US Bank "Good Faith" deposit required to submit settlement request?

That sounds very strange to me as well. I would be wary. Its very easy for them to take a payment and then offer some ridiculous settlement or terms.

Tell them you would want a settlement in writing before you make any kind of payments.

i absolutely wouldnt do it, I have heard of way to many stories on this forum were they withdraw the settlement agreement or say it never happend.

Has anyone settled with US Bank? They are too asking me for a "good faith" payment before a settlement can be submitted.

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I wouldn't do it either, no way! I've had collection agencies ask for the same thing, a good faith payment, my answer was hell no!

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Any payment on the account can change the status, so no I would not either.

i just finised settling with US bank for $5000 fo $20,000 in debt. At first they wanted me to make a good faith payment just in order to be able to submitt an offer...so i kept saying no. Then after 6 months they told me that they would write me off...and i held firm with a $4000 offer. so then the next week (after being told i was getting written off) a "write off" guy calls me...tell me about how irresponsible i am etc etc. so i offered him the same $4000...and then he went on to say "there is no way the management will accept $4000...." and then he counter offered at $5000...so i took it. there you have it...settled for 25 cents on the dollar. but you have to do it right as you are getting written off. you cant do with with the normal delinquency department.

I just settled for $7000 on over $19,000 with US Bank. They have the 'nastiest' people on the phone of any company I've dealt with. They were always wanting a Good Faith pmt, too, but DON'T DO IT!

I was talking to my Mom about my messed up finances (no job in 1 1/2 yrs) & she had a CD coming up that she gave me. I offered it to them & they said "No way", I needed to submit an offer and a Good Faith pmt. I said Mom would send me the money and I could walk into the local branch and pay the $7,000 in cash before the due date they had given me for the Good Faith pmt. I was going to offer to another company, & all of a suden they thought the $7000 was just fine. Made the agreement on a Thurs (the day Mom cashed her CD) and paid it on the following Tues. Done deal. Yay!

Mostly you can't let yourself get flustered by their telephone people. It's their job to 'get to you' in some way so you will agree to their terms.

I have mixed feelings about the US Bank process.

Background: Nearly $8K balance, with $180 minimum payments every month. Haven't paid anything since May. Called in October to ask for a settlement that'd I'd pay lumpsum end of February. Rep said they couldn't set anything agreements up that went beyond 90 days into the future. Tried to get me on a "program" to pay about $150 a month and they'd erase late fees, etc. Said, no thanks, I'll just call back in December to talk about the settlement again since the 90-day window will be in play then.

I did just that. Offered $2,200. Told them my hub's all-commissions job means I'm not able to commit to flat monthly payments like they offered before. Told them I could give them my tax refund.

They said they'd get back to me in 2-3 days. They did. Said YES! (I was a little shocked.) Thought they might have counter-offered, but then I realized my account was set to go to collections the very next day, so there really wasn't time for them to argue with me.

So here's the kicker.

Lady on the phone said I needed to still pay something this month (and each month I think) to keep the account current so it wouldn't charge-off. Wanted me to pay something that day, the 15th. Told her I didn't have anything to give her until two weeks (next payday). She said OK, that they just needed to have something on file, that she could postdate the check so it wouldn't process until the 31st. Naturally, I was skeptical, but she assured me over and over that it wouldn't happen until the 31st...that they just needed to be able to see in their system that something was lined up.

So what a surprise to find they processed the check that very day. My bank took the funds out on the 17th and I got hammered with overdraft charges.

Called US Bank and told them I was very upset about what happened. They said to fix it (refund it until the 31st), I had to submit a copy of the cleared check and a copy of my bank statement showing that it truly processed. This, even though she said she could see in THEIR system that it processed. Apparently that wasn't proof enough.

So what a pain...

Just sent the info off tonight. We'll see how long this takes. Probably until the 31st - ha - when it was supposed to go out anyway.

*sigh*

They did say these monthly payments, by the way, will go toward the settlement amount. At least there's that...

Do not ever send in a "good faith payment". It is a trick to reset your account so they will have another 6 months to add late fees and interest to your account and more time to harass you. I just settled with US Bank for about 30% of the original debt. Stand firm and tell them that you are not comfortable sending in any money until you have a letter in your possesion stating that your account will be settled for the amount agreed upon. Initially I found the people at US Bank to be extremely rude, but I persisted being kind and eventually they were really nice to me. All of a sudden the good faith payment wasn't an issue and they submtted a settlement for me while I was on the phone.

Debt1111111: about how long after your last payment were you able to settle? Did you have to bring up the topic of settling or did they?