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Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 12:45 pm Subject: Debt Settlement - Collection Agencies

I need some advice. I have about 12,000 in collections on my credit bureau. I field BK in 1998 and don't really want to do that again. I decided to use my income tax money to help pay this stuff off, hoping to get some great settlements. I sent out letters two months ago and recieved two replys back. Today I called all of my creditors and tried to work with them. I have one more paid as of today and the others are not accepting what I have available for them. The worst being Liberty Credit Services who continues to accrue interest on my old Providian account and said they would rather take a loss with me filing BK than accept a 25% settlement. I know that this is a low amount but if we went back to the orginal charge off amount it would be 50%. He did tell me though that they would accept any payment I sent and would credit my account ... I believe my SOL is coming up this October, so that is completely out of the question.

Any ideas?????

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 12:54 pm Subject:

If SOL is coming up, then I would concentrate on the accounts that will work with you. When you get a few out of the way, you can concentrate on this other account, and you may be able to offer them a bit more.

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:51 pm Subject:

sad part is that it continues to accrue interest at 19.99%. I just talked to another collection agency, Palisades, who has my other account from Providian and they wont accept a settlement for 50% either, but it is under review to be sold to another agency (who will pay a lot less than 50% for it... this sucks)

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 3:04 pm Subject:

Have you thought about sending a payment with a note saying cashing of this check consitutes your acceptence of the following conditions.

Interest will stop accruing immediately upong cashing of this check.

X Payments of $XXX to pay this account in full

Upon completion this account be marked PAID IN FULL

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 3:07 pm Subject:

You have to read your agreement with original creditor to check if collection agencies are allowed to charge interest or not. It seems your two Providian accounts are handled by Liberty Credit and Palisades. Are both of them charging interest?

Contact the original creditor to know if they will accept a settlement offer. If the SOL is closed, it won't be a good idea to restart the clock; however, paying off the accounts will always help you raise your score.

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 3:34 pm Subject:

I have not read my original agreement because I don't have a copy of it any longer. Is this something I could get from Providian, do you know? No, Palisades is not charging interest only Liberty is and they are not the first company to have this account. I believe the SOL for NC is 4 years on credit cards and it will be 4 years in October.

Jessi, If I make that payment and they don't cash it will it start my SOL over because I made a payment? Because I really don't want to dig myself a hole, but I want to get this taken care of. I have a very limited income and two children to take care of so there isn't any money left over at the end of the month. I was really hoping that they would take a settlement that I could offer... some is better than none, but they disagree there.

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 3:41 pm Subject:

Someone else may be better to answer the question about SOL.

If they don't accept the payment I don't see it restarting the SOL.

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 4:14 pm Subject:

I thought that if you acknoledged the debt in any way they could re-start the SOL,but I may be mistaken. Perhaps Virginia-Legal Defense could help? Sorry for the misspelling Rolling Eyes

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 4:17 pm Subject:

I'm not sure about that ... I've done some research on the SOL and from my understanding it restarts only if you make a payment. I could very well be wrong .. I am many times ..lol...