BofA was my easiest account to settle with. I paid 25% of my balance before charge off. Save yourself the money, no need to pay someone to do it for you. Check out the "Do it yourself" link on this page for how to information. If you have a lot of debt with different creditors check out zipdebt .com. for a DIY seminar. For me, I had 70,000.00 in debt and found their seminar, consultation and email support to be priceless and well worth the 300.00. 9 months later I have one acount left to settle.

I think the common sense answer here is that no one will settle for 20% on the dollar unless they think that's all they can get from you. Not that I've been through it, just starting the process myself. But you're going to have to tell your story on why you can't pay them. Then, it would seem from most people's experiences here, that it could take 90-120 days before they're willing to reach a settlement with you. Maybe even longer, if you are pushing for 20%. This forum seems like a good resource. I'm picking up a lot as I read through the old posts.

What does a credit profile of 90% of their non-performing accounts look like? What charateristics do they share?

Just trying to understand what creditors like BofA are looking at during their decision making process.

The folks that will not see the best of the best offers from BofA are the ones that have had their file coded for differrent reasons.

Reasons can include recent balance transfer and cash advances as well as monetary protestor garbage sent in. Several active and current accounts on your credit profile. There are some things a consumer can do to srew things up along the way as well.

90% is admittedly what I speculate. I will posit that I speculate based on experience.

I have agreed to a settlement amount with BOA..... I do have one problem and it scares me. They refuse to put it writing. BOA wants the money first, then will send me settlement letter. I am
VERY skeptical of this. Not sure what to do. Any ideas ?

Don't do it. Tell them you must have the agreement in writing first. Do you have a fax machine? Most would rather fax it then mail it because its faster. Many times I would receive the fax and call them back in the same day to pay them.

I just settled $63,000 worth of credit card debt with BOA for 15K payable over 4 months. Did this on my own and it was relatively easy.
I would recommend being honest with them about your situation and telling them straight off the bat that you want to reach a settlement. DO NOT WAST TIME WITH THEIR HARDSHIP PROGRAMS.
Do your best to get as much cash together as you can and then make a proposal under what you can afford with the goal to go back and forth with them a couple of times to get as near to what you can afford as possible.

In my situation, I offered 5K, they countered at 40K. I told them no at 40K I might as well file BK. I then countered at 10K they came to 25K. I then gave them what I could afford 15K and they accepted.

Be persistent and dont be afraid to talk to them. 25cents on the dollar is better than the 4cents on the dollar they will get when the charge off, pool and sell the debt.

Good luck

Displacednyer,

How far behind were you when you talked with them about a Settlement?

Did you call them or did they call you and make the first offer?

How old were the accounts?

I was right around 90 days late. They called me for some time and I ignored the calls. I then spoke with them and they tried to push me to various hardship programs. I told them I had no interest and was ONLY interested in the potential for a settlement. They then immediately started talking settlement with me.

I just settled with BOA for 85 percent of what I owed. Felt badly not paying in full, but their error in erroneously changing my interest rate. Both of us were satisfied in the end. Very polite to work with.

I'm looking for help to settle with BOA. I am still in good standing with them, but right now I am fighting to get my interest rate back to 6%. They changed it to 19%, so I called them and they changed it back to 6% (I was not told I could not use the card anymore or I would default)
Well, I used the card once and they changed it back to 19%. I have had this card for 10 years, and have not made a late payment. It seems like it has been at 19,000.00 forever.
I called again and explained that I was not told that I could not use the card and I asked them to review my conversation, but they said they did not have it.
I wrote 3 letters for a reconsideration explaining what happened and asked them to please give me back a lower interest rate. I have made a couple of payments with this ridiculous rate hoping that they would see I am willing to work with them, but there is no way I can make a 500.00 a month payment with 350.00 going towards interest!
I did call and talk to someone and they took information about all of my bills and what money I have coming in. They gave me all of the info for the hardship program (I think that is what it was).
They want me to pay 400.00 a month for 5 years at an interest rate of 5.25. I told them I would have to think about it and I would get back with them.
I can't pay this, they are crazy! I do have a husband, and we are on a limited income. I also have another account with them and I am wondering if I should pay this one off. It's only for a 1000.00. That way they can't make me go on a program with this one also. (they said I have to and they told me what I have to pay each month).
I am so mad that they would not give me back my interest rate and I think I now want to settle. I have been a faithful customer for 14 years, I've never missed a payment and have not been late. When I wrote to them I told them I would give them 5000.00 towards my balance if they would give me a lower interest rate!
I also asked them why they would give it to me 2 months ago but now they can't and they said because I have too many cards with high balances.
I do have other cards (4 of them) and I can and will continue to pay them off so I don't ruin my husbands credit. The BOA cards are in my name, I never had a card made for him.
If I settle, what will happen to my credit? I don't care about mine, I don't want my husbands ruined.
I need some help please!

I also want to say (that is my message above) that I did mention to the person on the phone about a payoff and she said that I could for 14,000.00! (5,000.00 less than my balance) I didn't think about offering a lower amount.
She then said something about having to pay taxes on something. Is that true?
Should I just try to get 19,000.00 and pay it off? Is it worth it to settle? Will I mess up my credit with my other cards?
I know I'm asking alot here, I hope someone can help.

I'm just doing research into some options, seems like you all know quite a bit about this process. We will be rec'v a workers comp settlement soon, and we obviously want to pay off our BOA card, that has a $19k balance. The settlement won't quite cover it, short by a couple thousand. We are current on our payments, but are only making the bare minimum. Do you think it is worth it to call and offer a settlement even though we are not behind?

All they can do is say no, which is highly likely the response you will get.

__________________
Uh Oh... I messed up!!

last month i was offered a settlement of 20% of my balances between me and my wife. We have over 100k in debt with B of A alone. I said i would get back to them with an answer. I called them back after the end of the month to tell them i would go ahead and pay the 20% at which they replied the 30% is no longer available. It is now 26% of the balance for a settlement and they will not look at the numbers again. They are telling me that thye are not allowed to settle at the 20% anymore due to some government guidelines that they have to follow. I have agreed to settle with Citicards for 20% of the balance and they have sent me a letter stating that. Has anybody ever come up against the problem of the bank changing the settlement amount and if they did could you get it resolved back to the original offer amount.
Thanks very much.

I settled a BofA account just last month (Feb) for 20%. I have heard of the "rules" changing but not AFTER you have accepted an offer. If you didn't accept their original offer then I would say it is unfortunately bad timing for you. I was originally planning on getting a settlement that allowed 6 payments on the settlement balance, (because that is what BofA was doing for most of their settlements) but when everything went down it ended up being only 3 payments. Just like you, BofA informed me that they USED to be able to offer 6 payments but according to government guidelines they now must receive the entire settlement amount within 90 days from the agreement. Bad timing for me, but luckily I was able to make it work.

That is the only problem with settling, especially in today's economy. We really don't know how or when the rules will change. I think it is possible that the government could step in, nationalize all of the banks and say settlement is no longer an option...kinda like student loans.

In my opinion if you think that settlement is your best way out right now.. do it before it is a thing of the past.