Bank sent settlement offer "in error"?

[reels29]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MD

I received a settlement offer for a credit card, by mail. Then the bank said it was a mistake. Do they have to honor the offer?

The bank offered to settle a $3771.21 credit card debt, for $200.00. The letter states; "We are willing to accept $ 200.00 provided it is in one lump sum within fifteen (15) days from the date..."

I called to accept the offer, and left several messages with the letter sender, with no return phone call. Finally, I just spoke with the "next available". I was informed it was a mistake, and is supossed to be a offer of $200.00 per month to pay off the debt. With a settlement offer of $2500.00.

They had previously sent a offer to settle the debt for $2500.00, 15 days earlier. With the same, one lump sum payment. Then 15 days later I got this next offer.

Is this a credit form of bait and switch? Just to get me to call them? Do they have to honor the offer?

[Some Random Guy]

In general, contracts and offers require the that the company is intentionally offering you those terms. Therefore typos and mistakes of this sort are not binding upon them. Since they quickly corrected themselves before you were able to accept or send in payment, you have no damages here to recover and were not harmed by their typo.

[cosine]

Originally Posted by reels29

Is this a credit form of bait and switch? Just to get me to call them? Do they have to honor the offer?

More than that. Had you sent them a check, they could have sent you a revised, backdated offer, and cashed your check, resetting the clock on your debt going out of SOL and the time limit on credit reports. It's questionable whether it would be enforceable if you had written "payment in full for XXXXX" on the check. Errors like this are just way too convenient. If an offer is "too good to be true" it almost certainly isn't. If they were willing to settle that low, they could have almost as easily just forgotten or canceled the debt. There is the old saying "do not ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence" (which is also taken to cover errors). But in the case of certain bottom feeding debt collectors, I would not apply it. In you case, we just don't know.

Send them a counter offer of $1886.00 at $188.60/month, if you can afford that (I'm assuming you owe this money). See what they do. Be sure your offer has a space for them to sign and return it to you.