My journey for settlement

I personally think you should start taking calls and explain your situation. They will call less if you talk to them. Not talking to them can lead to hard ball tactics on thier part.

Hi there, and congratulations on your decision to eliminate your debt!

You can inform them of your intentions, that way at least they don't feel in the dark. Send any collection agencies a Cease & Desist, then either communicate solely via paper correspondence, or agree to contact them yourself on a monthly basis or something to update them and show them your willingness to continue being cooperative. In the meantime, start saving as much money as you possibly can, but don't ever let them on to how much you have! Pit them against one another when you start negotiating.

There are programs that assist you in your journey to DIY debt settlement if you are new to the concept or need guidance.

I finally took my first call from Chase, very nice lady. She was trying to get information from me to how much I make and what my expences are. She tried to get payment to out of me to make the account current. I told I do not have the the money. She said that I will get more late fee charged and my balance will get bigger and bigger. I told her sorry I have to pay other bills first to survive before making the credit card payment. Sje also confirms that I make less than what I have going out in bills and that she can not offer me a plan where she will lower the note. I told her I want to take care of my debt and avoid the BK.

It is so quite for now, CITI bank has been very quite. I am about 60 days past due with 30k loan amount and been with them over 12 years and never been late with them before.
I send an email to American Express stating the hardship the calls have stoped for now.
No more call from CHASE after talking to nice lasy.
I am wondring if they may be planing to sue me?

IMHO It's still too early to get a good settlement everyone with the exception of Citi gave me a good settlement offer at 120 days out.. Citi is my last one nad they wont budge from 45%.I cant do it.Im hoping for 35%..

They are not planning on suing you. This usally does not happen till 180 days or more in most cases.

Thanks You guys for the quick input.

Chase was quite for week but started to call again for last few days and I took the call today and said if I was able to make make payment today. I said I canot, due to the income. She ok that I will make a comment and that was it.

I have closed my bank account and have a direct deposit from my work to my wife's account. can the bank take money out my wife's accounts if the credit cards debt are not under her name?

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I am communicating with AX and Chase, but Citi is very quite. No calls from citi or mail. I am 72 days behind on 25K loan.
AX and Chase are asking for money to bring account current, should I call Citi myself how should I bring up the settlement?

how's the communications going with Chase, any settlement offers yet? I am just starting with my creditors. Chase called over 150 times during January; I recently spoke with a CS Rep and explained our hardship; the rep said Chase will call every five days to get a status update. Best of luck to you on your journey to being debt free.

Chase and AX call a lot, I have noticed that if you speak to chase then they will stop for few days and start to call again i guess to get the update. No settlement offers yet. Few weeks ago they asked me about my income and expenses and then they said they can not offer me the hardship program since I make very little.
AX do call a lot, for last few days they called every 20 minutes on all the numbers they have available. I spoke to them today and they try to get money out of me, I can not pay.
But I am very surprised by the citi not calls at all, i do not what is going on?
Thanks

Just spoke to CITI today may first call after 73 days past due. Very calm lady, I explained my situation she ok I will make a note of it and I will not receive calls untill the next two weeks.
Did not offer any thing or asked me to pay any thing. I just do not know when and how to ask for settlement.
Any advice?

Most will not even mention settlement until 150 days or more late. Don't ask yet. Just keep telling them your situation. An offer will come later.

[COLOR=black]Spoke to Chase rep today after few weeks, very nice lady. Explained her my situation, she actually showed sympathy, no offers said they may have some in house options in the future to lower my note and interest rate. I am about to be 60 days past due[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Hello, I got email from Citi it says my account will be closed if payment is not made before the next statement. I am 87 days behind. What does it means? I have also received a letter saying that they have sent my information to investigation department. Does any one know what to expect? I have some money saved for settlement and I owe about 30K.[/COLOR][FONT=Arial][/FONT]

Hello, I got email from Citi it says my account will be closed if payment is not made before the next statement. I am 87 days behind. What does it means? I have also received a letter saying that they have sent my information to investigation department. Does any one know what to expect? I have some money saved for settlement and I owe about 30K.

Most cards will close your account once you stop paying. This is normal. I cannot comment on them sending to investigation unit. Probably just a scare tactic.

I am trying to settle my account with Amex, I owe about 8K and I am about two months behind. Their letter received today says my account will be sent to 1 for potential legal action.
I called and they want money to keep account current I can not pay.

Good vibes to you on the journey to freedom.

Whatever story you decide to tell the creditors, stick to it.
Repeat it over and over again.

I never hid from the calls but before I decided to embark upon this journey I changed my contact telephone # to my cell phone #.

That way you have a record of who called you and you can assign a nickname to the number, i.e. Chase 1, Chase 2 etc. Believe me the creditors have call centers all over the U.S. and beyond. Once you receive enough calls then you have created a database in your cellphone.

I always returned their calls. tell 'em that you saw that they called and you wanted to return the call so they could update their records. It's a game. Do it over and over again.

Soon you feel as if you are in control and you ARE!
Then you can negotiate to the best deal for you.

Go for it and please let us know how you fare!

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Thank Ozzie69, I was on the phone for 45 minutes. He did not mentioned any thing over the phone that I will have to face Legal action. He tried to get money from when I said I can not pay then he tried to offer me CARE program. He did ask me how I wanted to handle the account, but I did not mentioned any thing about the settle ment. I told him I will see if my next paycheck if I am able to make any payment I will call to inform. He then said he will make a note of it and expect me to call on Friday.

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Called AX about their letter to send me to thier attorney for legal action. I told them I do not have the same income I can not pay and that I am in survival mode and I may end up filing for bankruptcy but I am trying to avoid it. She asked if I have spoken to any attorney I said no and when she could not get money out of me then she reffered me to debt consolidation company and gave me the name and address. I called them and they want the money from me to cover all the debt I wish I had the money.

I guess its time for update.
I have settled one of the city account at 39% Balance 7500 120 days past due
I have settled second city account at 36% balance 24K 130 days past due
I settled Chase account at 30% balance 24K 110 Days behind.
I have bank of America to go 13K balance and 120 days behind no offers yet.
I also have American Express account under business name but I am grantor on it the balance is 7100 about 160 days past due.
American express was sent to Zwicker at 90 days past due and I tried to settle but they would not come down below 60% so I sent them DV and ARB right away and it went to NCO. NCO tried to settle between 30 and 40% but would not give me any thing in writing so I also sent them DV and ARB I have not heard from since then, it has been almost two months no calls or mail, wonder what is going on.
Thanks for help guys this site is great.

Thanks for the update!

We all are very interested in your journey.

Sometimes they all go quite at the same time.
Othertimes they all are screaming for attention.

Congrats on the settlements.

Regards,
King "Kash" Jabba Labba

Citi will jump the shotgun to send your account to attorney. Be aware.

Bank of America you can get away with 25 to 30% settlement.