How Your Trauma Can Become a Creditor's Payday

One of the traps of credit cards is that family members often share the card and purchases on one card. For example, when you were in college, you might have been lucky enough to have parents that gave you a credit card for “emergencies.”

Of course, for a college student, “I have nothing to wear on Friday night” can constitute a major emergency. So, what do you do when the safety net goes away and you are the one left holding the bag for the debt?

What would happen if your father was the primary breadwinner of the family and suddenly died, with no life insurance to help cover the costs of the debt accrued by the family – not to mention current expenses?

What do you do when your financial support suddenly just disappears and you have no recourse to pay the debt? There are many ways that this can happen. It could be a death in the family, divorce, the loss of a job or numerous other scenarios.

Whether it be any of those cases, wrecking your credit can happen in a flash.

This is one of the most difficult situations to be in. If your lack of income is due to divorce, it will probably be more effective to bang your head against a wall than get sympathy from a credit card company due to an over 50% divorce rate in this country.

If it’s loss of a loved one, you may run into a litany of issues that you had no idea even existed in the first place.

Let’s focus first on how to deal with these issues. First, you must realize that these companies have heard every excuse in the book. So, when you call to talk about your debt, don’t be surprised if you run into difficulties.

It isn’t a personal judgment of you. That’s important to remember. Every day these employees hear extraordinary stories from customers. It can be difficult, if not impossible, for the company to separate truth from fiction.

Try to acquaint it to the guy at work whose grandmother passes away on a regular basis so that he can skip work. Unfortunately, if your story is true, you can pretty much rely upon the fact that someone else has made it up before you.

This isn’t meant to sound cruel or to dismiss your loss in any way. It’s simply better to know what you’re up against when you call. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who are willing to say anything to get their debt cancelled.

Be ready to send out copies of the death certificate or divorce settlements as proof. But be prepared for that to not work, either. We live in and era of high tech thieves who can make a passport in one day, so divorce papers or death certificates are like third grade work to these people.

No matter who was footing the bill before, you are now responsible for that debt. Credit card companies won’t give you a chance to grieve or get your bearings before they start calling for collection.

The debt won’t go away. Just remember to do the best you can with what you have. Try to make deals that you can afford. The debt isn’t going to be erased. It isn’t fair or fun, but those are the facts. You will have to pay this debt.

Don’t ignore the credit companies, but at the same time, don’t sacrifice your mental health to try to deal with them. You can spend far too many hours crying on the phone with the credit company representative before you realize that it wasn’t worth it to experience that much pain to deal with a debt that wasn’t yours to begin with.

The one thing not to do is to wait for them to call you. We would all prefer not to have to deal with credit card issues when we’re going through a traumatic time. But, make sure that you are the one who initiates the phone call.

If the credit card company calls you, they are already on the offensive and waiting to hear a lie. But if you initiate that call, it shows that you not only acknowledge the debt, but are willing to talk terms.

Even if you are simply calling to tell them you can’t pay, you can require them to record the phone call on your record. Offer them what you can afford, even if it’s ten dollars. If they don’t want the money, there’s nothing that you can do about that.

But, you will have initiated action and that will be in their computers. Many companies will at least put off charging late fees and raising your interest rate while you’re trying to get back on your feet – all you have to do is ask.