Looking for advice

Hazeleyes: I will tell you that if you decide to go with a debt management company, be sure to check the Better Business Bureau on them. If they are not a member of good standing, avoid them all together. If you can settle them on your own, then that is money that you save, but as with every situation, there are things that arise which may make us feel helpless or without a direction. You can sign up for a free consultation on the right side of the screen.
Which company, if I may ask, is threatening a summons? Also, have you cut those CC's up yet?
I am glad that you decided to join the site. There are so many people who come here without hope, then upon visiting, finding a new strength and not feeling alone in financial matters. I am but a member, but I welcome you.

Thanks for responding Anthony. Oh yes, CC's are long gone. Unfortunately my ex-wife liked to spend.

I'm glad I joined the site, too. I find it very helpful.

Citibank...who most of my debt is through...is whom is thretaning a summons. I have been corresponding with a local attorney they hired. I tried to save some time and see if they were serious by requesting validation. Surprisingly (to me) they did send me all my statements (10-years worth). From past experience, I am guessing a summons is coming. This happend a few months ago. A debt in my ex-wife's name (me as co-signer) was given to a local attorney. I corresponded with him for a few months and then was summonsed. I gave it to my divorce attorney and he was able to get it to 80%, which I paid. However, that was a very small account. This Citibank one is huge, and I will not be able to pay a lump sum on it unless it is chopped way down or they are able to work with me to low monthly payments.

Anyone have any adive in workinig with Citibank?

If Citibank is going to sue you I do not think a settlement company will stop it. I would make a settlement offer every time they called up too the max you can afford. If all you have is 30% of the balance then offer that. If you do go to court try to argue out all the excessive fees, penalties and interest charged to the account the entire time the account was open. I bet at least $2000 of the balance is from that garbage. Try to settle it at court also. Even if they get a judgment you can still make settlement offers. Unfortunately there is no way to make them work with you if they are being asses.

It will take a lot of work to clear up 80k. Your credit score will also take a beating even if you pay a settlement company. I would try to cut back all my spending and save as much as possible until I cleaned this mess up. Anything that can be sold to generate money should be sold. Anything that has payments attached to it needs to be sold too. Find the cheapest place you can to live. If you are single and have no children I would recommend renting a room or living with your parents for a while.

You can read other people's complaints about Citibank, it may be of some help in dealing with them: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/citibank.htm
Here is more relevant info. on them: http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/settlement/about25389.html

I appreciate your thoughts, DollarsandSince, but that really isn't an option. I do own a home and am remarried, but I will not put my new wife through that, which is why it seems bankruptcy is the only way out.

As far as credit, I don't see how much worse it can get. All of my secured loans are current which helps, but with all the unsecured in collections, like I said, how much worse can my credit get?

As far as cutting back on spending, absolutely. But selling my house and renting a room, no. But you are right about the fees. When the attorney validated the debt the fees and interest were ridiculsous, even AFTER they stopped sending me a statement.

Thanks for the links, Anthony. Much appreciated.

In light of the fact that you are married and own a home my advice would change then. I assumed you were single and lost the house to divorce. I am not a big fan of bankruptcy. It will haunt you forever plus the new laws suck. I also do not think 80k really bankrupts you but that depends on your pay and assets and how much you want to deal with the creditors. I would consult a bankruptcy attorney to determine how difficult it would be for you to bankrupt this stuff and how difficult it becomes if they all get judgments. Also find out from the attorney if you are only offered protection and will be put on a repayment plan or will still owe the money after the bankruptcy is discharged. If you can bankrupt the judgments I would just wait it out and see if they all sue. I think at least half of the creditors will not sue you. I would probably just deal with each creditor one by one as they sued which will take a few years for some of them. If you have no equity in your home then they can not get money that away. Worse case scenario is you might get a garnishment but that depends on a judge and what kind of judgment they get. I think you can only have one garnishment at a time and that is capped to a certain percentage of your pay. I am not sure what the percentage is.

Save money and settle as you have the money to settle. If none of them sue then try to settle with one at a time as you have the money. I would cut all contact with them accept for mail. If they have any of your phone numbers change them or completely disconnect them and send them C&D letters to that effect and include all work contact. You and your wife certainly do not need the stress of getting 50 phone calls a day.

The only downfall I think to taking this path is it can be a bit more stressful. You will lengthen the amount of time you have to deal with these companies. You will also have to do your own homework when it comes to settling, sending off C&D letters and validation letters and appearing at court. If you go with a settlement company they will do some of this for you possibly but I think they are expensive for what you get. You will still have to do all the court work yourself if you get sued and you pay them fees for settling for you.

Dollars - Yes, I was awarded the house in the divorce, but I also got stuck with ALL the debt. I do have equity in the house, and would tap it to pay off the debt, but who is going to refinance me with 80k in collection accounts? I still cannot refinance my ex-wife off of the mortgage!

I don't receive any calls...any more. Most I've sent the letters to asking not to call, so perhaps that is why. I was taking them one at a time and settling them. I actually have settled 3 in the past few months. But then along came this Citi one...one of the larger ones...to an attorney. (Of which I have discussed in another post)

I am self-epmployed so there would be no garnishment to be had unless a tax refund. And, to protect myself, all my bank accounts are listed in my businesses names or are joint with my fiancee.

I did try a settlement company. But they wanted close to 14k in fees and wanted me to pay 1400 a month. So ten months of that would go to them? NO WAY.

So you think doing it myself like I have been is the best way to go?

There is no way in hell I would pay a settlement company 14k to act as a repayment company and settle my debts. I do not know how much you owe Citi but I bet you could settle the Citi account for the 14K this settlement company is asking for. That????????s almost 20% of what you owe. Keep in mind it takes absolutely no more work to settle a debt with a credit card company that you owe $1000 dollars too as it does if you owe $10,000 to them so if they are charging you a percentage of the total debt then you are getting ripped off. It still takes just as many phone calls and just as much negotiation. If they want to charge a percentage then only pay them a percentage of what they negotiate away and even then I would set that percentage low at like 5%. That means they would get paid 2,000 if they settled everything at 50% and there is a major incentive for them to negotiate hard to get rid of debt since they are paid on what they got rid of.

I think if you look around some more and talk to some of the counselors on this site you will probably get a lot better offer on help if you want it. Just make sure you thoroughly check them out before you give them any money. I have always settled my own stuff though and helped settle some stuff for my friends.

Since they can not garnish your wages I suspect if you were sued they would try to get a lien against your home. Also I am not sure that your bank accounts are safe even though they are also in your wife????????s name or your companies???????? name. I think if your name is on the account then it makes it fair game even if someon elses name is on it too but I am not positive about this.

Also I am curious if your name is on these credit accounts or just your ex wife????????s or both names. If both names are on there then you might try to get them to go after her in collections too.

Thanks again for the reply Dollars. I really think that a judgement cannot garnish from a bank account if another person or entity's name is on it. I mean, if someone is a Treasurer for ABC, Inc., how can the company's funds be attached? Not fair (legal) to the company I imagine.

I'm going to make a new thread with that topic and see what others have to say, though.

And I agree with you. I have hired myself as debt negotiator and am in the works of trying to settle.

Do you think it is better to try and negotiate with the credit card company, the collection company, or the attorney (if applicable)?