question on who to settle first

Hopefully someone will come along. I'd like to know this too.

Are they letting you make payments or do you have the money saved?

Good question! Hopefully someone will be able to provide an answer

I do have some money saved up but not a lot. I also have a IRA I can tap into if needed.
BofA, Wamu & Citi will let me make payments. Amex and Target what a lump sum. I did settle Amex last night for 50% that was a small one 1700.00. I am going to settle the BofA because I don't want to lose that great deal. I have not spoken with Crap1 or Discover yet which are about 10,000 each. Citi is my biggest at 27000.00 they offered 14000.00 with 12 month payment plan. Which is good but that will tie up my current cash flow for settlements for the next 12 mo.

First of all ~ good job on working with those companies on your own ~ you should be proud of that :) Most would rather cower in the corner ;)

Being realistic and knowing that you're not going to be able to pay everything immediately ~ I would knock out the smallest accounts first. That's just my $0.02. Work your way up to the big guns.

Is a second job an option for you? Maybe it's time to really get down and dirty with getting your finances straight. Put yourself on a very strict budget and do away with "luxeries" if possible. Work those companies who will allow you to make payments monthly into your budget - then send the extra to those who want a lump sum....even though they want a lump sum it doesn't mean they won't take your money.

Target 30-50%
Discover 20-40%
Citi 30%
Amex 30%
Capital One 40%

Start from the top. The first 3 should be settled before charge off. Amex is best settled directly with Amex or with NCO for as low as 20% but typically settle for 30% with any 3rd party other than an attorney. Since you reside in Ct., I would settle Discover actually first then Target to avoid being sued. In my experience, I have noticed Discover tends to litigate rather quickly in the N. Eastern States.

Ideally, depending on your amount saved toward settlements and considering you have settled B of A and Wamu you should settle Discover and Target pre-charge off. Both creditors unfortunately require lump sum payments however, it is in your best interest to do so. If you have not settled Wamu, DONT. The account will be sold to LVNV and most likely will not have to be paid. Save yourself the 4k and settle your Citi at 30% ($625.00) over 12 months also pre-charge off otherwise you will be dealing with CA"s who will not be able to extend a 12 month 30% offer. Citi being your largest debt and potentially the one account that may end you in b/k court I strongly suggest you settle asap. Again, if you have not paid Wamu DONT, apply said funds to your creditors that can bring your settlement process to an end wasting money and having to file b/k.

Worry about Amex and Capital One when you are ready but focus on the 3 major accounts first. If you have the funds still from Wamu use them to settle Discover and Target as the two will settle for nearly the same amount Wamu offered.

Once you have settled your accounts which after charge off, you will have only capital one and a small Amex account so, within the next 18 months, you should be all settled. You will then begin your disputes with the credit bureaus. Still, do not settle WAMU. Simply treat Wamu as an account you have no knowledge of and try to get deleted. LVNV will be the debt buyer reporting the account and is deleted 99% of the time. As long as it is not reporting, then nothing else should matter.

Good luck and I commend you on not falling for the American Liberty Financial scam offering free services to Sifxpert clients. I'm familiar with both parties and dislike both especially American Liberty or Elaine. Despise actually. I worked for ALF and know first hand that Elaine is a thief or just outrageously irresponsible with money.

Every week at least 2 checks bounced which James ended up paying out of pocket. I dislike James because he stuck up for a sad excuse of a human being regardless of laying off the entire office a week before x-mas he still made excuses for her. I almost feel bad for the guy having kissed her ass for years and started up a lucrative company for her and not only didnt get paid for it but ended up being the ultimate scape goat blaming james for stealing from clients and screwing up the whole company when that woman had absolutely no idea about debt settlement. Her other scam company was shut down some illegal online pharmacy. Right after, she fired the Cali. office and laid off everyone just before x-mas. The majority being single mom's and the person who built the company for her (james). James didnt steal, he was owed over 6 figures at the time for salary and loans he gave to Elaine oh, and probably a dozen or two bad checks she wrote him right before she fired him. The notary he used is one of my best friends and happened to be over the night he had his Attorney General complaint notarized so I saw the checks.

I chose to respond to this post to help the poster but to also shed some light on the absurd amount of drama that has started and how people are taking advantage of a situation such as ALF as if they have not done enough harm to people. ALF must know that James was a in a major car accident a few months ago having active lawsuits and communicating with attorneys. Actually, it was 2 accidents. The first was not too serious and he was a passenger but shortly after toward the end of July or beginning of August he was rear ended by a truck on I5 going 80-90 mph while stopped in traffic. You can find a police report of the accident with the San Clemente Highway Patrol.

For the record, I am not a messenger and do not associate with James or his employees. I quit ALF before the Cali office closed and have not seen or spoken to James other than the one occasion. I stumbled upon this site and have spent the last 24 hrs reading posts from people like Eric Pemper who has also posted negative comments containing false information which has obviously come from ALF blaming james for anything and everything. I've also read some posts which appear to be either reps of FSC or Rob Goldstein himself who cowardly disguises his identity to avoid being fingered as a hypocrite.

All of you especially ALF should be ashamed. There are people who need help and all anyone is interested in doing is spreading gossip and rumors talking about someone who allegedly has done what you all have done for years. Its sickening.

Any clients of James who need assistance settling debts, post your question here on this forum and I will provide the exact information you will need to settle your accounts on your own. ALF's objective is to hurt james pocket and smear his name. NOT HELP YOU. I will provide specific directions including phone numbers and extensions if available to settle your debts on your own and if necessary, I will even make calls for you if you are not able to get the lowest possible settlement.

I will respond to posts as quickly as possible. I've been negotiating debts for over 7 years and currently manage a negotiations dept for a company servicing over 7000 clients.

I will only respond to posts on how to settle debt. I will not exchange paperwork or request any other personal information. I am very familiar with the process in which James handles accounts so hopefully there has not been many clients who have expired settlements that can not be recovered or settlement schedules that can not be re-organized somehow.

I'm here to help if it is needed otherwise, to the original poster, the above directions will be successful for you I can guarantee you if you follow the directions exactly.

vuwho,

I find much of your information to be accurate, I cannot vouch for the James info but I did deal withhim while he was at ALF, and I find it interesting to know that Eric Pemper also had one of those illegal pharmacies going on and gave it to a friend of his because he was scared he would not be allowed back in the states or be arrested for it.

As far as him talking bad about James that sucks, they were very friendly when James was making him money. Thanks for the info, also I have experience negotiating debt, if I can help anyone here settle their debt on their own, I would be glad to.

Hello vuwho, hello "the fox"
I am in great need of advise regarding how to settle my debt. Any and all information will be life saving for me.
I have perfect credit and have never been late making payments; however after I got divorced, I ended up with a large amount of debt and my cash flow dropped to less than 50%, due to alimony, etc. What is the first step I should be doing? I have the following:
Bank of America 9.9%
chase (2 accounts) 9.9%

I called Bank of Ame and told them about my situation. They can not *help* because I am current.

Any advise I can get will be extremely helpful. Should I stop paying the cards for a while? I am not sure how else to express to them that $$ is not there any more...

thanks

Callorama,

Most credit card companies have hardship programs they place their clients in, call them up again and find out. Second, close the accounts out to prevent further spending on them and actually creating more debt, this will show your creditors good intent not to abuse your privileges. If your accounts are current have you spoken to any consolidation programs? I know a good one called Garden State Consumer credit counseling and they are licensed in most states to do business. Also it is not good to tell some one to stop making their monthly payments, first because it is against the law and second just like consolidation, debt settlement will negatively affect your credit.

You have three options at this time:
1. Enter a hardship program with your current creditors
2. Consolidate the debt
3. Choose to stop making your payments on your own and try debt settlement.

Also, check your local state laws to see if they have any programs like I believe Wisconsin has where you can pay your debt back in four years and I do believe that will not affect your credit. I hope someone here can shed some light on this and provide more information.

"BofA - I am shocked at how easily I got 25% with this one "
How behind were you with B of A? I have 2 FIA accounts that as I understand are affiliated in some way with them. I am current right now, but not looking to stay that way, UNLESS, they may settle and let me make payments. I am now about 90 days late with an Advanta account and they aren't offering any help that I can do, right now.

Hi timeandwine or anyone else, How did u settle w/ Boa and Wamu?? I have Boa, Wamu and 2 Amex?? Who did u talk to when u call?? I have not pay my CC since March but I have not receive any settlement in the mail. I wrote them settlement offer from this forum.Thanks !!!

vuwho,
This is exactly the kind of information I was hoping for. Thank you so much for your very detailed info! I plan on following your advise. After all I have seen and heard... too much just didn't make sense...I felt my only option was to take care of this myself.
You mention I should settle the Disover at 20-40% and Citi at 30%. Both of these accounts are significant and are being very difficult. Do you have phone#'s and ext and who I should speak with?

For those asking about the BofA....I stopped paying them in April and called them about a week ago, so it is very close to charging off. I just called the most recent number I had and called and asked if I could settle the account. To negotiate offers I think you really need to call and talk with someone. WAMA has their offer online at wamucanhelp.com...again close to charging off

So do you have the money saved up for B of A? I am still current with both of those cards now...but who knows how long that will last.

can you tell me where to go online to find out what offer I can get for my WAMU account? I went to www.wamu.com but couldn't seem to find it ....I owe WAMU about $3500 so I am hoping to settle with them for less

thanks for any info :)

can you tell me where to go online to find out what offer I can get for my WAMU account? I went to www.wamu.com but couldn't seem to find it ....I owe WAMU about $3500 so I am hoping to settle with them for less

thanks for any info :)

Yes, I did have some money saved up to settle BofA and they were willing to take it in 3-4 paymets which helps alot.

The site for wamu is wamucanhelp.com.

So how far behind were you with your payments with B of A?

I am behind 5-6 months

Are you getting all offers in writing first? Are they agreeing to remove from your credit report? This seems impossible for me to negotiate!

Discover settled with me for 40% and is letting me pay it over a 4 month period. I got an offer in the mail, called and told them I couldn't pay all at once so they did the 4 months. I will have them paid off in December.

how far past due beltrita were you on these cc's?

I actually had filed for bankruptcy, but they wanted $1500 a month which I could not pay. Once that was dismissed, I began getting calls again. so I had not paid Discover in about 2 years as before the bankrupty attempt, I was working with a debt settlement company.

vuwho,
Regarding Amex, does the "typical" 30% still apply even on large balances? Mine is really high (44K). Do they have any kind of monthly repayment plan or just all at once?

If I have a high balance and default (prepping for setltlement), any idea on how long they will wait for money? When I was 2 months behind, they called weekly. Will that increase the longer I am behind?

I am getting ready to pull them from my dmp because the monthly payments they want are too high. They want my current minimum payment for the next 4-6 months before considering reducing the interest rate. Heck, I wouldn't have put them on a DMP if I could afford the payment---but whatever.

How did you settle with Amex and Citi, did you offer or you got one? How long were you delinquent?

I did get some offers in the mail but, nothing significant. When I get an offer I call them to discuss it and try to get it lowered. If they don't come down enough I end the call and try again at another time. I don't negotiate my credit report, its hard enough to negotiate a decent settlement. I will worry about my credit after. That's not whats important now.

How did any of your accounts end up with Target Visa