Hello,
I recently received a letter from Hunter and Henriques stating that they are trying to collect a debt that I owe to a Bank of America credit card. I couldn't pay this debt completely to the bank because of financial situations caused due to covid 19 and kept communicating about it to them. However, since we couldn't agree upon a settlement amount, initially I got a letter from NCB Management Services stating that they are trying to collect the charged-off debt that I owe to BofA on Feb 9, 2022. I called them in March 2022 and explained my financial situation and not being in a position to pay the debt. One of the representatives took notes and then there was no communication since my situation hasn't changed and there was nothing to update on my end. Even they didn't follow up. Now over the weekend, I got a letter from Hunter and Henriques stating that they are trying to collect the debt. I spoke to a few attorneys and got some mixed feedback. One of them said that I should not talk to them at all since that can be used against me in a court of law and kept telling me that I am being sued, even though the letter doesn't mention that at all. One said that attorneys cannot take my case as per some CA law until I am sued by the debt collector and I should possibly talk to Hunter and Henriques directly explaining my situation. That lawyer also said that if I hire a lawyer then there will be expectations for more money since I can "afford a lawyer".
What would anyone here recommend based on their similar experiences? Have they gotten any success in negotiation on their own or only a lawyer can get the best deal? I was also told that HH will not settle for anything below 65% of the debt.
