Getting out of a multiple Credit-card mess

Is the person who has overextended credit a candidate for sympathy if he means well? He wants to pay back the outstanding amounts against his multiple credit cards, but what if he has just been fired from his job and cannot make his multiple credit card payments?

Do you castigate him, telling him that he made the bed, he must lie in it? If that is so, does your lack of sympathy extend beyond the fact that recovery agents came to his house when he wasn’t at home and threatened his wife and child?

If you are the sympathetic kind (especially if you also have been in a similar jam) would you:

1. Tell the man that recovery agents are not allowed use force on borrowers or speak indecently to him or his family?
2. Tell the man that if he doesn’t want to speak to the recovery agent, the agent has to respect his wishes and withdraw?
3. Point out to him the RBI stipulation that “The bank and their agents should not resort to intimidation or harassment of any kind, either verbal or physical, against any person in their debt collection efforts, including acts intended to humiliate publicly or intrude the privacy of the debtors’ family members, referees, and friends, making threatening and anonymous calls or making false and misleading representations.“?
4. Point him to the Banking Ombudsman site www.bankingombudsman.rbi.org.in where he can lodge a complaint?
5. Point out to him that his best option would be pay off the entire amount. And then give him tips on how to do it – apply for a loan against property, stocks, insurance policy, or jewelry? But that he should try his best not to go for a settlement?
6. That there are credit counseling agencies, such as ICICI bank’s Disha, that exist for the very purpose of helping people like him?
7. All of the above
8. None of the above

Here are some credit counseling agencies:

• Abhay (Bank of India), 61 A, Sadanand, 1st Floor, Above Bank of India Branch, Gokhale Road (north), Dadar (West), Mumbai- 4000 028. Call 022-24221843.
• Disha (ICICI Bank), Prince Apartments, Ground Floor, Karani Lane, Ghatkopar (West), Mumbai 4000 028. Call 65971815/86/87. Visit www.dishfc.org
• Union Mitra (Union Bank of India), Union Bank Bhavan, 239, Vidhan Bhavan Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai- 400021. Call 022-22896502.

Answers:
Correct answer – Option 7
Incorrect answer – Any other option or combination of options
So incorrect that it scares me! – Option 8