A few general settlement questions
Date: Thu, 03/19/2009 - 15:58
2) Can you just settle one or two of your accounts, and continue paying the rest ? Or does this open you up to lawsuit?
We are trying to decide if we should go with debt settlement or just file Chapter 13.
Any advice is greatly appreciated !
Thanks !
Hi toomuchdebt2009, 1) 7 years. 10 is only for bankruptcy.
Hi toomuchdebt2009,
1) 7 years. 10 is only for bankruptcy.
2) Yes, and yes. But the other accounts may severely hike your interest rates and/or close your account when they get wind of it.
As far as DS or BK: that depends on your situation. How much debt? How much income? How many valuable assets (to determine that, can you sell it to pay off a debt?) If you have a home, do you have any equity?
chrys
Quote:2) Yes, and yes. But the other accounts may severely hike
Quote:
2) Yes, and yes. But the other accounts may severely hike your interest rates and/or close your account when they get wind of it. |
This is true. I went the debt settlement route with only 2 of my credit cards and kept another. My interest rate went up because my credit score went way down with debt settlement. I don't know if putting a block on your credit reports would prevent this or not though. Maybe someone could commit on that. I think you need to look at your complete situation and decide which is best for you. Debt settlement can be done by yourself if you don't mind doing the work yourself. There are quite a few companies that will do settlement for you but you need to be very careful when choosing. There are many more scams than not out there.
Good luck to you.
Chrys, Here is out situation: Husband has steady job, yearly
Chrys,
Here is out situation:
Husband has steady job, yearly salary is 87,400.
I work full time (@30,000 a year) but have recently have been diagnosed with Crohn's disease, so this has wrecked havoc on getting 40 hours a wee with Amex. Interest is 5% on these because they are balance transfers, and the accounts are still open. Not using them though. Have not inquired about hardship programs. Just missed our payments on these a week ago. 1st time late.
We have a 1st and 2nd mortgage and are upside down in the equity situation for our house. We bought 4 years ago.
We have 2 car payment (both current) no equity in the cars.
No assests or 401Ks that we can touch.
We have fallen behind due to the health issues, and really were leaning towards Chapter 13. However after reading all this information, I wonder if settling might be a better route.
It's just a matter of do we settle all the cc's (after doing all this reading, I am leaning towards yes)
Settling will allow us to stay in control of our finances.
we are going to speak with a chapter 13 lawyer and get his opinion also.
You advise or thoughts are also appreciated ! Thanks !
Chrys, Here is out situation: Husband has steady job, yearly
Chrys,
Here is out situation:
Husband has steady job, yearly salary is 87,400.
I work full time (@30,000 a year) but have recently have been diagnosed with Crohn's disease, so this has wrecked havoc on getting 40 hours a week. Also add diabetes into the mix. :-)
I may have to quit work or go part time eventually due to the health issues
Our CC situation is this:
Rough total of all unsecured debt 70K
BOA- 2 accounts - 23K on one and 1700 on the other (this small one is on our debt management program). Have not been able to work out any type of hardship program with them because the payment on the large one we couldn't handle. Have fallen behind 60 days on this account. they have mentioned settlement recently however I didn't ask specifics.
We have accounts with Chase, Citicard, Capital One, Citifinancial, First National Bank of Omaha, that are either enrolled in a debt management program (going on 5 months with this) or we are on a hardship program, the interest is cut and debt is scheduled to be paid off in 4 1/2 years.
Current on all these.
We have a Target Visa (these people are a PIA !) Balance around 6K. Behind 60 days.
We have 15K on two accounts with Amex. Interest is 5% on these because they are balance transfers, and the accounts are still open. Not using them though. Have not inquired about hardship programs. Just missed our payments on these a week ago. 1st time late.
We have a 1st and 2nd mortgage and are upside down in the equity situation for our house. We bought 4 years ago.
We have 2 car payment (both current) no equity in the cars.
No assests or 401Ks that we can touch.
We have fallen behind due to the health issues, and really were leaning towards Chapter 13. However after reading all this information, I wonder if settling might be a better route.
It's just a matter of do we settle all the cc's (after doing all this reading, I am leaning towards yes)
Settling will allow us to stay in control of our finances.
we are going to speak with a chapter 13 lawyer and get his opinion also.
You advise or thoughts are also appreciated ! Thanks !
usually when it comes to unsecured debt, most of us agree that s
usually when it comes to unsecured debt, most of us agree that settlement is best before bk. bk will effect your credit longer, and looks worse than "settled" on your credit report. also unless you are filing chapter 7 wich i hear is very hard these days you will still need to pay it all back and in settlement you only pay less than 50% of the debt and very quickly.
the key to having sucess with settlement is to save as much as you possibly can as fast as you can and settle as fast as you can. time is key.
Myonly advice is dont be afraid. WE have all been there its scary, but you will get through it!!!
If you try to keep some credit cards in good standing while lett
If you try to keep some credit cards in good standing while letting others go bad then the ones in good standing will start screwing with you. They will eventually do the following:
1. Move your current rate to a default rate of roughly 30%
2. Lower your available balance to whatever your current amount owed is.
They ususally do both together and without ever informing you even though they are supposed to inform you in writing. In my opinion it is really pointless to attempt to keep around a couple good cards if you are trying to let others default because of the above reasons. You are probably better off just to let everything go bad and then settle.
i agree let it all go for now and fix the credit later. you will
i agree let it all go for now and fix the credit later. you will be able to get cc, only the interest will be very high or like first premier will give you a low interest but only a 300.00 balance but you will have to pay like 150.00 in the begining to get it. but you have to start somewere. Im not suggesting you start there, but you will need to get some type of credit afterwards to rebuild. I had a little help i had a line of home equity loan (fixed so they couldnt jack it up) that i was current on throught the settlement process. then i got a f.p cc and would charge maybe gas on it once a month and regularly pay it off. they report to all 3 credit reporting agencies every month. I was thinking of canceling mine though becuase they charge me 6.00 a month to have it even if i dont have a balance so they can report every month that i paid something. so it stinks that i still have to pay them, but yet they are the only card that i have that reports monthly and continues to help my credit. expecially now that all my cc lowered available credit thanks to the economy making my debt % higher in return hurting my credit again. so much for good behavior right?
what are ya gonna do, ya know!