Former Advanta Collector - got a letter today

Good news: I got those letters for MONTHS. It's a scare tactic, trying to get you to pay. Bad news: after nine months of not paying, I finally did get a summons. It did come with an alternative 10% settlement offer though, which I was able to do. How much is your debt with them?

it is at about $7000, give or take w/fees. I would go an borrow the money today if they would settle for 10% now. Not sure how I would pay it back , but I could get it I think. I put this post on the wrong board by accident. So I put it over on the other board too.

Mine was about $22,000. I don't know what their criteria are for what kind of settlement offers they make. They probably take into account the amount of debt, how long you were a good-paying client, what your circumstances were for defaulting. What I would suggest at this point is, instead of going to their website, actually call and TALK to someone in collections.

Okay i called today and was put with a lady that said she might be able to do a 50% settlement, but I cannot come up with 3700.00. How do you know when the letters are real and just scare tactics? This is the first one I have recieved.

Unfortunately, you don't know. I just kept ignoring them, month after month, because they would not make any kind of deals. Then after nine months, I got the summons, along with the settlement offer. I wouldn't suggest to ANYone to invite that kind of trouble, but maybe that's what it takes to get the good settlements. Anyone else out there have experience settling with Advanta??

Unless you are being given a specific date that your account will be sold or sent to legal, it is an idle threat. The letters saying pay this amount by xx/xx/xx or we will refer it to our legal department for review is much akin to me saying if I buy a lottery ticket for the next three drawings, I may win the jackpot. There are a lot of things that go into an account being approved for legal action. Your credit bureau needs to indicate that it is somehow worth it, that you own a home or something like that. Your FICO score also has to be at a certain level. If your score is in the 400's, there is really no point to legal you because you obviously can't pay. Typically Advanta tries to only legal accounts that appear to have resources or ability to pay but are just refusing to pay. So if your FICO is pretty high and you are paying your personal debts but just letting the business ones slide - they probably will end up eventually legaling your account. As of right now though, they are just blowing smoke. They are just telling you that they will refer your account to be looked at - nothing more. If your account is ever legaled, you will be notified of a specific date it will be forwarded and it wouldn't be worded as a maybe.

Former Advanta Collector, my account was sent over to Philip and Cohen. Now he is telling me that if I don't call him back today that he is sending me back to Advanta for legal. My FICO so sucks right now, I think it is in the 400's and I have nothing to offer. I am getting my things together to talk to a BK attorney anyway. Your knowledge has been such a help to us all.

I can't really give a lot of insight as to what happens now because all of Advanta's collections, I believe, is now outsourced through workers in INDIA. I have no idea what, if any, policy changes are coming with that new change.

I can personally say it seems rather stupid to sue someone with a 400 FICO - obviously they have no money. Do you own your home? They may be looking at a lien on the home or a garnishment of wages. Honestly, if your FICO is 400 - I don't think bankruptcy could do much more damage than is already done. I'm no bankruptcy expert but I do know that you can file bankruptcy and keep most everything you own if your attorney knows what they are doing.

The key is to listen to what is said to you. Most of the time it is an idle threat.... an I'm going to... or we're going to review... or something like that -- that doesn't mean anything. It's as good as me saying I'm considering filling out an entry for a marathon. I may never fill out the form, and even if I do - I may never run, they may say I'm too out of shape or didn't pay the right entry amount. Anyway - my point is that just because they say they are going to look at legal doesn't mean they will and unless you own property, a FICO that low won't meet the standards for legal - at least the standards that were in place before this change.

Well said former collector. Unless they say "we are suing you" then it really doesn't mean anything and nothing can be done. If they talk to you on the phone and say if you don't make a payment right now we are suing you and you don't make a payment and they hang up on you, then that is a FDCPA violation.

I just got my 29.99% rate hike letter with never a late payment. My balance is $25,000. My fico is 770. Its a company card so I'm planning to stop paying and let it go to collections. Does Advanta have any rights to sieze my personal assets or just those of my company? Will they nail my personal credit score?

Also, check out advantacal-dot-wetpaint-dot-com if you are interested in joining a class action lawsuit, I did.

You have to look at it like this:

If they have validated the account and you still can't pay, then you can't pay. I do mean can't, not won't. There is a difference. Now you need to study your state laws in regards to judgments and garnishments...find out exactly how much can be taken from you and go from there.

If you continuously try to work out an arrangement and they aren't taking it, then to heck with them! Keep those certified letters and receipts and take them with you if you are ever served.

There isn't more you can really do...either they will sue or they won't. Until they do, they are just posturing and beating their chests at you.

If monkeys were collectors they would be flinging poo in all directions.

What do you mean it is a company card?
Whose company? Yours? An employer's?
Are you in anyway attached to the card other than an authorized user?

The Advanta card is in my LLC's name but I as the company's owner also signed personally for it.

They will come after you since you guaranteed the debt. Meaning your credit will suffer and they can go after your assests.

Have you tried to get them to change the rate or refinance the loan? Your score should make this doable.

There is no such class action as mentioned by ivillages.

Advanta Bank uses your personal credit reports and FICO score to issue you your card. They don't even check up front to see if your business really exists. Being an LLC will not protect you from Advanta coming after your personal assets since they are not a "corporate" card or a true business card. They claim to be a small business card but are a wolf in sheep's clothing. They are actually a personal card with a high limit based on your personal credit. Advanta refuses to report ANY of your good credit with them and when you stop paying, they decide to start reporting negative information on our personal credit report to try and strong arm you into paying your account. If you read a lot of the complaint sites, many of the small business owners have had luck with Advanta willing to settle when they stop paying. Many have had good luck via a complaint to the Utah BBB and the FDIC.

Filed June 16, 2009, Case #109CV144965 in Santa Clara County Superior Court. Ron Stern and Jack Scalfani plaintiffs vs. Advanta Bank Corp., a Utah corporation, and Advanta Corp.,a Delaware corporation Defendants. Class Action Complaint for Damages, Restitution, Injunctive and Declaratory Relief, Breach of Contract and Violations of the Unfair Competition Law and the False Advertising Act. Demand for jury trial. Attorney for plaintiffs - Arthur Levy in San Francisco. CA residents only.

Excellent news! Advanta loves to take advantage of people and milk them for every last dollar. I wish the People success against this monstrous, blood-thirsty behemoth.

So, if Advanta is truly a personal card, not a "business" card as they say...they cannot go after business assets?

advanta filed for chapter 11 today - yea!

on an experience note; i believe that i owe the money i agreed to pay, but when they raised my interest to 35% for no reason (never late, never over balance, good paying client) i refused to pay.

after about 5 months they offered to reduce the fee and wave 5 months of interest (in May, 2009) but I just found out that they have actually been charging me a late fee every month since then (without telling me in my statements) on top of the 9% we agreed on.
so as of today we will stop paying again and wait for the letter.

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still have a job bub?

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What the heck - Advanta has screwed so may small businesses. Our balance at the time they cut everybody off was $23,000. We have never been late, missed a payment, yada, yada. Our rate is currently 24.99% when we were promised from the beginning it would never go above 9.99%. Now, it's all we can do to pay the minimum due with these insane finance charges on top of that. LET'S ALL QUIT PAYING AND DEMAND THEY HONOR THEIR PROMISES OF LOW RATES AND GET THIS ALL RE-NEGOTIOATED! Any lawyers out there willing to help due to the fact you were probably screwed too?