How to Write a Letter to a Credit Card Company

Communicating with your credit card company by writing a letter could resolve a problem -- or even help you qualify for special perks and consideration such as a lower interest rate or the waiver of an annual fee. The card company's customer service department will respond to your letter with a letter of its own, and that will create a paper trail for your correspondence. Your letter should be businesslike and to the point as you explain why you are writing.

Instructions

1

Gather your billing statements as you prepare to write your letter. The statements will include the card company's address and may list a special address for customer service inquiries. Or call the credit card company to find out where to mail your letter.

2

Refer to your billing statements, if necessary, as you write your letter. Point out the length of your relationship with the credit card company if you're writing to request a lower interest rate. Point to your good payment history -- if that is true -- while asking for an interest rate that is more competitive with other rates you have seen in the marketplace.

3

Include documentation with your letter if you are writing with a complaint. For example, the card company may have applied your payment after the due date, charging you a late fee. Yet you have a canceled check showing the card company processed the payment well before the due date. In that case include a copy of the canceled check with the letter.

4

Offer details about your financial situation if you are writing to ask for lower payments while you work though a hardship. List all your debts and income and specify the length of time you would like lower payments. Or inform the company that you cannot continue to pay your account as agreed and would like to settle the account by paying less than the full balance -- a common practice called debt settlement.

5

Mail your letter to the credit card company and allow a few weeks for a response.

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Help to Consolidate My Debt

Dealing with overwhelming debt can result in plenty of sleeplessness nights, and if you get behind on payments, creditors may call your house or send threatening letters. Debt consolidation is a tool used by many to manage their debts. Learn about various debt consolidation options, and then decide if consolidation is right for you.

Why Consolidate Debt?

Better debt management isn't the only reason to consolidate debt. Credit card debt often involves higher interest rates, which makes it harder to pay down balances. Debt consolidation refers to combining outstanding debts into one bill and, oftentimes, debtors can acquire an interest rate on the loan that's cheaper than their current rate. A lower interest rate can reduce payments, and bring down the balance on the principal quicker.

Home Equity Options

Owning a home opens the door to home equity loans and home equity lines of credits. Both mortgage options use a home's equity as collateral, and owners can acquire a lump sum from their lender or gain access to a line of credit. If approved, owners can use these funds to pay off their credit card bills and other loans, and then make payments to their home equity lender at a lower interest rate.

Credit Card Consolidation

Acquiring a new credit card with a higher limit and cheaper interest rate is another option for those looking to consolidate their debt. Balance transfer offers involve moving the balance from one or more credit cards to a single card. Some card companies offer 0 percent interest or low introductory rates to qualified applicants; and paying a lower rate speeds debt elimination because creditors apply all or most of an applicant's payment to the principal balance, and not the interest.

Working With Professionals

Debt consolidation agencies are also useful when combining debts into a single bill. These companies do not provide funds to pay off existing debts. Instead, they receive one payment from debtors each month, and they distribute these funds to each creditor to pay the amount due for the month. Debt consolidation often results in better interest rates as the company works with creditors and lenders to improve the terms of your agreement. Lower rates help reduce the payment due each month.

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How to Remove a Tax Lien in Massachusetts

Tax liens are a serious problem. These are judgments against either your property or credit report for outstanding taxes. The federal and state governments are not private lenders and need not follow the standard collection policies. Instead, the IRS and state departments of revenue can garnish your wages and place levies on your bank accounts. If you have a tax lien in Massachusetts you need to first determine the reason and then make a plan to remove it.

Instructions

1

Go online to your Massachusetts (MA) Registry of Deeds. Nearly all towns in Massachusetts now have online deeds. Search for your property address and name. A copy of the tax lien will show up in the search results. Print this out. Look and see if it is an IRS lien or a Massachusetts Department of Revenue lien.

2

Fight the tax lien if it is unwarranted, expired or paid. You must collect ironclad evidence to support your argument if you choose to fight the lien. You must present documents (paid in full letters, bank statements, cancelled checks) to either to IRS or the MA Department of Revenue. See Resources for the contact information for these two institutions.

3

Contact either the MA Department of Revenue (DOR) or the IRS if the lien is in fact valid. Do this as soon as you become aware of the lien. Ask about repayment programs. Both of these institutions are willing to remove tax liens if you agree to an installment plan.

4

Ask to make a good faith, lump-sum payment on the tax lien, especially if the lien is old. Offering a one-time payment will show the tax collectors your willingness to honor the debt. This may help grease the skids when asking for a favorable repayment plan.

5

Get any negotiated debts or repayment agreements in writing. Before you sign on for an installment plan, you should review the terms with a trusted financial advisor (such as your accountant).

6

Do not sign the agreement unless it includes a provision that the tax lien will be removed from your home and credit report once you begin repayment. This will help to rebuild your credit and free up your home for future lending.

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What Is the Statute of Limitations for Credit Card Debt?

With the exception of debts you owe to the government, all debts have a legal statute of limitations for collection. This protects you from old, unpaid credit card debt haunting you forever. Debts that are no longer within the statute of limitations are known as "time-barred" debts.

Facts

The statute of limitations for credit card debt is the amount of time that a creditor has to legally enforce a debt through the courts. Even after the statute of limitations has expired, a creditor may still attempt to collect the debt through other means.

Time Frame

The statute of limitations begins 180 days after you make the last payment on the debt and varies depending on your state of residence. Making a payment at any time, however, may reset the statute of limitations and leave you vulnerable to a lawsuit.

Misconceptions

The statute of limitations of a debt is commonly confused with the length of time that a debt may appear on your credit report--known as the "reporting period." The reporting period for unpaid credit card debt is 7 years, while state laws regarding how long a debt is subject to a lawsuit can range from three years to 10 years.

Considerations

A creditor may attempt to sue you for a debt at any time. The statute of limitations does not protect you from being sued, but it does protect you from the lawsuit being successful if you notify the court that the time period for legal enforcement of the debt has expired.

Warning

If you receive a summons for a debt that is no longer within your state's statute of limitations, you must respond to the summons, agree to appear in court and notify the court that the debt is time-barred. If you do not, the creditor will win the case by default and may then attempt to garnish your wages or seize your bank accounts.

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What Happens to a Bank Loan if the Person Dies?

Although death is the end of a person's life, his debts may live on for years. Sometimes a death cancels the loan. Much of what happens to loans after death depends on what type of loan you have and if anyone else claimed legal responsibility for the debt during your lifetime. In some states, the next of kin have no choice but to pay the debt.

Cosigners

Anyone who co-signed the loan must repay the debt upon your death. Some loans may have provisions that cancel the loan in the event of your death. Most federal students loans carry this clause. Private lenders vary on what they will do in case of death, so you must review your promissory note for happens.

Secured Bank Loan

When a bank has a loan secured with real property, it must receive repayment no matter what. Normally, the secured property goes to the next of kin who will accept the property. In case the deceased has no kin willing to accept the property, the bank can repossess the property. If the property does not pay off the debt, the bank can sue the estate for repayment of a deficiency, but many banks take the loss rather than receive bad publicity from suing a family during a time of grieving.

Considerations

In the event of an unsecured debt, the creditor has no choice but to petition the estate for repayment if the debtor left any assets. If the debtor was insolvent -- unable to pay back his debt because his liabilities exceed his assets -- the creditor can no longer collect on the debt. In community property states, both spouses have a duty to repay debts incurred during marriage. Thus, if one spouse dies, the other assumes the loan.

Tip

When a loved one dies, someone needs to provide the bank a copy of the death certificate. He also needs to ask the bank about what happens with the loan. If someone co-signed on it, the bank may offer a forbearance or deferment for a few months to help the co-signer assume the loan -- assuming that death does not cancel the loan. The original borrower may have purchased credit life insurance, which pays for the loan and lets the heirs keep the property.

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How Can a Person Rebuild His/Her Credit?

If you have gone through a bankruptcy or experienced significant financial difficulties that have made it hard for you to pay your creditors back, you probably have a very low credit rating. While there is little you can do to change what has happened in the past, you can begin the process of improving your creditworthiness, generally referred to as rebuilding credit.

Inspecting Credit

The credit rebuilding process begins with knowing exactly what your credit is. All consumers have the right under federal law to inspect their credit reports once each year without charge. You can request your report from the Federal Trade Commission-authorized website, AnnualCreditReport.com. If there are any mistakes on your report, contact the credit reporting agency upon whose report the mistake appears and provide it with evidence that proves the information is an error in order to have it removed.

Borrowers

Your credit report exists because creditors want an easy way to evaluate how risky a potential borrower is. By using a uniform set of credit reports, creditors can more easily determine whether or not a borrower should get a loan. When you rebuild credit, what you are doing is showing potential creditors that even though in the past you were a risky borrower, you have since changed and now represent little risk to them.

Factors

The way in which you prove to potential creditors that you are no longer a credit risk is by engaging in very specific behaviors that creditors believe show you to be a safe borrower. These include paying all your bills on time, not using more than about 25 percent of your credit limit on any credit card, maintaining a variety of various kinds of credit and doing all of these things over a long period of time.

Repair

You cannot change what happened in the past, but you can control what you do now. Regardless of how bad your credit score was, if you start paying back all your bills and in other ways showing your creditors that you are responsible borrower, your score will go up and you will rebuild your credit. There is no one single solution to doing this, though all it requires is for you to engage in the kind of responsible borrower activity that creditors value.

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Grants for Credit Card Bills

Governments, individuals and corporations provide billions of dollars in grants funding for a variety of purposes every year. Earning a grant award is difficult, and competition is stiff. It's easy to understand why a delinquent borrower would be tempted to apply for a grant to repay his debts; however, despite ads to the contrary, there are no grant awards available to assist them.

Types of Grants

Grants are used to improve the lives of many. The government awards grants to support legislation. Private foundations and corporations award grants to advance research or development of a project. Sometimes they're used to provide operational support. The debt problems of individuals are not a cause for concern among these organizations; curing cancer? Yes. Your American Express bill? No. As borrowers become more desperate, the desire to believe that a magic grant for debt relief exists can override usually sound judgment. Unfortunately, sham companies take advantage of these borrowers every day.

Don't Be a Victim

Follow common sense. A legitimate grant-awarding organization will never call you out of the blue to announce that you've won a grant. If you're searching for grant opportunities, never give out your Social Security number, your credit card number or your bank account number; real grant applications never ask for these. Identity thieves often masquerade as a "grant assistance" company but use the private information you've provided to not only charge a fee for its "services" but also to set up new credit accounts in your name -- and never pay the bills.

Debt Repayment Options

Although debt repayment grants don't exist, there are options if you're struggling -- especially if you're having trouble with unsecured loans, like credit cards. Debt management plans exist to help borrowers get their finances under control. You'll pay your bills in full and on friendlier terms. It's not a loan or a grant, but it is helpful, and these plans have assisted millions of Americans for decades.

You can also try the "avalanche" or "snowball" repayment method; both instruct you to pay the most you can toward one debt. The "avalanche" is the cheapest way out of debt and pays the highest-interest loan first (the "snowball" pays the smallest first). Unlike debt management plans, these methods can be used with secured-asset loans, too. Use an online calculator to see how quickly you can be debt-free.

Legitimate Government Assistance

There is plenty of help for homeowners and small-business owners, however. They're not grants, but they are as close to a grant as the average applicant can get. The Making Home Affordable program can refinance or modify your loan if you're in trouble, although you don't have to be delinquent to get help. You may not even need an appraisal, and your credit won't be affected, provided you're not late on your payments. Small-business owners have a variety of loan options available to them -- loans, not "free money" grants -- from $1,000 up to $2 million.

Both programs require documentation and persistence, and although they're not grants, they are legitimate government assistance.

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