1st time settling with Chase

I would call back and talk to some one else, I don't know that they will settle for that amount. Usually they will go for 70-80% of the debt is industry standard. Your offer was less than 50%, it has been my experience that offering them around 70% works. looks like they want the 80% when I do the math. I will be very surprised if they come down as low as you want them to. Depends on alot of factors, is this the original creditor? How old the debt is? and of course do they want to go through the hassle of court? Goodluck, hope you can come to a solution that works for you. This has just been my experience dealing with credit card collection and I have dealt with three of them this year, two are settled and one is still hanging out there, won't validate. goodluck and keep us posted.

I agree with fedupinpa. I think you should try to talk to someone else, too. It may be to your advantage that you have it ready to send asap. It seems that to go through the trouble of taking you to court would be a huge hassle, particularly when you can go ahead and resolve the issue. Do you live in a state where garnishment is allowed? If so, that may be an issue. They could possible win a judgement against you and have what they want garnished. :-( But, it can't hurt to continue to try to push for the settlement that you can afford. Good luck and I hope that they will go ahead and settle. :-)

Never know they may surprise you and settle for what you want them too. give it a shot, all they can do is say no and you are back to step one again. goodluck

I had a balance with Chase of about $6500 ... shame on me for maxing it out, but shame on them for giving an 18 yr old working part-time @ $8.50/hr that kind of credit limit (they don't tell you when you get the card, that if you max it out then those $20 min payments jump up to like $450/mo). When they first charged it off in 2004, they sent me a letter saying they would settle for about $2800 ... too bad I didn't have the money at the time.

The account was dead for the last three years; no calls, no letters, they weren't trying to collect at all. But I had saved up over the last few years and wanted to pay it off, so I called them to settle this past May.

First the lady wanted full balance and gave me a line how I should pay what I rightfully owe. I told her "then you won't get paid and it can sit here for another 3 years if that's the case." Then she came back with $5600. I told her "at one point in time Chase would have took $2800..." "Yeah, but that was then" was her answer. I told her sorry, can't help you if that's the lowest, and she hung up. Then I called back about 20 mins later and talked to another man, I was able to get it down to $4900 which was 75%. That's the lowest I could get it, so I paid them that much to close it out. But I also had the guy fax to me in writing that they would accept $4900 as full settlement ... I waited on the phone while he faxed it, and once I got the fax I let them to an electronic payment.

First of all, with no disrespect to anyone, DO NOT CALL!! Get everything in WRITING!! Make sure that when they settle for a certain amount, that the balance will not be sold off again to some collection agency. Then you will have to deal with this again. Also, make sure that they sign off in writing that they will note your reports that the card was "paid as agreed" and closed per consumer. Something along those lines.

But, make sure you get things in writing!!

When you get the settlement offer you like get them to fax/email or send you a letter with the agreement. Keep in mind however that if you go to court then you are going to have 1k-2k additional fee's added to the account for court cost, attorney fee's and anyhting else related to that as well.


If you are being sued by Chase then you aren't going to get a PAID letter. It will reflect settled or > than balance on your credit report.

FYI is right... Settled or > than the balance... My bad....

Well, I spoke to Chase this morning, and I offered up $2200, which is about 50% of the debt. Below is what I can remember how the dialogue went, basically:

Chase: "Sorry, can't accept"
Me: "Okay, well, are you refusing my payment?
Chase: "Hold please..."
[on hold for a while]
Chase: "Sorry for the wait, but my supervisor can't understand why you can't pay the amount. I'm looking at your credit report and I only see this Chase Credit Card and your home (I short sold our home last month; we're a casualty of the mortgage industry; long story). My supervisor is basically saying that if you don't have any other bills, why can't you pay this one? (She doesn't realize that I'm married, and my wife has bills too. We share our income.)
Me: Well, I just can't afford to pay half and then do installments the rest of the way. Can I speak to your supervisor's supervisor to get a refusal letter?

Then she hands me that information over the phone. I'm thinking of calling again here in a few minutes. I read fedupinpa's post about his dealings with Chase. I have about 10 days left to settle this. Should I keep fighting for the 50% reduction, or should I start raising it up? They're documenting all of this on the computer. I'm surprised with DebtCruncher's story about how he calls back in 20 mins and gets it lowered more.

DebtCruncher, were you given a summons like I was? I wonder if that's the deciding factor.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that in my last post....I was trying to request for a letter of refusal of my payment.

CrazyJoe - in my case they weren't trying to sue me. For whatever reason, they weren't collecting on my account at all over the last 3 years - no calls, no letters, no nothing. The only reason I called them was because I had been saving up to pay them and I wanted to get my credit report fixed up a little.

They are probably playing hard-ball because they already filed a court case. And they fact that you are trying to settle now tells them that you don't really want it to go to court. So in their eyes they have the "upper hand" and can require you to pay more if you don't want court action. Just my take?

Aside, I don't think you will get them to print a "refusal of payment" letter. In their eyes, they are not refusing payment, just that they are refusing to settle.

I would give you the number I called, but I have it in a file in my desk at work. If you can wait until tomorrow I will bring the file back home and then post the # -- it was to their recovery department.

Oh... I just found it in a letter that I typed up to them afterwards. I talked to a ???????Linda??????? in the settlement department at 888-242-7320. I remember they had weird hours, like they were only open 10-4 or something like that.

Thanks for the info, DebtCruncher.

I just tried calling the number, but they were closed. I'll try them tomorrow.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooo.....

....I took Chase's offer of bringing the account current by paying $700 bucks, and then making payments for 36 months. In return for making this deal, they would retract the summons, for so as long as I made my monthly payments. I was able to at least lower the interest rate, but then the time to pay it back got shorted as well.

I couldn't wait any longer because the summons was about to expire. I tried to push for 50%, even 60% of the debt, but my credit report (I pulled it from AnnualCreditReport.com) and saw that I had only three negative items (the short sale of my home, this Chase account, and a Time Warner cable bill). I guess I didn't have more debt to have them agree with my settlement offer.

I don't know if I should have fought more, told them that I had to help my wife with her bills, etc.....I thought that this was the best solution for me. I didn't (and couldn't afford) get a lawyer. I didn't think that a lawyer could do anything for me. I'm sure I would have to had pay him the $2200 that I was offering Chase for him to get them to agree to take 50%. Ahhh...I don't know...*sighs*

I'm sure all of you are shaking your head as you read this. But at least I don't have to go through the hassle of court. *shrug*

I was in a similiar situation, but had 2 other charge offs, and 2 babies in 2 years with plenty of medical bills. By them seeing the charge offs and me explaining all the medical bills, chase settled for 35%. I told them I was on the verge of bankruptcy also. I think, if they think, they are the only one getting stiffed, they will not settle as low. It seems like you have to "sell" your story and how you got there, to the rep. BTW, after settling this chase acct. I had another that just went from chase to a collection agency and they won't take less than 80% I am taking it. The people at chase were as nice as could be. The people at Unifund couldn't have cared less about my situation and said they will just keep adding interest if I don't settle in 3 weeks for the 80%

I'm sure NO one's shaking thier head at u! We all have to do what we have to do! And u did what u had to do to stay outta court. Can't say i blame u one bit! At least u were able to make payment arrangements for something u can afford!
Good Luck and congrats for avoiding court!
Ang

When they said that it would bring your account current did that mean that you would be paying a normal interest rate or the defaulted interest rate? Will you still be paying late fee's?

You aren't ever going to get a refusal letter for them to accept what you owe. More than likely when it comes to that they will mark you as a refusal to pay and go one from there. You need to remeber that you agreed to pay the balance in full when you defaulted. It's in your terms and agreements that they should be sending to you every year.

If you are willing to stay the course you can get 35% or less. You need the time to go to court. I would not settle for anything less than 50 percent.

I successfully defended myself in court several times including a reversal of a summary judgement, and an arbitration hearing.

Dont let the system intimidate you. Use it like the collection companies and banks use the system