When is the right time and at what %

Quote:

Quote:

here is my experiance, all CC are pass due 90-120 days my settlements are as follow:
amex via CA - 20% (CA#1) and 25% (CA#2) - settled and paid
chase no CA involved - 35% - has not paid yet but have writen agreement
citi - right now 40% in 3 payments, possiblity of 25% working with CA
discover - 25% settled and paid
BoA - 40% in 3 payments at this time trying to get it lower maybe next month

and finally here is the worts part IDIOTS from HSBC Beneficial I have these credit lines (unsecured) total 100 days pass due they do not want to hear about settlement and if any they want 85%
last time I talked with HSBC I asked them if they would rather get some % in settlement then nothing if I file BK their respond was it is better for them to charge it off as part of BK then settlement, what a joke

I'm not quite sure who you mean the "OC" is, but the only two I sent validation letters was Capital One (Maybe you transposed? OC, CO) and American Express for my wife. I actually did not send the validation letters to the companies but rather their CAs.
***The CA for Capital One was GC Services. I've not heard back from them in 2 months nor from Capital One or any other CA for capital one. The reason I send the validation letter was because I read an article with a copy/paste style letter that said send this and force them to take off your credit. The problem I think is if GC Services stops and I have them take it off aren't I liable still to Capital One directly?
***The CA for Amex for my wife was an attorney/CA who just sent me back a copy of my most recent statement but nothing else. Oh yeah...then I also got a summons for court becausee they are pursuing a judgment so it seems I ticked them off. My wife has $150k in other credit card debt too. The reason we are in this mess is my stupidity in buying a business for 700k which is 75% gone at this point. My wife is probably toast and going to file bankruptcy or just do nothing since she is not working right now. I'm using her CAs as a testing ground. Anyway the test on Amex was that if you send the validation you get accelerated action. I can't risk that on mine because I assume I'd probably lose in court on most of them and just wind up with judgments and a BK for myself too. I'm hoping on settling and saving a BK for at least me.
I am going to start calling the credit card companies directly who have not been calling me. They might not have my work or cell # and only have called home. My wife can't take the calls so she just does not answer the home calls anymore so I really don't know who calls at home, but rather than have my wife go bonkers that is just what I've had to do. If I call and give them my cell # maybe I'll find out a settlement is waiting for me (no real mail settlement offers yet though). I'll let everyone know how that goes.
Yeah.....I've got about $135k owed. I left off RBS for $10k in my 1st post. I think 20% across the board might be unreasonable. I might have to rob Peter to pay Paul a little to get to 25 or 30% to get this done. I'm scared though because even if I do that I'm concerned that some are going to force me to settle for 35 or 40% (which would mean others need to be 17%=BofA hopefully). I'm just really concerned because I have such large $ on each that I'll get judgements. One judgment could do me in. I'm not sure what that experience is but I'm sure it is not pleasant. So I'm in this nice catch 22 that I'm sure many others are in too.....I don't want to risk not settling to get a judgment, but if I settle much more than 25% I won't have enough family help and/or money to get the job done. The other thing is the last thing I want to do is borrow $25k from family then still have 40k outstanding in judgments that BKs me. I'd be better off BK now and borrowing from family to get back on my feet. It is complicated but I'd like to avoid a BK. I'm an accountant so it is embarrassing.

I'll give updates. If anyone can help me or share their experiences I'd love the info, encouragement and hope.

Sincerely,
Ed

Personally I would be talking to a BK attorney...quickly.

Just for fyi to Joe777 I did tell WaMu Chase that all I could do is 25% or $1,500. I've told them that for 2 months and it has gotten me nowhere. They have just gone from $2,000 settlement to $2,050 ....basically 35%. My concern there is that if I start settling at 35% with Chase (or others) I'll run out of money and options. I've seen a lot of 35% chase offers like yourself Joe and mine. If anyone has got one lower than 35% with Chase or WaMu/Chase please tell me how and when.

Just for fyi RBS sent me a letter in the mail for a 50% offer a week ago. I'm at about 120 days with them.

Sincerely,
Ed

SOAPLADY - I have talked with a BK lawyer. That is how we came up with together the idea to save me, but we won't have enough to save myself and my wife. My problem is I make about 80k/yr. through working 2 jobs 65 hrs. per week (tough to see 4 kids/family). I'm above the Chapter 7 limits unless I foreclose on my house and which would probably make my business debts higher than my nonbusiness debts which then allows me to not have to pass the means test. Most of my income comes from the business I bought which for the most part has two main clients. If one of those two go, then the means test won't be a problem after a while.

I've trained up a supervisor for the business and I'm hoping on giving up my 2nd job and opening up an accounting firm to hopefully increase my income to 120k and maybe I can work through this without a BK, but BK is certainly an option unfortunately. Where I'm at with things though I'd really want a fresh start which is a Ch. 7 not the other one. That requires a foreclosure, moving, and then a BK if my attorney is right. I'd hope to avoid that all if I could.

Sincerely,
Ed

by OC I meant original creditor, I agree on this one with SOAPLADY if you are sued or have not enough funds to settle I would do BK and get it over, I actually went down this path myself first thinking there is no other way and hired BK attorney back in January my case internally within this law firm is pretty much done and they want to file to court but I also realized there is another way out "settlement" which I'm doing for last 1,5 month talking to this people. as a metter of fact just got letter from attorney's office leting me know my case needs to be close because I'm delaying last filling payment and will need to pay $100 to reopen my case plus any additional fee needed to file
This is true that I have purposly delayed because if I can do settle I do not wnat to file BK.
short of long I always can pay $100 to reopen case and file they have all or most documents needed so in case of failure of my settlement effort I can move quickly with BK but I do not want that for simple reason I'll be atched for 5 years and I know with my decent income which potentially base on historical data can and most likely will increase 10% annually I'm afraid of paying back all or close to all of my debts. so I rather settle them now for 30%
That's my story so inany case if you cannot afford settlement then don't do it you'll be in better shape if you keep funds you have as emergancy and file BK, you will need this money for next 5 years

Is there a way to start the BK process like it seems you did Joe and reference that to the creditors to show them you are not messing around? Does it help at all? My attorney said he'd be happy to help consult on settlements or I can even write letters which he'll put on his letterhead (after reading for reasonableness) to try to save me his fees and help me.

While right now I can count on 25k to help me towards settlement, my father is still fairly wealthy (not loaded though) and retired. He can't risk losing too much or he'd have to come out of retirement, but if I could show him that I've got a stable income (not quite there yet) he'd probably help me get it done.

If I get nice settlement letters here all quickly I'll spend whatever I have 1st before borrowing from family. Then if I get most of the others ready to settle I can show I'm pretty much there and get out of this whole mess. I'm still hoping this forum can help me have the guts and knowledge to get low settlements % to make it workout. I realize there is not super consistent treatment but hopefully talking to others will help.

For instance yesterday I saw someone settle Advanta for 40% on day 147. I'm at day 120 now and they have been threatening to turn me over to litigation at day 120 unless I pay $620. I'm holding out until at least day 147 becuase that $620 is needed for settlements and not payments. It gives me hope that Advanta will eventually settle.

I'm sure there are people who know lot more then me as I'm new to this as well and there potentially are legal implications when you tell creditors you filling BK so you have to be careful what you telling them I read somewhere that if you tell your BK you are filling BK and then be the time you aquire more debts they will use this against you as fraud, once you know you cannot aftord paying you creditors you should not pay anything using credit cards or loans, this is fraud. I'm sure there is more what you cannot do...
as far my case I think it help in some instances but actually did not help in others, it did not make it worst but hasn't help i.e. I think it help when I deal with CA because I made it clear I have large debt and all I can afford is 20% settlement or I will have to file BK and at this point I was telling them here is my attorney phone number and case number. I could afford 25% avarage but I left myself some space since they will try go over what you offering. I think this help, where it did not help is original creditors because they put stemp on my account "in process of BK" and have not contact me regarding any settlements, so I had to call and tell them I'm not filing BK after that they moved my accounts from BK to collection dept

I'll follow the ..here is my BK attorney's phone # but I'm not filing yet approach because I'm hoping to settle. Maybe that will achieve the best of both by not going into there BK dept., but allowing them to know I'm serious. I'm going to tell them though that he is currently retained on a consultation base only though so he may not talk with them and still talk with me directly.

I'm definitely not creating anymore debt! (Not that I could anyway....all cards are maxed or they lowered to current limits to make them maxed out). My attorney told me the same thing. If I acquired more debt at this point that portion of debt would probably be seen as unforgivable.

Again, I'm hoping to settle so I don't want to go down learning all about BK just yet, but I still appreciate the tip. The only BK question I think I have is whether my attorney is right....if you have more than 50% business debts does that really qualify you to avoid the means test and file a business/personal CH. 7. (Again, I'd have to foreclose on my house to get there=can't sell it because it is underwater, but if I go the BK route, then that is what I'd have to do).

As I settle I'll certainly share my results. If anyone else has info on their settlements on Wamu/Chase Chase, Capital One, Bank of Amer, Juniper, RBS, Advanta, Discover (Boy I have a lot of them), that would be great.

I'll say this again my experiance is that I can get relatively low setlement with CAs 20-25% regardless which OC it is for.
They all starts with as high as 50-60% but when I said all I can afford is 20% they will do it or they will do 25% discover was giving me for a while that they have to stay in their avarage and cannot do less then x whatever that means to them b/c when I asked how do you calculate your avarage they couldn't explain to me, I also was getting crap like "we can do setlement today for 25% we might not be able to do it next month b/c our avarage will change" this is crap they can do this, once you get to feel them they can do 20-25% you can get same next month, which in my case was important since I could not pay all same week.
chase/wamu/boa/citi they will do somewhere around 35% possibly in 3 payments over 3 months, I'm still wondering if I could get better deal if I let it go to external CA.
my bigest pain is hsbc I cannot get them to cooperate, sounds like they are not extending any offer and keep collecting late fees and interest and becase in my case I own them close to 30k and % is highest from all of them I'm being hit with extra $600 interest every month, accounts with hsbc beneficial are 100 days pass due and already suspended, anyone have any experiance with these people

I have been telling my creditors that my wife and I are hoping to avoid bankruptcy, but if it comes to that, we would do it. I do think one has to be very careful about saying that you are going to file. American Express has been very coy about the conversations, telling me to just send them my attorney info....I always respond to that by saying that we want to try to settle before pursuing BK. I am coming up on 120 days past due on Citi bank cards. We are both totally on disability payments now, and all but AMEX (Citi, BofA, Target) have stopped calling completely....this was after I sent letters explaining the situation. It's kind of funny really because it looks like I am going to have to poke them a little to get things rolling.

here is my issue with this where it is OK when they do not call you you have to remember this is not going to disappear on its own, late fees and interest is adding up to balances and sooner or later you have to take some action or they will do it by taking some sotr of legal action. Is it possible to still do settlement when you already have summons in hand? I do not know but what I know I do not want to do try-out on my own body so I'm trying to settle before it gets to it, so to be honest I'm ondering when they do not callat all because I have no idea what their plans are.
I took similar approch with exception we did hire attorney for our BK and providing this info if requested but we real do not want to do this unless settlements won't work and we are forced into BK... so far looks like we should be able to settle all

The companies would prefer that you not file chapter 7 BK, there is no doubt about that. They get absolutely nothing in that scenario. If they see that as a very real possibility, I would think you have a decent bargaining position. I am not a lawyer or a negotiator, so take anything I say as just a personal opinion.

in my case I would be filing ch 13 I'm not qualifying for 7 so they will get approx. 10% what I owe today over 5 years period at least this is what I can tell from looking on my petition, it is kinda strange because I have this one creditor HSBC Beneficial who do not want to talk about settlement I owe them about 30K slightly less and I told them if I cannot workout settlement in range 20-30% I will have to file BK and they will get nothing or close to nothing base on my petition numbers, they keep saying if they do settlement on these accounts (2) with me they will not accept less than 85% it is crazy sounds like they do not care I was trying to care this conversation ove rso I can better understand why would they not want to get some % vs nothing and they say it is better for their books to show charged off in BK thsn settled.
I do not get it?

I have mixed thoughts on your post.. i mean i know you have a lot of debt, but is there any way you can consolidate within the creditors? reason is that , like you said. they will want you to pay payments that are tough to meet and you still got to pay 4 people and put food ont he table and pay for your house, power and other bills.. if you had the money to pay it all, you woldnt be in this spot..

when is the right time? well its all a gamble on how long you can go and how long you can wait. If they sue you, then its a lot different then if they offer a settlement.. i got an offer for 70% or .70 to the dollar.. and its a great offer, but i cant afford the payments they want @ $3318 for five months, so i have to gamble again and might try to wait one more month to see my new offer/ option.. i could shoot myself in the foot but it is what it is and i am limited on income.

I have mixed thoughts on your post.. i mean i know you have a lot of debt, but is there any way you can consolidate within the creditors? reason is that , like you said. they will want you to pay payments that are tough to meet and you still got to pay 4 people and put food ont he table and pay for your house, power and other bills.. if you had the money to pay it all, you woldnt be in this spot..

when is the right time? well its all a gamble on how long you can go and how long you can wait. If they sue you, then its a lot different then if they offer a settlement.. i got an offer for 70% or .70 to the dollar.. and its a great offer, but i cant afford the payments they want @ $3318 for five months, so i have to gamble again and might try to wait one more month to see my new offer/ option.. i could shoot myself in the foot but it is what it is and i am limited on income.

34k 120 days as of 3/25-Bank of America MBNA No % yet (I called them and just updated my phone # so hoping for good settlement %)

10k 129 days - Chase has offered 50%
6k 162 days -Wamu 35% Phone Offered-I said 25% 3/25 & they said they would put that in as offer on the Chase & the Wamu both & let me know 4/1=Sounded like progress.

10k 32 days Barclays/Juniper (Not old enough yet)

17k 153 days Discover-$2,000 fee waiver + 5yr repay @1%
17k 140 days Capital One-$2,000 fee waiver + 5yr repay @ 1%. I finally talked with them and I think they put me on 1% repay hardship program which I never agreed too. I need to be off this program to try to get settlement % before charge off. I guess when I miss next week

10k 156 as of 3/25 RBS offering 50%

14k 0 days Bank of America business card. They just sucked $1,600 out of business account per agreement. I hope I can pay my reps next week! Need 4k A/R to come in BAD!

130+/- days late = Got a 25.1% offer from Bank of America today. I'm hoping for 17% since that is my biggest credit card and I've heard they go to 17%. I'm not going to mess up the current offer but I have to try.

170 +/- days late = Chase and Chase/Wamu got 26% (really 25% rounded up on $) approved, but I have yet to get the written acknowledgment. For those others out there with them it seemed like I was offered 35 to 50% for months but then upon a call directly to chase I was rushed up to a senior mgr. or something who officially put in the 25% request for all Chase accounts. I'll be more happy when it is done.

170+/- days late RBS said 40% might be doable instead of 50%. I came up from 25% to 29% and then when they did 40% I came up to 35% without an agreement. I did get the permission to request a special settlement offer below their 40% "minimum" offer. I probably stuck my foot in my mouth with the 35% because I was getting nowhere, but I'll stick with that and hope it gets approved. I might have been able to get lower but I did not get the "special" consideration until I came up to offer 35% and once saying I could do that I doubt they will take less.

165 days +/- late Discover = Man they are tough! No settlement offers, but just fees. Since having the RBS experience I've been asking for special settlement offers and offering to fax in my info which unfortunatley has lots of debt, liens and even missed mortgage payments (good for debt settlement proof of pathetic situation though!). When doing this they said they would consider 60% but that Discover stricktly won't take settlements anymore. I'm faxing them a 40% offer. I wish were less. If anyone else has a better idea or a lower settlement with Discover please comment!!!!!

150 days +/- late = Capital One = Man are they tough. Still at no better than 80% with them either. Let me know your thoughts guys/gals.

Barclays/Juniper = still less than 60 days late.

That is my update. I'd certainly like feedback from others on if they are getting higher or lower settlement offers and at how many days late. Thanks.

Get all your cash out of your credit line before they pull it. And they will. This just happened to me so don't let it happen to you

Family Fightin Guy,

Well it is long too late for getting cash out. All my credit cards reduced my credit lines a long time ago to whatever balance I had with them. In fact before my utter business collapse when I was hopeful of repaying normally it was darn annoying that just when I made a little headway to have a little better % debt to credit line (to slightly improve credit score) the companies would drop the credit line so I was maxed out again. I guess I can't blame them though because now I'm close to BK and if they had given me more I might have taken it. My credit is shot at this point though anyhow.

Just for fyi though FFG, my bankruptcy attorney tells me that we should not take cash out becuase that can be non-forgivable in bankruptcy. I for one if I go want to go Ch. 7 and have a totally forgiven fresh start so I personally would not take $ or add debt at this stage anyway.

I'm of course still hoping to avoid the whole BK thing. I've had some pretty good progress with some. The others (Discover and Captial One) won't budge on settlement much from what I can tell but they do offer favorable terms so that I might be able to tough out small payments and see if things turn up. I'd really like to be CC Debt free though. HELP on Discover and Cap One and Barclays experiences would be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Ed

I'm very much interested to know Joe777's settlements, esp Discover,from what i read from other posters,they're really having a hard time working with DS.How long were you past due with DS? me and my husband have abt 23k with the, Amex @20,Chase @ 26k, us bank at 12k..Im a newbie :) here, can you share some info like how long were u past due before u settled?Thanks in advance..also, has anyone had setlement with USBank?can u tell me how much they settled?will greatly appreciate your advise.thnks!

I'm very much interested to know Joe777's settlements, esp Discover,from what i read from other posters,they're really having a hard time working with DS.How long were you past due with DS? me and my husband have abt 23k with the, Amex @20,Chase @ 26k, us bank at 12k..Im a newbie :) here, can you share some info like how long were u past due before u settled?Thanks in advance..also, has anyone had setlement with USBank?can u tell me how much they settled?will greatly appreciate your advise.thnks!

I'm very much interested to know Joe777's settlements, esp Discover,from what i read from other posters,they're really having a hard time working with DS.How long were you past due with DS? me and my husband have abt 23k with the, Amex @20,Chase @ 26k, us bank at 12k..Im a newbie :) here, can you share some info like how long were u past due before u settled?Thanks in advance..also, has anyone had setlement with USBank?can u tell me how much they settled?will greatly appreciate your advise.thnks!

sorry for the triple posting, u can tell im really a newbie..this darn computer! :)

Has anyone gotten lower than 25% with Bank of America lately. I was told effective March 1st they had a strict "NO" to under 25% offers. I wanted to see if they were pulling my leg.

My wife owes $77,000 and I owe $32,500. My previous plan was to just save me and let my wife file but if I can pull off a miracle taking out my wife's debt of $77k would go a long way towards possibly saving her from bankruptcy.

I'm hoping for no more than $20k to settle both. Both accounts are 155 days late. Anyone get less than 25% since March? How did you do it? I've already faxed in a hardship letter which is what got me from 30% to 25%. Even getting the 20k is not easy and requires a lot of robbing Peter to pay Paul and/or borrowing from family. $28k which is what they want is unreachable :(

I charge off at the end of May according to the guy I talked with today. I wonder if May #s will come below 25% or if it won't matter.

Just for those who are searching:

I got 8k settlement on 16,800 with Discover (hardship fax technique)

25% on two accounts with Chase (over the phone direct with Chase.....I had a real hard time getting it officially approved after I was told it was approved because Chase had to sinc with the two different collection agencies = apparently they usually don't settle directly when they have already turned it over to CAs but in my case they did with super manager request)

40% with RBS

50% with Advanta (It was never offered with Advanta even thought the attorney said it was offered, but it was settled throughattorney after 140 days at 50%)

I've got 25% approved with B of A but I really need the 17 or 18% there since that is the biggie (especially if I'm going to try to make any attempt to save my wife too).

Capital One = Can't seem to get anything even at 160+ days.

Barclays = Can't seem to get anything but only 90 days old.

My wife has been offered 58% discount on her HSBC just for fyi as well. That one is close to charge off.

That is my official status update. My big question for you out there is have any of you gotten better than 25% specifically with Bank of America lately?

has been a while since I visit this forum so here is my status... re: ryans question about discover I guess there is no pattern what deal you can get from particular creditor, i.e. in my situation AMEX, DISCOVER and CITI sent my debts to external CAs right after I was 30-60 days pass due do not ask me why they just did, whan I called these creditors directly they refer me to CAs in my case this turn out good for me because I was able to get them all between 20-25% on the other hand I'm reading here and there that other people can get 25% directly from BoA or Chase and although I'm 120-150 days pass due they still manage these cards no sign of sending to CAs and cannot get lower then 35-40%

ED-how long were you past due with Discover when they offered you the 50% settlement?--you settled directly with DIscover and not with CA, right?What abt Chase, how past due were u?THNKS