Bank of America Hardship Program - Dishonest?

[Anonymous]

About 14 days late on a BofA credit card payment.  Called in for hardship and they gave me an "offer" of reduced payment, with interest rate of 3% for 60 months.  I was going to go ahead with this but when they read the disclaimer it said "if approved."  They then clarified when prodded that if I make a payment now I still may or may not be approved for the hardship program and theyd let me know in a week after making this payment.  I told them I would not go ahead unless they can guarantee the program I'd be in beforehand, as this sounded shady to me.  Anyone experience this before?

[Jnbmom]

Although I don't have experience with BOA, I would think when offering a hardship option you essentially would have to be late over 30-+ days. I realize 14 days is late but I don't think they consider people for this option  until your account is later than that. I know late is late but I think with these  type of programs the days matter.

[Anonymous]

Thanks.  Definitely seemed pretty fishy to me. Sounds like they may have been trying to trick me into a payment and defer offering me a hardship program. 

[josedcolon70]

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@Anonymous wrote:

About 14 days late on a BofA credit card payment.  Called in for hardship and they gave me an "offer" of reduced payment, with interest rate of 3% for 60 months.  I was going to go ahead with this but when they read the disclaimer it said "if approved."  They then clarified when prodded that if I make a payment now I still may or may not be approved for the hardship program and theyd let me know in a week after making this payment.  I told them I would not go ahead unless they can guarantee the program I'd be in beforehand, as this sounded shady to me.  Anyone experience this before?

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aarong - whatever you do, keep a good relationship with BOA.  I had a charge-off with them in 2011 (paid in 2012) and was denied for an Alaska Airlines card in July 2018.  They hold a grudge!  Wrote very "ass-kissy" letter two weeks ago, basically asking for forgiveness.  Got my Alaska card approved on Oct 15 with and $18k CL.  I don't know how far behind you are or what your situation is, but just something to think about.

[buildingcreditfromnothing]

A friend of mine experienced something similar with them.  They kept putting it off and giving him the run around.  A representative apparently calls you back if it's approved and they're the only one in the department that can do anything for you. Be sure to answer when they call because the other collections employees made him restart the process over and over again until he finally just gave up.  I feel like this is a common practice.  Chase on the other hand approved a 0% plan for 5 years and there was no BS.