my debt settlement journey

Today I received a response from BOA. They offered $30K on a 50K loan. I am just going to hold out and see how it plays out.


Did anyone here about Wagner and Hunt Law firm as debt collector. I got a voice mail message from them. Has anyone hear dealt with them?

Thank you for detailing your settlement journey. I am not registered yet, but am in a similar situation and I appreciate being able to read about others journeys as well. It's so nice to know we're not alone, so thank you for sharing.

15% is not realistic for debt settlement. You need to come up with at least 30-40 % of the debt owed. I settled with BoA at 25% after 90 days. Chase 35%. Discover is bad to deal with. I had to hire a lawyer to deal with them, so far haven't heard anything yet.

Debtur,

I see your point. But I am trying to start with 15% so that I can settle at 30%. It is just a starting point. On the other hand, I have enough saved up to go upto 30%.

Did you have to settle any debt with Amex. They seemed to have sent my cc bill to a firm called, Wagner & Hunt PA. I have a got a few message but never talked to anyone. What is the usual percent settlement with Amex?

Can someone tell me the range of settlements for the above companies I have?

Today I had an offer from Chase bank to settle $7300 for $2255. At this point I am about 120 days late. I am trying to get this over with. I am willing to accept the offer at 31 cents on the dollar.

But the Rep promised to send the fax with the settlement letter. She insisted on paying for this eletronically, by routing number and checking account number. I am thinking of giving my business account for the same.

Is it safe for me do so? Is there a big risk in giving out my Business checking account number? Any thoughts and feedback greatly appreciated.

I recently settled a Chase account for 34% and was able to send a bank check. They wanted me to give them my banking account information as well but there was NO way I was going to do that. It may have been fine but I wasn't willing to take that chance. I wouldn't give them my bank account information if I was you...and I WAS!

How are negotiations going with Discover and Amex?

Glad to hear that you got 34%.

What is the risk in doing so? They cannot take any more money than what is authorized. All the conversations are on a recorded line. I am trying to understand what can go wrong. Am I missing some thing? I will not give any information, till I receive a written confirmation about the deal.

has been month or so since I visited this site I can share my story, short of long I had 18 CC accounts (between me and my wife)
6 x AMEX = $80k
2 x chase = $15k
2 x WaMu = $10k
2 x Discover = $10k
2 x Beneficial = $30k
2 x BofA = $27k
Citi = $10k
HSBC = $2k
stop paying all at once back in Nov '08 waited until my accounts were 120-150 days past due, settled all as follow:
amex 20-25%
chase 30%
wamu 35%
discover 25%
BofA = 25%
Citi = 30%
HSBC = 35%
I had hard time deal with Beneficial, thry did not wanted to talk about settlement in the first place then they told me they cab accept 80% finally I was able to get them down to 50% and since these were only remaining account I did not have settlement agreement in my hand I gave up and accepted 50%
an avarage I think it came out something around 31%
now I'm waiting another month or two to pull up my credit report to make sure they all reported as settled in full, and followup with those who didn't.
It is a good feelng to be debt free!

Great job on getting all those accounts settled. I have a similar number of accounts and am glad to see that it can be done. I am in the 4-5 month range on most accounts and still trying to save up some more funds.

Theknight~~

Re: "What is the risk in doing so? They cannot take any more money than what is authorized. All the conversations are on a recorded line."

Perhaps I'm being paranoid but I'm just sticking with what I've read that suggests you NEVER give a credit card company an actively used bank account. Yes, they record the conversations but how successful do you think you'd be in getting a copy of one of those recordings if you needed one??? My motto...better safe than sorry!

Joe777. This is VERY impressive! Congrats to you! My goal is to settle around 35%.

My situation:
* I've settled 4 accounts(avg 30%) and I'm at the 150-180 days past due mark on all cards
* Amex (owe $8K) only offering 55%
* Capital One (owe $10K) is offering nothing
* Discover (owe $4K) is offering nothing...claim they don't settle business debt (I owned an LLC business)

Questions for you:
* Was any of your debt business debt? If so did Discover ever tell you that they do not settle business debt?
* Did any of your accounts charge off?
* Were any of your accounts sent to a CA?
* Did you not make contact at all until the 120 past due mark?

Any suggestions on how to proceed with Amex and Discover (and even Capital One) would be greatly appreciated!

We settle Chase at 30k at 30%. We sent them a cashier check. HSBC was settled at 35% but we paid them electronicly. They fax us a settlement offer plus I'm in WI and WI has one party law - I can record ( I did ) conversation without notifying the other side. So I feel safe here.

Also and this is interesting. We settled BoA 20K for 6k- they faxed us settlement offer -, but due to some missunderstanding on my part I sent them a check and authorized payment electronicly. So they got paid 12K.
I almost had a panicked attack because these were the money for HSBC settlement. So I called BoA, they were very nice and they apologize for the mistake..., 2 days letter they sent the 6K back to our bank account. How nice is that?

And now were are debt free. feels great.

What address did you send your mail to for BOA?

Even if you send them a check....your routing and account numbers are on the check and if they are going to make an unauthorized withdrawl from your account, they can do so just as easily with the check you send them.

Not if you send them a cashier's check.

All thsse threads here are great and very helpful to me! Thank you.

One question: In order to tackle this debt settlement on my own I plan to have around $50K in cash and I have around $100K in unsecured debt. We are not late on any payments yet. Do we need to stop paying the minimum payments before they will negotitate the 35%-50% settlement we are targeting?

Thank you!
Oscar

This is true

When looking to do the debt settlement on my own I understand I need to be late making payments right?

Also - will any of the CC companies ask for income verification? On a balance sheet we have a lot more going out than coming in so we actually look insolvent. Maybe that is eough or do I need to worry about that? Do I tell them we are making the 40% of debt offer to all our debtors and we have limited cash so the first ones to take the deal get the cash? Is that helpful? Do I hint at Banruptcy as well?

Thanks!

Thanks for the update on the postings. I have one card left to settle-Chase for about $24,800. It is now about 55 days past due. I have offered them 35% but they are not taking it yet. They have countered so far with 80%. So, I am patiently waiting. I am anxious to settle and am trying to keep focused and patient. hard to do....

Ren1000,
- no we did not have had any business accounts all of them were personal
- none of CC were charged off, I think they are not going to be charged off if you do not allow them to be over 180 days off
- Yes, 2 Discover, 6 AmEx, Citi and HSBC went pretty quick to CAs. I think mainly because before I started process of working on settlement I did not think I have any other options then filling for ch.13 BK so I hired BK attorney month after stop paying min payments, I told all creditors I'm filling for BK and here is the law firm 800 number I think because of that AmEx sent my accounts to CAs within 1 month!
Since previously I never was late on any payments my score was around 750 :) which is ofcourse history now I honestly did not know I can work on settlements.
- I think above answer you next quesion I did contact them initially just to tell them F... off I'm filling for BK, like I said I did not know this is doable, then I start researching if I have any other options because I was afraid ch.13 5 yr plan won't work for me not because I would not be able to do this but because I did not wanted to be "at watch" for 5 yrs and secondly I have rather decent income and getting large bonus at the end of the year which increases every year I was afraid that although initially I would be schedule to re-pay 15% of what I owe in ch.13 over the 5 yrs period with increasing ncome I could be force to re-pay 50-80% of what I owe. Not the greatest deal to file for BK and pay back 80% right?
So Yes I start straching with attorney filling process and at the same time start calling CC and CAs to get filling what they can do, being in process of BK I think some how help because I had good story to tell that I either pay them back X in settlement or file for BK and they will get nothing, on the other hand I think there were instances where it did not help i.e. chase told me they cannot talk to me about settlement because my accounts are in BK dept. and I have to withdraw from BK process in order to deal with them, well at least I was buying some time.
all worked out for me pretty well

I am the original poster on this thread. 'Theknight'.

So far I am around 120 days late on all my credit cards. I have done 3 settlements.
1. Citihome - Balance $6300 - Settled for $1700
2. Amex - Balance $27000 - settled for $6000 payable in 3 monthly installments
3. Chase - Balance $7300 - Settled for $2525 in one installment

Outstanding -
1. BOA - balance $55K
2. discover - balance $8K
3. Citi Business - Balance of $21K

BOA offered to settle for 18K, but I rejected their offer. I offered $8000. Discover said, they will not settle. Citibusiness only offering around $9400, which I have rejected.

What should be my best offer for Bank of America? Any ideas as to what I can do to meet me with my offer?

Without going into all of the details, I believe BOA is largely responsible for my circumstances. While Disc. is the most annoying, BOA is probably the greediest of all and has my largest account. I've read the most information about them and it seems that 150-180 is when they will accept the best offers.

condgrads on what you have done so far! just hang in there, it will all be better when it is over but so far you are doing a great job!

Thanks for all your ideas.

Now I am close to 145 days late on Citi business card. I offered them $4500 on $20,000 loan. They rejected. The rep, told me to call back on September 22nd, when the next billing cycle comes in. He said, I may get a better deal.

From what all of your experience, what would is average percentage of settlement with Citi Business card? 20% or 30% or 40%? Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Quote:

In general what does this do to your credit score?

Some thing what iceberg did to Titatnic

Sugar sugar, why do you call BOA greedy, if all they want is the money you owe them.
I understand this site (god bless you all for helping so many people)
is all about getting out of debt, but I know you advocate paying what you do owe. If you use charge cards arent you obligated to repay

Hello All,

I have around 52K debt with Bank Of America. I have called them almost 20 times so far trying to reach a settlement. I am at 150 days late. It will go to charge off anytime now.

They have offered settle for $15K (which is at 30%). I have offered 8K. But they are not taking. All the Reps tell me that they are not allowed to discount any more than 30% because of OCC rules. Is this true? I feel like I have hit a stone-wall. Not making progress.

Is there anything I can do? Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

They will not take any more money than they are supposed to. The only reason I wouldn't give them my Banking information over the phone is because I want them to send me a letter first, with all the terms of the settlement agreement. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. You want them to post you account as PAID IN FULL or at least erase your late payments, collections, etc, from your credit report. Have this in writing AS PART OF YOUR SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT!! you don't want them to post it as SETTLED FOR LESS THAN OWED or simply leave all these late payment and collections there. Before you pay them, have them send you a letter with all these terms IN WRITING. Then send the check!

I completed settlement months ago with BoA at 25% all 4 accts balance 30K. They alos told me about OCC rule, but in the end they settled for what they can take. Be strong to your side. Make sure you have letter faxed to you before any payments. I don't think they report payment in full but hey.. who cares. As long as I'm debt free, that's the great relief!