Paying bills during boot camp

[miller521]

I seen where jaybaker87 posted a thread about debt assistance. What my question is, i have car payment, child support, etc... I have been talking with a recruiter and he had told me that during boot camp your bills will be froze so to speak. Anyway is he telling the truth or no? He told me also that your money that while your in boot camp is put into a account that they create for you and thats why your bills are "froze". Thanks Marines.

[biesseb]

I've heard this can be done, but I don't recall my recruiter ever making mention of it before I went to bootcamp. I arranged to have my bills taken care of by a member of my family, which is what I'd advise you to do. Still, I know that before deployments it is possible to freeze phone bills and car payments so it wouldn't surprise me if the same wasn't true before going to bootcamp. Your recruiter told you right about the account that the Marines will set up. It'll likely be through a bank like Pacific Marine or Navy Federal.

[firedog974]

How about you take a little initiative and call whoever you owe money to BEFORE you go to boot camp, and let them know your situation. That is how you get to stop making payments for a few months, NOT by some secret squirrel memo that is allegedly sent to all of your bill collecters (think about that for a minute). Don't look to the Corps to take responsibility for you, take responsibility for yourself.

[Alisium]

How about you take a little initiative and call whoever you owe money to BEFORE you go to boot camp, and let them know your situation. That is how you get to stop making payments for a few months, NOT by some secret squirrel memo that is allegedly sent to all of your bill collecters (think about that for a minute). Don't look to the Corps to take responsibility for you, take responsibility for yourself.

Yeah that.

It doesn't seem unreasonable to think that your creditors will work with you if they know your situation (albeit with some proof) ahead of time.

You could always pay your bills in advance.

And if you have a member of your family that you absolutely trust, give them a limited power of attorney that allows them to pay your bills for you.
(be very careful with this. I once went on deployment and my dad kept me in a hole. To this day I don't know where my money went. Thank god for my sugar mama, who later became my wife.)

[polizei]

Listen to the wise Sgt. Take care of it before you leave for boot. My buddy was told his chit was taken care of and off he went. Well, turns out he found out in MOS school that the payments weren't made, and it screwed his credit. I would either call and pay them in advance, or give your money/account info to a family member you can TRUST and who will keep up with the bills and pay everything on time.

[NoRemorse]

If you want things frozen then request a letter from your recruiter. It will detail that you're entering into Active Duty for training purposes. The creditors will either put a freeze/hold on your accounts, ask that you pay in advance, or close them and ask for the entire amount owed.

Or as other Marines suggested give a trusted family member limited power of attorney and allow them to draw from your account to pay the bills.

[miller521]

Thanks for all the replies. So basically i need to get some paperwork from the recruiter and go to the banks etc... and tell them what the situation is. Thanks Marines