My accounts are not yet in charge off but very close (the end of this month). Discover and HSBC will not even budge to settle and those are my smallest balances (less than $5,000 on each)

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I have been in a settlement program for close to a year now, and the accounts that have settled the easiest are some of the larger ones. You are right, the smaller accounts are the biggest pain in the butt as far as wanting to negotiate. I have a couple around $2500 that won't budge at all, either.

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By some stroke of luck after I sent that post this morning, HSBC did call and settled a store card for 20% on $4800 (1 lump sum). That makes 3 cards now settling for 20%, HSBC, Citi and BofA. I am noticing they are making the decision to settle for such low amounts since I started just writing letters instead of calling them. In the letters I gave them every last detail of why I'm in debt and how bad my financial picture is right now. Also, I have made it clear I'm not trying to "lessen" the credit impact by settling before charge off. So they know I'll let them all go to CO before I settle for more. Probably doesn't hurt that I've been able to offer them 1 lump sum in all the offers. Just a suggestion for anyone looking to try to settle for as low as 20%.

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We are with a debt settlement program and just settled last month with Chase. They hardly called us at all. They called 2 times, i told them we were with DebtSettlementUSA and they said thanks you. And then a few month later took legal action against us. But we just settled with them for less. Not as much less as i would have liked, but because of the legal action, they were not willing to negotiate much. We setteled 8,000 for 4,900. But it is our first to be taken care of and we are very happy. Bank of America just sent us an arbitration notice. We owe them the most 23,000. They have been trying to negotiate since the beginning with the settlement co. but we owe them the most so we don't have to money yet to settle with them.

HSBC is a PIA. We tried to negotiate with them ourselves and it didn't work. We had to change our phone number because of them. So we added them to our settlement plant. But basically according to our settlement program you can expect 20-40% most of the time unless they take legal action against you, then it will be more.

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To Neverusingcreditagain - did you require a letter/fax before you paid your lump sum? I want to offer 20% but not sure what to do if they accept. Should I tell them I'll overnight a money order upon receipt of a settlement acceptance letter?

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Kinnewj, I asked for a letter to be faxed to me. They did so right away just saying that they agree to the settlement amount and the account will be closed with no further obligation. I then did a check over the phone. I put the money into a checking account that is used solely for paying the settlements so only the amount of the settlement is in there and they cant get my primary account number. Then in about 2 weeks I can expect to see the final settlement papers. Just one note, I'm still dealing with the original creditor so there is more of a level of trust. If I were dealing with a collection agency I would probably be a little more skeptical.

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I paid Chase directly with a check by phone. I also felt that it was more trustworthy dealing directly with CHase. They faxed our settlement co. a letter saying that they accepted my amount of 4,900. They they mailed me a letter to the same effect. Then about 2 weeks or so later i got a letter from Chase saying that my account was closed and amount i paid took care of my obligations.

Pretty easy.

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I have 3 chase cards totaling 34000.00 I am current with all and have NEVER been late . Recently lost job and am trying to keep head above water. I offerred Chase 60% and they declined. What do I do now?

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I also tried to settle with the companies before I went deliquent as I had never had a blemish on my credit my entire life. But they all declined as there is just no way they will settle before you miss a payment. They will settle with you after 3-6 months of missed payments so you need to decide if settling is worth the hit to ur credit. I did & I don't regret it as it would have taken me 10x longer to ever pay the debt than the few years my credit will be bad.

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We settled with CHase on 2 accounts for 36 cents on the dollar and BoA(formerly an MBNA account) for 25 cents on the dollar. Haven't had any luck on settling with Discover or Citi yet but I am currently on low payment workout plans with both. I've found the best thing to do is call them every chance you get like they do you!

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I'm starting to do debt settlement on my own. I have been trying to keep up with my credit cards but can't even make minimums anymore. Our mortgage is killing us but we are trying to keep up with that first. In the same situation....can't sell our house!! So I've started not paying my cc's. I've only missed the first payment so far. When do the phone calls start and how long before I should settle or see settlement offers? Pls help!!

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the only one i have experience with is discover card. It took about a year of non payment but it was worth it. they settled for around 1,000 on a 5,000 debt so they will settle. I used a company though

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__________________
my blog about saving money during a recession, And my personal story about Provanta's debt settlement program and how it worked for my family

Hi neverusingcreditagain,

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A most excellent strategy! The letter you wrote is called a "hardship letter" in the industry and many creditors really really want one, even if they do not request it. The bad part of calling them is you could get a trainee, someone with little experience, or a person having a bad day, etc etc. A letter is documented and any responses cross-checked, so they will be careful to not cause themselves problems in the future when formulating their response. Plus there is only so much you can teach to a customer service person. :!:

And this is how knowledge is power!

chrys

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MY MOTHER RECENTLY PASSED AWAY. BANK OF AMERICA OFFERED TO SETTLE AND RELEASE CLAIM FROM ESTATE IF I WOULD PAY 40% OF BALANCE. IS THIS LEGIT, OR WILL THEY COME AFTER ME LATER?

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BOA has a right to go after estate for your mother. However, if she has nothing...they get nothing unless you signed for the credit card for her or co-signed.

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BANK OF AMERICA GUY TOLD ME HE HAD TO HAVE $149 FOR A GOOD FAITH BEFORE HE COULD FAX OR SEND ME SETTLEMENT IN WRITING. IS THIS RIGHT?

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