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My journey for settlement

Date: Mon, 01/18/2010 - 10:48

Submitted by anonymous
on Mon, 01/18/2010 - 10:48

Posts: 202330 Credits: [Donate]

Total Replies: 29


I am starting my journey to settle my accounts on my own. I owe to Citi about 30K on two credit cards 60 days pas due. Chase 25K 30 days pas due. American express 8k 30 days past due.
So far I have been avoiding their phone calls and have not spoken to any one yet, any idea when it will a good time to talk to them shoud i take their phone calls?
I appriciate any help in this regard.


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.


lrhall41

Submitted by Melissa Denton on Mon, 01/18/2010 - 14:07

( Posts: 12 | Credits: )


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.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Fri, 01/22/2010 - 12:43

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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?


lrhall41

Submitted by on Mon, 01/25/2010 - 07:34

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Iessie Smith
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?


Short answer, NO. However, depending on your state, if you are sued and a judgment is entered against you, they could schedule a creditors exam, find out where you work, garnish if allowed, and simply depositing your $ into someone elses account isn't a failsafe. My opinion with Chase is that they ask questions about your employment situation in determining the benefit of filing a lawsuit...I think they are less inclined to file suit if your self employed. We were almost sued by Chase at day 70, they asked alot of questions about income, expenses etc...The person on that account was employed but had reduced hours due to budget cuts...We settled with the law firm for what amounted to 30% at day 75 or so...


lrhall41

Submitted by maggie22 on Fri, 01/29/2010 - 07:33

( Posts: 140 | Credits: )


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.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:40

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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


lrhall41

Submitted by on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:55

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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?


lrhall41

Submitted by on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 11:22

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[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]


lrhall41

Submitted by on Wed, 02/10/2010 - 07:46

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[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]


lrhall41

Submitted by on Mon, 02/15/2010 - 13:02

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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.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 07:01

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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!


lrhall41

Submitted by King Jabba Labba on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 17:52

( Posts: 507 | Credits: )


Quote:

Originally Posted by Iessie Smith
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 collection attorney for potential legal action.
I called and they want money to keep account current I can not pay.


If you can't pay then you can't pay. Let them know this. This is the first I heard of them threatening legal action so soon. My American Express is well past 180 days and they just keep sending it to other agencies.

I have had other cards tell me this but no legal action was taken.


lrhall41

Submitted by OZZIE69 on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 19:07

( Posts: 555 | Credits: )


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.


lrhall41

Submitted by Iessie Smith on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 19:20

( Posts: 13 | Credits: )


Quote:

Originally Posted by OZZIE69
If you can't pay then you can't pay. Let them know this. This is the first I heard of them threatening legal action so soon. My American Express is well past 180 days and they just keep sending it to other agencies.

I have had other cards tell me this but no legal action was taken.




Here's the thing with Amex, if during their initial calls they ask alot of questions regarding your income etc and depending upon your answers they may intend on filing suitI personally think if you're working they'll strongly consider filing suit vs. self employment situations......They sent our amex to their law firm of choice Zwicker around day 80ish, they filed suit shortly thereafter and it's pending...If you get a letter from a local law firm, demand arbitration right away in a letter to them...That'll stop any lawsuit before it's filed...I'd recommend doing some quick research to see if Zwicker has lawyers in your state, just do a search for zwicker and it'll show what states they have lawyers in, if not in your state you may be good to go and your account could then be simply shifted off to a regualr CA...


lrhall41

Submitted by maggie22 on Wed, 02/17/2010 - 08:51

( Posts: 140 | Credits: )


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.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Thu, 02/18/2010 - 16:50

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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.


lrhall41

Submitted by Iessie Smith on Tue, 06/08/2010 - 16:03

( Posts: 13 | Credits: )