and the dreaded 45k from the mafia which, as Trim accurately surmised, had gone into default and so now they are demanding to be paid in full real fast.
*The original offer from the debt collection agency was she come up with $5k in 3 weeks, and then they would accept $1600/mo for the next 24 months.
"They"
You still haven't cleared this up, so I'm sticking with my understanding that the "mafia" was the last
debt buyer (NCO?) in the chain, while the "debt collection agency" is the party you've been dealing with lately (NES?).
If I'm right, she owes NCO $45K. NCO, for reasons that should be obvious at this point, hasn't sued her yet or instructed NES to quit rough ridin' around with you guys and move on to getting this to an attorney for suit. Another sign is that the collection agency, on NCO's behalf, is willing to take $43,400 over the course of 2 years as settlement of a debt of $45K that's due now and is accruing interest.
They're completely tipping their hand that they can't get a better result by suing you, or at least not any better than what the small difference in paying the collection agency a percentage vs. paying an attorney a percentage would be.
Your wife's financial situation is likely actually a great point of leverage for you to strike a much better deal than what's on the table now. And of course, with whatever deal she makes that will have you paying much less than she owes, you better make sure it's well-documented, especially since you're not dealing directly with the creditor here (or maybe you are, who knows, we won't, even if this goes another dozen pages).
