Negotiating Settlement with Bank
Question: Hello, I am debating how to go about initiating a conversation with a Bank about settling an outstanding loan in my Wife’s name.
The loan was from a previous Marriage and her Ex skipped out on paying for a vehicle that he was obligated to pay for. She sued him and won. He claimed bankruptcy.
So, now that we have out life together (house, etc…) I would like to get this outstanding debt taken care of for her because she deserves to have it off her mind. My question(s) are:
- What is the best way to initiate conversation? I was thinking of having my accountant call the Bank. Will the bank talk about the debt with a CA on behalf of a client?
- An outside collection agency offered (her Ex) to bring the debt down from 10,000+ to $6500.00 which was not payed. The van was then repossessed. How much should I come in at to start negotiations? I was thinking $2000.00?
Your advice is greatly appreciated as I am somewhat lost here, but would love it if I could do this for my wife for Christmas as it weigh’s heavily on her.
Thanks Again
Answer: If the account is in the hands of a collection agency, the starting point would be to contact the collection agency. It is possible that they will only deal with your wife, since the debt is in her name. To start, she could contact them and simply offer to settle for, say, $2,000. Since this debt is very old, it is possible that the collection agency will consider this to be “found money” and settle for that amount.
There are lawyers that specialize in negotiating settlements with banks. Here is a link to a lawyer that could provide further information, and would negotiate the settlement on your wife’s behalf.