I’m sorry you’re going through financial hell right now. You did the right thing by going to the credit union and telling them what was going on. I did the same thing when I was laid off. However, the credit union owes it to its members to recover money loaned out, and it sounds like that wasn’t possible. They did compromise by reducing your payments, but you apparently you couldn’t manage to make those. Did you try going back a second time to discuss the matter further, or simply stop paying on the line of credit?
I used to be on a credit union board. Every time we met we considered instances such as yours, where people were out of work and owed us money. We much preferred to try to work things out with the debtor than to send something to collections or repossession because with the latter two we only recovered a fraction of money, but if we could work something out with the debtor we might, eventually get all of the money back. “Working things out”, though requires cooperation, a two-way communication. If someone abruptly stopped paying we stopped dealing. If they called us and said “I can’t make this payment this month” there was still room for renegotiation.
The other big problem was people who were, to be blunt, bankrupt and hadn’t yet realized it. They owed much more than they could possibly pay back under reduced circumstances. If you can acquire a new job(s) with equivalent income in just a few months, fine, but the reality is people stay unemployed a lot longer right now than was the case a few years ago. You’ve been looking since March with no luck, correct? You have TWO mortgages and a line of credit… and no income beyond unemployment benefits. Your outgo exceeds your income by a large margin.
In the end, I think the reasons they took that money out of your account was because you stopped paying on the line of credit and you clearly were unable to pay the rest. They took that last $700 odd dollars because, yes, they legally could but also likely because they think it’s the last bit they’ll get back on the money you owe them. If you declare bankruptcy (and, let me be honest here, it may be one of your better options but you need some professional advice for your finances, not random advice from people on the internet) they’ll get nothing more. They acted out of their own self-interest, not any animosity towards you.
Next time, read the fine print and pay attention to it. If necessary, move your unemployment check money to a different institution so the bank/credit union can’t confiscate it. DO check into whether or not there are restrictions in your state on other entities taking unemployment money, as another poster mentioned. You may get it back - although you won’t get it immediately.
Are you still in debt? Get some financial counseling. Unemployment benefits don’t last forever, and lots of people are remaining unemployed beyond that point. For your own survival you might need to “pull the plug” and declare bankruptcy to get out from under the debt - but you need to talk to a bankruptcy lawyer about this. Such a person can also tell you about other legal options you may have. You simply can’t afford to spend all your remaining money on debt service, you need enough to simply live on.
And you husband has to stop calling people assholes and motherfuckers on the phones. Even if they are assholes and motherfuckers. You can be angry, but you must also be rational. Scream and curse AFTER you hang up.
