I'm about to jump head first in attempting to settle my debts without the help of a credit settlement agency - it seems like an easier route to take with all of these shady companies doing more bad than good. So here's the story.

Both me and my wife have about 50k in debt - but we're only going to be settling her debt which is about 30k. We do not file jointly, and none of the accounts are joint (except for checking and savings). We can pay the minimum payments, and barely scrape by - but I don't forsee this debt going away any time soon.

This is my plan (Please correct me if I'm wrong)

Stop paying her minimum payments - after about 3-4 months I should be getting contacted by the CC companies, or I will contact them myself. At which point I will attempt to negotiate a debt settlement offer.

5 of her 8 credit cards are Chase, which is where most of the debt is. Our joint checking and savings accounts are also Chase - will our savings and checking accounts be visible to chase debt collection and therefore make it more difficult to settle the accounts?

Is it difficult to settle debt with chase?

Is it possible to continue paying certain cards, and settle others? Or is it all or nothing?

Thanks, any help at all would be appreciated.

Hi- welcome to the forum!

I have heard from other posts on this board that if your CC is with the same place you do your banking (checking/savings accounts, etc)- there is a possibility that they can dig into your checking/savings accounts with them if you go delinquent with your CCs. For that reason, you might want to switch your bank. I used to have WF but I changed banks because I had a CC with them that is now 90 days past due. Just didn't want to take any chances.

I had 3 accounts with Chase- 2 of them are already settled and they were my first two accounts to settle too actually. I've had a decent experience with them. Just don't buy into what they say when they tell you "we'll accept a settlement, but first we need a 'good faith' payment before we send the settlement agreement in the mail". That is bull- they just want you to send the $$ and they'll say whatever they want afterward (this almost happened to me). Don't send any $$ until you have the actual settlement in writing.

I have kept 2 of my CCs current while my other 8 credit cards are past due- they are extremely low balance accounts though so I figured they wouldn't be willing to settle anyway.

That helps a ton, thanks!

Can you tell me how long you were delinquent before Chase settled? What percent did you settle for?

I was just under 100 past due with my 2 Chase accounts when they settled with me- one account settled for 25% and another for about 38%. The one that settled at 25% was probably because it was a lower balance (just over $1000).