What's in your Wallet?

Yes, but according to your other post you totally destroyed your credit rating by not paying anyone! Hows that workin for ya?

Credit can be repaired quite easily over time. No need to be a snide deleted about it.

Good for you King!

I am not being a snide ----! King posted that he decided not to pay any of his creditors in another post! That is bad advice and here it is not condoned! Yes credit can be repaired, not easily, after about five to seven years! That is seven years of being turned down for a job, a professional license, insurance, an apartment, a mortgatge and being harrassed by collection agencies! Before you start name calling with the moderators on this forum get your facts straight!

I would rather have a low credit score than be a slave to credit card companies.

Don't use your credit cards irresponsibly and that won't happen! If you do, pay what you owe or suffer the consequences! Nowhere on this site will anyone condone stiffing your creditors. If unfortunate circumstances like job loss or health issues cause you to lose control there are consolidation programs! It is better to make an attempt than to walk away! You can't walk that far. No credit, no life! That is fact! Been there, still there!

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He stopped paying credit cards altogether and the settled with them as opposed to contacting them first and trying to work out a settlement agreement! That is the way I read it! I did the same thing once when I lost my job! It destroyed my credit for years! What happens typically is a person enters into a settlement agreement and they take a hit! Then there is one or two that they thought they could afford and they couldn't. Those in my case went to attorneys and I got a judgement against me! Consolidation is much a better option in my opinion! Note that this site is called debt consolidation care not debt settlement!

Yes, but this forum is called Debt Consolidation, DEBT SETTLEMENT, Debt Management. Many have did the "atom bomb" method and were successfull. Of course, the credit score suffered. As long as you know that going in and have no other options this course must be taken.

There are always better options! Communication is key! He had a 700 score! He could have easily consolidated his bills!

I gotcha!! Mine was also 700 but could not afford minimums and consolidation was also impossible due to payment amount. We all have our own circumstances.

I agree with Frogpatch. Why destroy your credit to such an extent? There are so many other ways to go about it! It seems to me that the OP had a rather flippant attitude about it from this and other posts and frogpatch responded to that. Just because a method is successful does not make it right....heck, there are some who purposely go out and create debt so they may sue a collector using the laws in ways they were never meant to be used and making us all look bad. That certainly shouldn't be done, even if it does work!

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I was the one accused of being a snide p---k! You did what you thought was your only option! I did the same thing myself! Looking back I see that it wasn't! It was just the easier short term! Live and learn! I am unemployed again years later and guess what? I never took out anymore credit cards after that so now nobody is hounding me!

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Cash is King, "King"!!!!!!!!!!!!!:p

well i do agree that settlement has a a hit on your credit score but i would also like to highlight the amount of money you save in the settlement process you get a significant reduction in the debt amount .and what else can we do if we cannot afford to pay our bills on time even then it is going to effect our credit scores paying the minimum each month wont get you very far and the amount of money you lose is another concern . all of us have our own individual opinions and acc to me i feel that debt settlement is better it may have a negative impact on your credit scores but that can always be rebuilt again the money that you lose cannot be got back all you can get is another loan that you would think of consolidating a few month down the line again

frog i gotta agree with others. isn't this the debt settlement forum? did he not settle in one form or fashion?

gotta wonder how you are a mod with the posts you are displaying here.

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Wow. I am flabergasted at the tone of this thread. First of all, a bk will stay on your credit report for 7 to 10 years depending on which chapter you file. Debt settlement becomes almost non existent on your score after 2 years if you rebuild your credit with your car and mortgage and maybe one secured credit card. So the thought that you done for 7 to 10 years is bologna. You can't get a mortgage for 3 to 4 years if you file bk. With settlement you only need to be 24 months from last late payment.

Second, most people who are at this stage are thinking bankruptcy. It is much better for the credit card company, the economy and the debtor to settle a debt for 30% then to default completely or file bankruptcy. If you want the banks to be healtheir, then you better hope more people settle than file bk.

Let's also look at the responsibility of the credit card companies. I did contact them when they tripled my interest rates to 30% (which tripled my payments) and told them I could not make those payments but if they put it back to where it was I could. They said NO. Not only once but I must have called each of them 4 or 5 times requesting some help. They did not want to do it because my score was in the 700s and they felt I would pull the money out of my bottom or something. Well sorry folks your choice is now A. I file bankruptcy or B. You take 30% of the balance and call it a day.

Also, not everyone has the debt from fancy vacations and other junk. Some of us used them to run businesses that actually employed people. When lines of credit get cut so do jobs. So if you are wondering why you can't find a job frogpatch you might want to think about the fact that bankruptcy filings are way up and banks won't loan money to small businesses who could employ you.

As for debt consolidation, what a joke. I don't care what your credit score is, once they see you have a debt to income problem you are done. They won't loan you the validation for your parking spot to see them. If you think that credit score is all that matters when applying for a loan you are so so wrong. They also look at your debt to income ratio. So even though the score is 700, if your income went down 70% like mine did, no one is going to loan me money. They see the bk writing on the wall.

Sorry a little long, but a little fired up.

Everyone deserves a 2nd chance!

Wow!!! I can't believe this thread...I totally full heartedly second everything Debt Free To Be says. We too are small business owners, with a family of 7 who 3 are very sick people that have tons of medical problems, both our businesses were SLAMMED in this economy...none and I repeat NONE of our debt is other than business and complete survival.

Congrats KING!! Way to go!

And I also agree with the guest..everyone deserves a 2nd chance and sometimes a 3rd and 4th...don't judge.

Best of luck with all that everyone is trying to do..and btw, just paid CHASE our settlement...one done 4 to go....

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Hi people this thread is just getting more fun and i am sure this is the best ones ive enjoyed posting since this is a very sensitive and a never ending topic which is better the bottom line is debts are bad how ever i will take this opportunity to high light the pro and cons of both debt settlement and debt management and a self repayment plan


lets start for the people who are not that bad self repayment plan would be the best this has a positive impact on your credit score and you basically just pay you bills on time each month and don't let your credit build up
then the next thing is a debt management also sometimes referred to as credit counseling this is for people who are current on their debts but are falling behind or going to fall behind because of the sudden rise in interest rates. you can hire some debt management company to negotiate on the interest rates and get them to under control or you can do this your self this has a positive impact on your scores or in some cases a neutral impact
then comes a debt settlement this is for those people who cannot afford the payment and have already fallen behind on their debts and on negotiating with your creditors your debts are slashed down by around 50 cents on the dollar you can get a lower or higher percentage of discount depending on the kind of negotiation you can do this via a settlement company or a lawyer or even by your self this has a negative impact on your scores
the last but not the least and we all dont like this however it is the ultimate step bankruptcy and we all know what this is very well.
correction are welcome people and so is advice

In a perfect world none of us would be in debt, but we are!!!!!!
What ever reason who cares!!!! Maybe a few just overspend others have lost their jobs or became ill! After a major illness (I TG to have survive) I can no longer work!
Citibank say we don't even qualified for a hardship plan, not enough income! I would like to settle but so far their offer is out of range! Just becasue we can't pay our debt does not mean we are deadbeats! My husband is a Vietnam vet, now retired from the military!
Life is not perfect, we make good choices and bad! Anyone who at least try and settles deserves credit for doing what they think is right!!!
Credit scores are overrated, my brother went through BK 2 yrs ago and just bought a new home! He was a police officer for 24 yrs and then injury in the line of duty!
He lost everything when he couldn't pay his bills so he had to file BK.
Most banks will look at your credit history NOT one bump in life's loooooong journey!!!!!!!!

hey guest 123 you are right all off us do come into hard times this is the journey this post also reminsds me of a line of sylvester stallone in rocky nothing on this earth can hit you as hard as life but in the end it is not how hard you have been hit it is about standing up and gettin back on your feet it is true credit scores have been over hyped basically people who have learnt their lessons go forward with cash quoting king jabba labba "cash is king " . wait for some time and citi will offer you a settlement or you can always use a debt settlement company to handle the accounts you think you cannot handle.
i will just add another line of my own when we think we can handle every thing but it isnt getting done and then we can go on thinking that we can still do it it just means things are out of our control and we need professional help.