I want to disclaim before I say anything else that even though there are reasons for my debt, I in no way want to make excuses for running it up, and I feel like a horrible person for having it. Despite the circumstances, I am still a person who made bad financial choices and let my financial situation get out of control. I want to fix things and make it right as fast as I can.
My situation is this: I had a nervous breakdown years ago, was in and out of hospital a lot, and I am still recovering from it and currently on a disability pension. There was about a year between losing my job and being approved for disability, and in that year I used my credit card to pay for everything. I ran up $10500 in debt. Once I was on disability, I tried to keep making the minimum repayments, but I couldn’t afford it and the account went into default. Financially, I stuck my head into the sand and ignored all demands for payment for a while - I could barely deal with eating and showering, and just shut down for anything more.
I have made good improvement recently with a medication change, and I have been trying to pull my life back together. Recently, I logged into my internet banking to find that my credit card debt was gone and my statement listed it as “charged off.” Some googling told me that this means the bank had given up all hope of recovering it. I thought that, even though I felt horrible, this could be a way to deal with the debt...that maybe I would just have to live with shitty credit for 7 years and then I would be okay. Then I did some research and found out that the bank could make me bankrupt over my debt, and I have been freaking out ever since.
I have looked into my options, and I think I am going to apply for a withdrawal from my superannuation (like a retirement fund, for Americans) under the severe financial hardship provision. This will allow me to withdraw $10K. I know that drawing from retirement is not ideal, but I am young and confident that once I begin working again, I will be able to make up for it by retirement age.
With $10K to work with, I was then going to approach the bank and try to negotiate a full and final reduced payment amount. The internet seems to say that 70% of the full amount is an acceptable offer to make, which would be about $7400 - so, I was going to try lowballing them first with $7000, with the expectation that they will come back with a higher amount of $7500 or $8000. My hope is that they will end up settling on $7500. I’ll use the rest of the $10K to pay a few other debts I have which are under payment plans.
If you are still reading this, I thank you wholeheartedly. The whole situation laid out above, I think my questions are:
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Does this plan sound okay? I know that my credit will still be fried for seven years, but that is okay - my only goal is to not be made bankrupt.
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Is my payout amount for the credit debt reasonable? If not, what would a reasonable amount be? Is lowballing them first a good idea, or should I just present a firm amount that I am willing to pay? I have never negotiated something like this before, so any advice is appreciated - I don’t want to seem unreasonable, but I also don’t want to be a doormat.
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Are my bank the right people to talk to about my debt, or will I have to try and find out what collection company they sold it to? Is it better to call them or try to communicate in writing?
Thank you so much to anybody who reads all of this and is able to help me out - I am incredibly grateful.
Submitted July 14, 2018 at 02:39AM by Debthelp72636272 https://ift.tt/2JnrBFU
