50% settlement after less than 3 months?

I'm not sure about the credit report outcome, but, in my opinion, a 50% settlement, HECK YEAH!!

If you are really in a debt settlement situation, I would do it. Get a nice clean slate and start rebuilding your finances now. If u get it close to 50%, u are doing well!

50% is good. Do you have the money to settle? Do you feel like this is the best option for you? I myself am not a gambler so I would take the settlement. But if you feel like gambling and can take the stress, you could always wait.

Also, make sure you get this settlement in writing before you pay them a dime. If you don't they may come back later looking for the rest of their money. collection agencies seem to have very short memories and change their minds alot. Everything in writing please!!!!!

You would need to stipulate that they not sell the remaining balance and there will be no way around the 1099c they would issue for the forgiven $25k.

You could try to get them to note your CR as "Paid" or "paid as agreed." The best you might be able to get is "settled" or "settled for less than full balance." Start out by asking for what you want and negotiate if you have to.

After reported as income - on the 1099 - how do you prove you are insulvent? I heard if you can prove this the IRS will waive this as income? So paid is better than settled on the credit report? I have to borrow the $ off my dad and slowly repay. I have 90,000 worth of unsecured debt but 1 creditor is 60,000 of it so this is a good start.

Filing BK is about the best way to show insolvency and based on $90k may be your best course of action. If you can't pay them $25k in one lump sum, I doubt very seriously they will work with you. Are you dealing with CA's(JDB) or OC's?

I am dealing with original creditors as of now. When will they sell it off?

No telling. For that much, they would likely sue. If they don't, then whomever they sell it to would if they sold it before SOL expires.

Bill, I was asking a similar question the other day about the 1099 Form in regards to debt settlement. I was told you will need to do a Form 982 because you end up getting a 1099 because of your debt settlement. I haven't read up on the Form 982 yet, but you can ask your tax person or do a google.

My tax guy said if your debts are more than assetts you will not be required to pay taxes on the money. If you have a ton on equity in the house or cars or stocks you will have to pay on the forgiven amount. It is there to punish rich people who settle when they can pay. What do you think of a 50% settlement? I can borrow 20,000 but not 30,000 so that will be my offer and if they do not accept in a few months I will go a small ch. 13.

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Should you never give checking info for a payment? What could they do if you have a settlement letter?

Never give them access to your account.

That is a sweet deal Bill. Most OC????s do not offer that much of a savings under three months delinquency, as mobile says do not give them access to your account. Make payment with a cashiers check or money transfer only after you receive and have an attorney review the settlement letter. you are talking about too much money here to fool around with.

What if I allready did? What should I expect and what should I do? I have 2 checkings so I can just close this one out after payments go through. I got a 20% settlement on 60,000 and needed to pay by end of August. Thanks for your advice.

I'd love to know which creditor offered this settlement.....I have $64k with American Express and I'd love to get this right now.

So who is it?

I will tell you Wednesday. After all the transications clear. Just a little worried because I did not have an attorney look at the letter and I gave them my checking info.

BOA. Now I have to show I am insolvent or I am dead. I borrowed the cash and now I have 60,000 left. I need the income tax money to repay my Dad.

You can contact a debt settlement company also, and they can get everything done with your creditors. I chose that route. Even I had a BOA account, not that high though - only 22K and DebtPointer settled it for 6800. I'd say that's awesome, cause I never had to speak with BOA, not even once. You can call them at 800-600-2003. Ask for Steve at ext 2015.

God Bless

Good job BLL!!

How long till I get sued and charged off? I have these remaining credit companies. Chase, GE money, Citi, Capital, Wamu and AMEX. Of those some are small and some in the 10,000 range. Which one is the hardest to settle? Thanks.

They will charge off the balance at 180 days delinquent. That simply means that they are writing it off as a bad debt for accounting purposes. Some of them still keep the debt in house after they charge it off, some of them send it to outside collections but still maintain ownership of the debt, and some of them sell it to a third party.

Whether they will sue you or not is a different story. They could decide to sue you at any point, before or after charge off, or not at all.

I don't know which are easy or hard to settle, so I'll leave that to someone else to answer . . .

Good luck!!

I guess the question becomes do all creditors settle or do some just stand pat and never settle or even offer a settlement?

How does one show that you are insolvent? Im assuming the credit card companies will ask this when I settle with them. Boy Ive been depressed for 3months now and you guys make me feel much better and that there's a way. Thanks forum.

Thanks BLL for this post. I'm in a very similar situation as yours but only in my first month. Thnk you all.

You can write off your total debts - your total assetts. My house is upside down - I owe 160,000 and the fair market value is 110,000. So I can write off like 50,000 worth of 1099C from companies. At least I am hoping because if not I am dead. I just need to borrow around 15,000 more from someone to settle the remaining 60,000. I will keep you posted. Anyone else dealing with Citi Chase or WaMu.

Has been 10 days and The electronic check cleared and I got no legal letter ending this account in the mail? I just had a bill post on the internet site saying I owed $ for next month? How long does it take for everything to be official or does the agreement they sent me make it legal? Just a little worried?

BLL - Did you get the agreement in writing from BOA before you sent the payment?

Yes - Got it faxed to me. Screwed up and gave them my checking info.

I would think that with BOA, you should be okay that they won't take more money out of your checking account.

For future reference, never give your acct info to any collector. :)

60,000 grand to go. I just have to figure how to get the cash to settle? The more people I get involved the more guilty I feel. I guess it is better for me and my creditors? I'll check back.

1st letter from a collection agency. What should I do now. Try to settle with them or call my OC? Any suggestions? They turned it over quick - 90 days.

Bll, a couple of my creditors turned accounts over to CAs pretty quickly too. However, when I questioned the CA, they said that the OC still owned the account.

One of the CAs was quite reasonable and not too harrassing, so I just left it alone. The other one was rude and pushy the first time they called me, so I insisted on contact information so that I could send them a CD. After that, they returned the account to the OC.

Can you settle with a CO. Should I call the OC and make arraingements with them? What is a CD and where can I find one. Thanks.

Should I call the Collection agency? Or just the Origina creditor?

I meant CA not CO - I am trying to learn the abb.

CD = Cease & Desist. There is a sample letter here:

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/letters/sample9.html

Yes, I think you can settle with CAs also. However, at 90 days, your account should still be owned by the OC, so they are probably the best ones to deal with. However, once they turn your account over to a CA, they will usually not talk to you about it.

I would send the CD, CMRRR, and there is probably a good chance at that point that the OC will take the account back. However, you do, of course, run the risk of a lawsuit also.