you have. Also income will need to be reported as well. This is household income, so you and the wife's average monthly income combined. What BOA wants to see is you can pay all expenses: mortgage, cars, utilities, phones, tv, food, gas, etc and credit card minimums each month with your combined income. If you are upside down each month, they will not help. If you have several hundred dollars left over each month after these bills are paid, again they will not help. You have to fit between certain numbers to get assistance. To get the help from BOA, your income has to be about $200-300 over your expenses only. To figure out your payment to ask for, take your balance and multiple it by 1.85%. That is your target payment and that's what you ask for. Call them back and say you talked to Debt Management and what you found out was that you have to close all your accounts(all credit cards) to get assistance from them. Side note: BOA requires if you put one of their credit cards into a program, that all your cards have to go also. Say that you do not want to close all accounts just to get a better payment for the BOA card. Ask if they could help you with an internal program again. Payment example: $15.500 balance on BOA card $15,500*1.85% = $286.75 payment You want to ask for a payment around $280-$290 when they ask, how much can you afford to pay!
I personally hate BOA! That said, some background would probably be more helpful. First, if you want to hear my full story and read about some of the experiences I've had (from student loan defaults to credit card issues, etc.) I created a personal blog at armchaircreditrepair . blogspot . com. Hey, maybe something I've been through can help you, or maybe it will bore you, who knows. Anyhow, I got a BOA secured card in '06 for $300 down and 500 limit. After 2 years on time and responsible, they sent me back my security deposit. Yet, in all the years since, including raising my credit score dramatically with some new tradelines, etc. , they remain the ONLY entity that will not increase my tradeline upon request! It irks the hell out of me because I went out about a year ago and got an online tradeline account for $7500 and that's working great. Plus, I just walked into a credit union about 5 months ago and got myself a $5k unsecured Visa line, no problems. Even some of my other store revolving lines have been increased upon request (tripled actually). Yet BOA, still stubborn! And I pay $30 a year for that line. I feel your pain. Stop by and say hi at my blog sometime and feel free to share your thoughts!
