“Dear Steve,
I am currently in debt about $120,000.00 in unsecured debt. I am self-employed and business has not been good enough to pay the bills.
I am 3+ months behind. I read your book and you asid to contact you for names of people to contact who have AUTHORITY. I need names for Bof A, Advanta, Citi Bank, Am. Ex. Chase, Compass Bank. Any info provided would be greatly appreciated. I want to try and pay these bills and avoid bankruptcy.
Willie”
The Answer:
Dear Willie,
The best point of contact will be the collection numbers or customer service. What you will want to ask for are the details on their “internal hardship programs.” These internal programs may reduce your payment or interest.
However don’t agree to any program until you contact all of your creditors and find out what the hardship program payments would be. Once you get answers from all the creditors you can then determine if the combined payments are affordable for you. There is no sense launching off on a solution you can’t afford.
You could also contact a credit counseling group but since you’ve already indicated you can’t make the current minimum payments the credit counseling solution might not do the trick.
I would suggest you use the free How to Get Out of Debt Calculator to review your other options for dealing with the debt.
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
If you have a credit or debt question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.