Age of Debt

You have raised very good concerns.

Recent balance transfers and large cash advances can lead to a great deal less in savings come settlement time. Even the most settlement friendly creditors draw a line here. You will get a reduction but not the type you can read others on this board getting.

USAA and credit unions typically have cross colateral claims in their contracts with you. Miss a payment on the LOC or card and the insurance payment is applied to late account.

I get the faithful customer thing and with credit unions especially. Sometimes it is not about that though. If you are struggling to keep a roof over your head and food on the table then you need to approach it using the math, only the math. Do you think USAA is looking at it any other way?

As far as keeping USAA, if you have say 6 cards and 5 run delinquent it is rare these days for that to be brought up. If it is brought up you can tell them why, "I have accounts at my credit union that or collateralized" You dont have to say what type of accounts. They may assume a mortgage etc... You may only be making that payment due to a family member who banks there as well helping you out, if things are that tight.

I will say this, normally the facts surrounding your inability to pay are enough to describe a hardship. No need to imbelish.

You should be concerned on the balance transfers though.

Thank you for the response.

I guess I'm having problems conceptualizing what is going to be considered a "recent" balance transfer or cash advance. If you think about it, six months ago, the Dow was like 12,000... several million more people in the US were employeed... Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns, Wachovia, WaMu, Linens N' Things were all in business. Pretty drastically different than what the world looks like today. What I'm saying is, six to eight months at face value doesn't seem like a long time ago. The reality is though, that so much has changed since that time that it really is an eternity. But I just don't know how this will be views by my creditors.

As far as cash advances, I did have a few, isolated to one creditor... totaling about $4-5k of the $12.5k oustanding with them. All of which happened around Aug/Sept 2008. Not like I pulled it out last week and am going to stop making payments this week. But again, just from a calendar standpoint, only a few short months ago and before the economy was turned upside down.

I guess I'm just concerned about being sued. I can't declare Chapter 7 because I make to much, or so I'm told, but can't make my monthly payments on the credit cards and keep a roof over my family's head at the same time.

Many banks have adopted policies recently to compensate for the economic turmoil already. Some, not so much. For example, Citi was quite staunch toward settlement percentages for the last several years. They adjusted to lower offers with time to pay and then re-adjusted with still the lower offers but took the 12 months to pay off the table just a couple weeks ago. They will re-adjust again.

One area I do not see them adjusting their current trends is on recent balance transfers or large cash advances.

Just an FYI, I have seen 6 months of payments after such activity get you over the software hump, come offer time. I have seen 12 months of payments be necessary to trip that switch.

Results may vary. Offer not valid in Guam, Puerto Rico or Kissammee FL.