I am a self-employed unmarried girl. I had a credit card with Axis bank. Due to unfortunate events and unforeseen circumstances I lost a lot of money and fell in debt around one and half year back. I stopped using the credit card much before but as I had unpaid balance they grew a lot with late fees, and non-payment of interests.
Last year someone contact me from Axis bank saying they want to settle the loan. My total due was 64,118/- and the settlement was done in 42,500. I paid 13,000/- right away and I asked them if they can dole out the rest of the amount in easy installments as I do not have a job anymore and it is impossible for me to make payments around 10,000 per month. They weren't ready to listen and they basically threatened me that if I do not settle as per their terms they will put criminal charges over me. I guess they can.
After making total 15,500/- payments I stopped paying as I did not have any money. I am still jobless and hardly earning any amount to keep myself fed and alive. I received a legal notice today with a lot of legal terms and they notified me that if I do not make the total amount payment, not the settlement amount payment, within 7 days of receiving this letter, they will put the following IPCs on me: 403, 406, 405, and 420.
Kindly advice how to respond. I am willing to settle the debt but in easy installments. I cannot make any payment more than 2,000 per month. Also, I am not sure why I should pay the whole amount if they already made a settlement.
I am very unaware of the law regarding these. Kindly help me.