one has to realize that even if you do pay these people, it will reflect BAD credit status on your credit report for seven years. It depends on the person and what their situation is, not everyone has the same situation.

Filing Chapter 11 is for BUSINESS
Chapter 7, for someone who falls under that bracket to file
Chapter 13, you would be repaying your debt but only a portion of it, for 2 or 3 years, depending on what the trustee decides at the time your lawyer hands in your paperwork. Again, depending on your income, assets, etc...

A credit counseling or debt consolidation, my personal opinion, you can do that all yourself but of course it takes time. Once you are behind, it doesnt matter because credit will be jeopardized.

REMEMBER, credit will repair itself over time. why these laws are made is because everyone falls into hard times, things happen and we learn from our mistakes.

Originally Posted by Anonymous

i am having trouble with zwicker also. this lady will not let me talk. i offered an amount to pay off which is NOT the 80% they want. i also offered to pay a certain amount ea. month until i can pay more later... will not except. she keeps telling me they will garnish my wages or take me to court. i cannot pay what they want at this time. YES, they will get their money sometime. is there anything else someone can do to make these people understand you can only pay a certain amount?

you have to be firm in dealing with them. they get a comission ( account manager which is another BS title) they will threathen to sue, etc.. If you want them to stop calling tell them you have a lawyer, as they are not allowed to speak to you after you say that. It's against the law.

Offer them 10% of what you owe ( inside information, thats basically as low as anyone in collections can collect, dont go for the BS when they say to you that " we will accept that as payment down and offer monthly payments, NO WAY! It's all a marketing technique to get people to give them more money.)

Dont stress as this is what they want you to do, they want to intimidate you. I worked for them! I quit as I cant lie to people and figure these people are in trouble and cant pay for a reason, we have all fallen into hard times. Is anyone human?

By the way, most of them dont even have a high school diploma, not to offend anyone but just to show you that they pick anyone off the street to do that job and call themselves lawyers, managers, etc. zwicker are the worst liars!!

Do not pay Zwicker, see if you can entrap them into violating the FDCPA so you can sue them. If you can pay your debts you should, but morality is not the issue for most folks who have fallen on hard times. The issue legality.

Nobody deserves to be abused by predators like Zwicker - sue them until the cows come home, one consumer at a time. They will get the message or go out of business.

I have never received harrassing phone calls from Zwicker so am I a special case or because the payment amount is always there in my checking account they don't bother you?

[paulmergel]

yes as long as you are paying bottomfeeders.they will not bother you.the question we ask is should we be paying the bottomfeeders?

Originally Posted by Anonymous

So, I owe a lot of $$ to Amex - $40K. I am in sales, and was doing quite well until the market fell out. My paycheck has been cut in half. I was unable to make the monthly payments of approx. $900/month. Amex did not want to talk to me because my account was still current. So, I missed two payments and was sent to Amex Collections. Mel Smith was my agent, and was pretty nice. Within the second call she agreed to accept $28,000. I said I don't have that, and would do what I can. 401K hardship loan was only $2500 max. She suggested home equity loan, which I applied for and got $21,000 - made a settlement offer for $21,500. They never called me back - my last call was to her to let her know the loan had closed, and the $$ was in my account. I then left 3 messages over two weeks - no call backs. Then, out of the blue I get a call from Z&A saying that Amex has retained them, and that they want $41K. I said what happened to the $28K, and he (Brad Davis) said that now I need to talk to them - if I call Amex, they will refer me back to Z&A. I am confused - Amex never told me that my offer was rejected - Z&A did?! Any advice?

be lucky that zwicker even worked with you on a payment arangement. for the most part they will file suit if there is not a payment recieved within 21 days. the original contract clearly states that if you default you owe the entire balance. what the public doesnt understand is that amex doesnt have to accept payments. they gave you the money when you needed it and it was not based on if the economy stayed good. what you should do is live up to your contract and pay ther balance. its people like you that make the interest rates the way they are. people feel as if they are owed something. the only thing that you owe is your word to your contract. pay it off and stop crying.

[paulmergel]

GET LOST SHILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!if more people actually sued your bottomfeeder you would be out of business.if things were so good at the CA why do you feel the need to come on and attack,lie,and insult our itelligence.something to ponder.

they ARE a law firm

[paulmergel]

a rent-a-lawyer you mean.they give the lawyer a sum of money to call themselves a law firm.nice try though.

Originally Posted by Anonymous

they ARE a law firm

check the mass bar association. they are a legitomate law firm. zwicker has been licensed for years.

[paulmergel]

thet are also being looked at by the NY AG for the way they go about serving people so they get default judgements.the lawyer is licensed.the humanoids who call and act like 3 yr olds aren't licensed at all.nor are they attorney's.go back to the phones,and threaten some more people.just don't try to pass your rent-a-lawyer as legit.the NY AG will deal with you soon.

I hear all you and I undersatnd what you are saying. This bunch of people that they have working there are not customer friendly. I have talk to them a few times and when they told me that my account was with them because my CCcard went into collections 3days with in the call. I had no idea WTF was going on. The my Credit card CHASE AXXXXXXS never sent me a letter or a call in over 1 year!!!!! Now I have these paople calling everyday and then if you dont answer they leave a F_ED message. SO people caller ID its beautiful! Pick it up if you get no message you can hear them breathing! And just hang up. Wait it out. I gave them a chance to have payments made but these people are Axxxs! So play that game with them.

[SOAPLADY]

Keep in mind that a debtor is not the customer....the client placing the account is.

To all, I'd be careful taking advice from "Ben". 2 things that jump out at me that he is incorrect about are: 1) In general, collection agencies do NOT have to prove account is within statute of limitations. Statute of limitations is generally considered an affirmative defense law, meaning that the debtor has to prove the account not in statute. And 2) You can't go after a collection agency simply because they cannot provide documentation on a debt. if you request proof of debt and agency cannot provide proof, but they still continue to attempt collection, then you can go after the agency legally.