Just issued statement of reasons due to significant credit card debt. Wife was in an auto accident that should have taken her life, but by the grace of God she is still here with us. This accident left her disabled at the snap of a finger, and she has been unable to work in over three years. Finally approved for disability recently, however due to near constant hospitalizations and nursing home admissions (monthly, typically, but this year it has been almost the entire year!), we racked up this debt just trying to survive. We used to have credit scores over 800. And quite frankly we were embarrassed and scared, and didn’t know what to do or where to even begin. We are FINALLY making progress. Paid off several accounts, and are setting up payment plans with the rest while snowballing the remaining debt. The statement of reasons reflects that we did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Which is false. How do I fight this? It was due to a situation beyond our control that the debt was accrued to start with, but how do I fight this and keep my clearance? HELP!!!
This is the wife trying to figure out how to combat this. We are a team and always have been. He hasn’t left my side through all of the medical issues, and I haven’t left his side throughout his honorable military career (but also thankful that’s done and behind us). I was left with a brain injury, so I’m usually as clear as mud when explaining, I repeat myself a lot, etc. so I apologize in advance. I just want to help him.
Rereading what I typed with the SOR reflecting that we did nothing…ALL of the debt is still listed and says it’s still the same as it was six months ago, instead of reflecting the many we have already paid off. We ASSUMED that would be enough. It’s like they didn’t even repull credit report because we know for a fact it is reflected. We used to have over 800 credit scores, at our worst they were 500, and now they are around 650. Not great, but definitely improving.
Setting up payment plans is hard because my brain can’t recall more than one or two things at a time, so I don’t want to cause us to fail with 10 different payment plans and where we really aren’t getting anywhere in reducing the debt. But now we will be setting up small payment plans with ALL that will allow us to continue to snowball (although less quickly than before because money will be allotted elsewhere each month).
This was an isolated incident beyond his control, although I feel so very guilty because my car accident is what caused this whole domino effect. We will be speaking to an attorney on Friday for help, but any recommendations on fighting and being successful? We are getting letters from commanders and first shirts (some already retired) that were first line witnesses as to the entire situation to reflect that it was a major accident beyond his control. We will also be getting character reference letters. And then the proof with letters from creditors reflecting payment plans AND payoffs on those that have been PAID IN FULL. Anything we are missing, plan and idea wise? Or any recommendations on being successful. THANK YOU SO MUCH IN ADVANCE!
A terrible situation.
I hope the lawyer has experience in such matters; if so you’ll get better advice there than from this board.
That having been said, I think that your best approach is to refute statements in the SOR with evidence. It sounds like you can show that you made more progress dealing with this mountain of debt (a whole mountain range more like) than the investigator’s report indicates.
However, it sounds like there was still some debt that had not been addressed yet. I think you would need to demonstrate that you have a plan to deal with that and have started working on it. You’ll also need to show that you were already working on this debt before you got the SOR and it was not the case that you only started dealing with it once you got turned down.
Again, see what the lawyer has to say. Good luck and let us know what happens.
Sorry to hear of the matter and good luck going forward. The medical bills can be mitigated based off they were a result of an accident which can drain your savings. The bills prior to that may have to be explained as poor money mngt/budgeting issues and make a plan on how to resolve them or file for BK depending on your income level. Of course, those that have been satisfied work in your favor. Youl need to show he total amt owed and then indicate by paying x/amt per month, the debt will be paid in full by_______. Hopefully a lawyer can assist and Ch7 may be the best way to go, if not perhaps CH11 where you make monthly payments to a trustee. Good luck!
We can definitely show that the debt was already being worked on before the SOR, however it was a snowball plan and we did not have minimal payment plans set up with EVERY card, however we are working on that now, just days after SOR. We have made progress and have a plan and will continue to do so. But the way the SOR reads, we never made ANY progress or plans PERIOD. It’s all false.
Sad situation. I agree with all above. Get your spreadsheet skills going and start documenting, contacting, and detailing all your creditors, payments, and progress. The more organized and detailed your financial plan for recovery is, the more impression and effort it will show and demonstrate. Maybe your credit union/bank can help you with a financial plan or advice? Or perhaps one of the military relief agencies as well? NMCRS? AER?