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Hi there, Michael Bovee with Consumer Recovery Network.
Thanks for tuning in to our YouTube channel DebtBytes.
Today I want to talk to you about settling credit card debt
specifically with Bank of America.
B of A is one of the largest credit card insurance in
the country they have been for many years.
They are probably one of the banks that historically let's
say of last maybe decade I've been doing this kind of work for
two decades or more but
the last decade I would consider them one of the most
fair and favorable banks to work with if you're trying to
resolve credit card debts that you can no longer afford to pay.
During the recession for example, Bank of America was
offering their struggling card holders settlements that were
better than virtually every other bank out there.
They don't do much of those kind of favorable
settlements anymore.
I still do see some say 25% settlement would be available,
but it is getting harder to come by.
They do settle pretty consistently at the 40% rate
like many major banks.
They still do settle some at even 30% in that area too.
Whether you're working directly with Bank of America or
working with one of their outside,
third-party contingency debt collectors.
The most common type of debt collector who
basically calls you and writes you and tries to get you to pay.
If they get you to pay anything, that's how they get paid.
Otherwise, they're not really earning anything.
That type of debt collector is pretty easy to work with on Bank
of America accounts when you weigh several different
things about yourself, and how you're seen by Bank of America,
or FIA card services, by the way,
who does a lot of collection for as part of Bank of America.
It does a lot of collection for Bank of America, the brand.
FIA card services is part of that company.
So when you're unable to make your minimum payments and
you've fallen behind by say, five months, that's about when
you're approaching the opportunity to settle for
the best savings rate, you're gonna be dealing with either FIA
card services, or Bank of America, and
your targets are between 30 and 40%, realistically.
If you are paying other creditors on time and
if you're paying other credit cards on time,
if you've had things about your account with Bank of America
like just three months before you stopped paying
you just withdrew a cash advance for thousands of dollars or
used the card for thousands of dollars of purchases,
a huge percentage in other words of your available credit limit
is something that you recently tapped into and/or you did
a recent balance transfer in the last say 12 months.
And the balance,
most of your B of A balance is due to a balance transfer,
those kind of percentages that I'm sharing with you are going
to change more often than not so realistic targets are going to
be situational if you have some not so common issues,
leading up to your default in payments to them.
But otherwise it's gonna be pretty straight forward,
common to everything I talk about with on YouTube channel
here about settling with your original creditors.
Everything in that video applies.
Everything that I talk about on settling with Bank of America on
the consumerrecoverynetwork.com website, have a couple
pages dedicated to settling with original creditors and
specifically Bank of America.
It all applies.
When you deal with an outside third-party collection agency
with Bank of America,
some things are going to be a little bit different.
They're going to be paying closer attention to not just
other creditors that you pay, but how collectible you look.
Are you paying the mortgage on time?
You're somebody that's probably going to be viewed as more
collectible than somebody who's just paying rent,
because you have an asset.
Your home is considered an asset.
If you're paying on a car on time versus not.
Those kind of things are going to create a more collectible
vision of you.
And that means that while I might look to settle with a debt
collector for Bank of America I'd say 25%, like I think you
have a realistic shot because of your hardships and everything.
You're somebody who might look like you can pay 35 or 40%,
so those targets are gonna be adjusted
depending on the debt collector,
cuz they have different internal policies as well.
And depending on how collectible you're viewed.
But Bank of America and settlements or
negotiations with them or the collectors
are really straightforward for the most part.
Debt buyers are not currently
picking up a lot of Bank of America debt.
Bank of America is not selling a lot of unpaid
credit card debts right now, but
at the time of this recording it's the end of 2015.
I expect that to, there's some ebb and
flow to collection laws and against debt liars and
things like that and the creditors.
I expect that to shift and
I expect big banks like B of A to start selling debt again.
Sometime maybe later in 2016 or even 2017,
and that dynamic will change.
So if your debt is say five years old, four years old from
today and you're dealing with a debt buyer, that was common.
Settlements with debt buyers can change, do a search here on our
channel we might have covered that debt buyer in a video.
You can certainly search more about that debt buyer
on our website.
Because I cover most debt buyers on the CNR site.
Anyway, if you have questions about negotiating your debt,
your credit card debts, with Bank of America, even mortgage
debt sometime, post them in the comment area below.
And I give dedicated free feedback.
You can also reach me by phone.
Call the number on the screen.
Press 2, that rings my phone.
I look forward to seeing you on the next video.
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