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marydairy

I have one credit card that I owe about 17,000 on. Its Household finance. I was going to try to find a settlement company, but I just got off the phone with Household and they are willing to lower my interest from 25% to 6% and cut my payments in half. They will allow me to set up payments as a hardship case. Does anyone have any experience with this type of thing? Is it a good thing to work things out with your credit card company and get into a payment plan with them. I have other cards, but the other ones won't work with me so I gave up on them. My other debts are with: Capitol One $1700, Capitol One $1600, Capitol One $800 and Orchard Bank $1800, of course all those cards are way over the limits because of all their charges and late fees.

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:11 am Subject:

It sounds like a good offer; ask them to put this in writing. But be sure you can make the payments as agreed. The one time you are late or don’t pay as agreed they will put you into collections….I see you have 3 with Capitol One have you asked them to roll them all into one and give you the same offer?

Marydairy · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:08 am Subject: Capitol One

Yes, I have begged them over and over to put them all together. I have 3 cards with credit limits of !,000, 500 and 1,000. They were not over the limits until they started putting fees on me when I couldn't pay for a couple of months or was late. By the time they added late fees and overlimit fees times 3 cards they have almost doubled all those balances. They will not budge on putting them together. They have now charged them off and turned them all over to 3 separate collection agencies. I get calls all day long from morning to night. I don't know what wil happen with those cards, I was willing to pay on them if they would have put them together. On my household finance, they are willing to work with me, lower the interest, but I wonder if I could bargin with them to remove 5 months of late fees and high interest? Either way if they will work with me I will pay them, after all I do owe them the money and I want to take responsibility for my debts.

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:12 am Subject: reply

as long as you stick with the plan they should be fine with it.just keep communication open,just in case.something could come up,if you are paying and keeping them informed they are more likely to help if an emergency arises.

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 7:39 am Subject:

I have done the hardship payments with some of my cards, and it worked out well. It gave me a chance of paying it off when they dropped the interest and set the payments lower. Just be sure, like the others said, to stay current on the plan.

If you sign up here, it's free, you can get a free counsling and they may be able to give you some solutions to your other debt problems.

Good Luck--feel free to ask questions..KAren Very Happy

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 2:44 pm Subject:

I have a question maybe someone can answer- are "hardship payments" something that can be reported by the creditor? I have a perfect payment history and am never late with any of my cc creditors, but I am really feeling the financial crunch this year, and any way I can handle my current debt without dealing with bankruptcy, consolidation or settlement I feel is the best approach for me, since my bills are all current and none are behind. But if I could get my creditors to work out a lower interest or "hardship" payment plan with them, nothing like that can be reported negatively to the bureaus and hurt your score, can it?

Guest · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 4:38 pm Subject:

What you have to realize is that creditors are all different. Just because Chase gave you a XX percent settlement doesn't mean you are entitled to get the same deal on your Capital One card. Just because Household cut your interest rate doesn't mean Capital One is required to do the same. You're not entitled to any hardship arrangement, you aren't entitled to a settlement, and you are entitled to "customer service" on your delinquent bill.

Pay your bill![/list]

Guest · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 4:38 pm Subject:

What you have to realize is that creditors are all different. Just because Chase gave you a XX percent settlement doesn't mean you are entitled to get the same deal on your Capital One card. Just because Household cut your interest rate doesn't mean Capital One is required to do the same. You're not entitled to any hardship arrangement, you aren't entitled to a settlement, and you are entitled to "customer service" on your delinquent bill.

Pay your bill!

Guest · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 4:39 pm Subject:

Excuse me. I meant you are NOT entitled to customer service.

Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:03 pm Subject: Payment plan

My Target card was the ONLY card that put me on a hardship program. They reduced the interest and cut the payment in half for so many months. They DID NOT report to the credit reporting agencies BUT my charging privileges were suspended while in the program. They also would not do it unless I did auto pay every month but I had no issues with that. Most companies try to do it that way. I was not comfortable with it at first but had no problems.