stupid newbie requests opinions

Hi there;
Okay 4 years is WAY too long for settlement to be an option. You almost for sure will be sued by your creditors, and AmEx and Discover are definitely of the more aggressive type. I have an AmEx balance of $10K and they sent my account to collections after 90 days to an agency that is also a law firm. This CA/law firm was going to sue me if I did not agree to settle within 10 days. I ended up with a 55% settlement, payable in 3 payments.

It sounds to me like you would be better off looking at debt management. Debt management does not hurt your credit score and they will work with your creditors to lower your interest rate as well as minimum payment due each month. A really good non profit debt mgmt company is national is Greenpath. I think they have locations all over the country. (Also recommended by Suze Orman if that matters to you.) They have a good working relationship with creditors and almost for sure can get a great interest rate and repayment plan. I think most debt mgmt companies, at least the legit ones, try to get you out of debt within 5 years.

Another option you may want to try is debt consolidation. Your credit score is still pretty good so maybe you can get all of your debt combined into one lower payment. Banks are being more picky though now that they are hurting so badly, so you may not get the best deal there.

Whatever you decide this website has a ton of info from people that are in the process or trying to do exactly what you are so keep reading and I'm sure you will figure out what is the best fit for your situation. Good luck!

I agree that a debt management plan sounds right in this situation, particularly since you are paying 18% on your largest balance and 14-15% on the smaller balances. And you do have expenable income that you can afford to make payments each month, just not at these exorbanent rates.

Also, I'm not sure if my experience is telling or not (and I think this situation if fluid with CC companies getting more on top of the situation with each week), but when I tried to be proactive and call my creditors before I missed a payment, they couldn't or didn't offer to do anything for me. I think you really need to miss a few payments before they try to work with you. But I hope this is changing as they could get out in front of some problems if they'd work with people.

so, i should stop paying them? it goes against my principles, but if that's the best way to tackle this, i'll digress. also, i'd like more info on greenpath if anyone has any. i have a house with 2 mortgages that we can pay without issue, and we certainly don't want to lose it, though i think we have a homestead or something anyways.

also, my $600 figure could easily pay the discover and chase, as the payments are $80 and $196. then i would only default on one card(conveniently, the one i want to keep!). should i go that route, or just let them all lump into one?

have you called the credit card companies to see if they would lower your interest, or if there are any hardship programs that you might qualify for?

not yet.

thats what I would do, take 30 minutes and call all of the companies. You might be surpised!

i called amex. they offered no interest for 6 months, the 9% interest for an additional 12 months. the only downside is that i cannot use the card at all during that time. makes sense i guess, but how much is my balance really going to drop. i thought my apr was 17.99, but they said it was between 13-14%. plus my payment would still be about $800/month, which i don't have. still not sure if i should tank on all 3, or keep 2 good and tank on amex only.

post above was from me....apparently i get logged out everytime i close the window!!

they didn't have a way to let you skip one month to try and get everything under control? What did Discover and Chase say?

Can you cut your spending somewhere to make up the gap? You are very lucky to be offered that 0% interest by AMEX, I wish I was that lucky!

they didn't offer to skip a payment. it is a good deal, but with my balance, i'm not sure 18 months will do a lot of damage control. she said it would drastically help. i haven't had a chance to call the other two yet.

please let us know what they say ... you are in a position to be able to fix this yourself, the damage to your credit by defaulting can take YEARS to repair.

i forgot to mention that i also filled out a hardship form for citimortgage, for our primary mortgage. we can keep paying it, but i filled it out in hopes of them reducing something so that i can throw the extra money elsewhere(didn't mention that to them though!). the form said 10-15 days for a response time. i haven't heard from them yet, so i called today, and they said it's more like 45-60 days right now due to the economy.

i spoke with discover on my way home from work. we set up a 6 month plan where my payment stays the same($76), but the interest rate is 3.99. i cannot use my card during the 6 month period, and they automatically withdraw the funds from my checking acct on the 21st of each month for that 6 months. still need to get a hold of chase.

Be careful with Amex hardship programs. They put you in the program then close your account and send you to a collection agency!! Once they know you are in trouble they go after you.

thanks for the info. when i call back in a few weeks, i will question them on that, and get the answer in writing. according to them, i can't do anything until my billing cycle ends on the 11th.

Have you spoken to Chase yet? I was very happy with Chase and what they did for me to set me on my path to repairing my less than stellar credit!

not yet. i plan on calling them during my lunch break. what did they do for you?

my interest was over 30%, they reduced it to 9% and credited me back about a years worth of the difference in my interest amounts. My dad had been a 40 year customer and had passed away which is when I was in a pretty big depression and financial problems, Chase had been my only card for 15 years. They treated me very well in a terrible time in my life.

now, it seems as all i am doing is reducing interest rates. not really settling anything. even with the lower rates, it feels as though it will take forever to pay the cc's off. should i just ignore payments and attempt to settle when they call in a few months? mayeb everything could be taken care of in 2-3 years that way, as opposed to never.

email sent to CHASE:

I have a settlement proposal for Chase. My wife lost her teaching position in 12/08. We have been picking and pulling from different accts, trying to pay the various creditors we owe. I'm not sure if we will be able to make the minimums for all the accounts for the following billing cycles. We have a little savings left. My current balance is about $9,600. We would like to close the account and be marked as "paid as agreed." The amount we can spare to close the account is $2500, and we can do it in one lump sum. We hope that you accept the offer. It's really our only alternative, because if not, the $2500 will be spread to make minumums on all our cc's, and that won't last long. Then, unfortunately, we would have to go past due. We have had no issues with Chase bank, and in the future, when our financial situation is repaired, we would gladly consider banking with you again. Please let me know asap via email or my cellphone. Thanks for your time.

I am about to be late with my 3 Chase accounts, so I will be dealing with them soon, too. Did they respond to your email? How delinquent are you with them? (I apologize if you already stated that in an earlier post)

can your wife not find another teaching job? They are ALWAYS looking for teachers everywhere I have ever lived.

maggie: i am not delinquent at all yet. i just made my payment a day before sending the email. they responded with a telephone number to call. i don't think my offer is going to work.

smo65d11: not in the middle of a school year. sept would be the earliest.

maggie: i am not delinquent at all yet. i just made my payment a day before sending the email. they responded with a telephone number to call. i don't think my offer is going to work.

smo65d11: not in the middle of a school year. sept would be the earliest.

I see. Seems like you have to be pretty behind on payments before they consider budging, I hate the idea. They will probably offer you some hardship options like reducing or getting rid of interest and fees. I agreed to that with my Citi card, 0% (in place of 28.9%) for a year with no fees. It helps, but not enough in the long run. Will you call them? Please let us know what they offer you.

i plan on calling them at lunch time. i'm just going to come clean and state they can offer me no interest, but the money just won't be there to make the payment, so they can take the cash lump sum up front, or they can wait til it's 150 days past due, and at that point they'll probably settle for about $2k. might as well make it easier for both parties involved. we'll see what happens with that. if they bite, i can get to work on discover and amex. i will try to bully amex as well, but not settle....just get the apr they mentioned AND a payment i can afford.

I doubt they will do anything until you are 150+ days past due, but I guess you never know till you try

i also spoke with a nice woman at freedomdebt just to get an idea. awaiting numbers from them.

Well, good luck, I'll be checking back to see what happens. Hope you can work something good out :)

i called the number on the back of my chase cc. i asked to speak with the settlements dept. i explained my situation, and offered them $2600(27%) in one lump sum. she forwarded the request on and told me to call back this weekend to get an answer. i will call monday. if they bite, i may try the same thing with discover. i already agreed to a hardship with them, but maybe they will take a lump sum as well to just be done with it.

the only bad thing with chase is that she stated about the 1099(i knew that from here), and that they report it as "paid for less." i asked about "paid as agreed" but she said chase doesn't do that. still, if i can get it paid off for that amount and go to town on the other two......

got a response from fredomdebt.com:

Total unsecured debt amount = $53,899
Your total estimated cost (including our fees: 15%{$8085}) = $35,419
Your approximate savings = $18,000
Maximum Term of program = 42 months (versus minimum payments for 35 years, 3 months)
Monthly payment = $843 (current minimums = $1,127)


$843 is still too high for us right now. i'll just hope the chase settlement comes through.

Did you call Chase back? Did they go for your offer?

i called them back at lunchtime. they said they are backlogged, and to call back tomorrow. i'm really hoping they go for it, but not too optimistic.

i called them back again. they said the best they can do is 35%(about $3300). they reminded me there would be negative marks on my report if i did that as well.

i think my plan as of now is to keep all accounts open, and pay them down as i can. i have hardship packages into citimortgage for both mortgages. my goal is to have them reduce the monthly payment AND defer the next 3-4 payments. that will give me roughly an extra 1440 for the next 4 months to work with. i would just have to decide on who to throw that at....pay off discover in 2.5 months, or throw all of it at amex and get that payment down. chase would get the extra $600 i was going to spend if i went with a dmb plan, which would reduce that balance by $2400. hopefully citi will come through, and this won't be a pipe-dream!!!

It seems like your offer and the counter offer is close enough to work on a little further. Have you considered responding to them with a slightly higher amount in multiple payments spread over 6 months or so?

just spoke with amex again, as they told me to call back on the 11th. they said to call back tomorrow, as the cycle technically doesn't end until 12 am. anywho, i asked general questions about their hardship program. it is 0% for 6 months, and then 9% for an additional 12 months. as with discover, they automatically withdraw it from an account. i asked about 1-2 month deferral to catch up, and/or adjusting the payment amount due, and they said they don't offer either option. i know i won't be able to make the minimum balance, so i asked the person to change my contact number to my cell number, and my cell or email is to be the only method of contact. planning ahead for defaulting unfotunately. it is true that i am never home, so i didn't completely lie to him! i just dont want them bothering my wife...this is my debt.

i did read on cnn that amex is paying customers $300 and offering settlements to accounts that may default due to high balances. if they would take 10%(about $4k), i'd pull the money from my wife's school money(not attending right now anyways) and settle. then i could pay down chase and discover, and put some back into her school account.

i entered the program with amex. my first payment is $837. i paid $450 yesterday, and will pay the rest today. discover will pull out $76 on the 21st. i decided to not pay chase this month, statement not even closed yet, so technically not due til april, and wait for them, to call and offer to settle up. i'll offer 25% and see what they say. heard they won't go below 35%, but we'll try anyways.

Any update on the Chase settlement? Are you still waiting the 120 days?

It does look like you have some debt to deal with. My debts totaled up to 20,000 with BOA, school loans, and a silly Best Buy card. Luckily my friend was in a settlement business. Now I am down to only paying 325 a month for it all. They are located in Texas, but are able to help anyone. A more direct route is XXX-XXX-XXX. Maybe they can help. They have a lower cost for you because they are still new. Nice guys though. Hopefully you can relate to my experience. Give it a try.


solicitation deleted per forum rules --- mobile

update: i am officially 2 days late with chase. not planning on paying them, and waiting for the settlement call. as stated above, i am in programs with discover and amex. my mortgage company is allowing me to make 50% payments for the next 3 months, and then we will work a new payment plan that suits us better. now i have to decide what to do with the "extra" money from the mortgage. it's about $650 per month. should i put it all towards dicover and get the balance almost paid off, or should i throw it all at amex, and reduce the principal as much as i can as they are giving me 0% for 6 months. post up your thoughts on that please.

Jon, my husband and I each have cards with Chase that we are now 30 days, getting close to 60 days, late on. I have been getting calls from Chase about my card for the last 2 weeks. I have told them that both of our income's have been reduced and we have some dental bills for our daughter. They have only offered a hardship program so far. This was last week - now, since Friday 4-3, they have been calling me 7-9 times per day. I just spoke with them last week and, frankly, nothing has changed yet so I have chosen not to answer these calls. I figure they will keep calling and I will answer them within the next day or 2 but I am not expecting any settlement offers for another few months if what I have read on this board is any indication. I figure I will send them a settlement letter in a couple of months.
As far as your situation and the extra money you are able to save right now with your mortage - I don't think I would do anything with it yet except save it until you know what Chase will settle for. Remember, from what everyone who has done this before has said, they will most likely not even offer to settle with you (at least for a decent amount) until you are about 120 days old so you have a few months to wait it out. Keep us posted.

new update: i was offered a higher(much) paying position that i will start next month. i will be able to keep paying on all accounts without settling. my plan is to pay minimum on chace and amex until discover is paid off(few months max). then i will go to town on chace(probably over a year to pay off), while paying minimum on amex. than i can go to town on amex(several yrs im sure)....but my credit will remain ok.

congratulations on the promotion! Awesome news!