Working with Advanta- Made an Offer...

good luck Matt! - I went through the same situation - it was so nice dealing with the pleasant Philly ladies after the acct left the India call center folks. It was not until I was 90-120 days late that Advanta offered to settle at 50% in one lump sum payment. But they may take the $8000 your are offering. Just hang in there and keep speaking with them. At worst case, once it leaves Advanta for one of their outside collection firms, you will have 30 days to negotiate with them before it charges off - and probably get to 40% or so - really depends on how they assess your situation and ability to pay. Hope it works out for you!

Thanks for the kind words Joe!

I really wish they would let us talk to people with a firm command of the English language quicker! Speaking with individuals who are rude, poorly trained, have limited power to do anything, and apparently use pay phones across the ocean... man, that just makes ya frustrated, and works against the process of getting things settled & on the right track! I mean no disrespect to the individuals, or their ethnic background- but it is tough to do business with folks you can't understand, and keep trying to slip something past you.

The Philly connection has been a welcomed change, and I'm kinda anxiously looking forward to Monday.

~Matt

You could totally get a 50% settlement over 6 payments. There is nothing she would have had to do with getting an approval. I do not care how nice they are on the phone...that is their bottom line. So you can actually do better and pay $7,000 and do it over payments. When you talk to them again I would just ask for that. It is their standart settlement and they are giving it to everyone. They do not go lower. Trust me..I speak from experience. Read the other advanta threads....

Thanks for the reminder Luckin!
~Matt

Settlement approved, and I have paperwork on file from them.
$14,163.69 Balance.
Will pay 1 payment of $8,000.00 next week, and we're settled.

I know this isn't the best settlement ever received from Advanta... but it gets the headache gone, and will allow us to move forward.

~Matt

Keep talking to them and let them understand that you are serious and trying to do the right thing. Tell them what you are willing to do and be patient - don't get bullied or scared. After you get the amount you want - keep talking to them and offer to make payments even though they may tell youit has to be in one payment. I was able to get my settlement in multiple payments 3 times. If they think you will really pay them they will eventually take it - through in a few sob stories as these people will get that you are just trying to do the right thing, never agree to something you can't do.

Just thought I'd put in a quick follow-up:

We made our payment, and they've gone away. I must say it was nice to have 1 less Indian call center to talk to! That's 1 less point of stress, and more energy to focus on the next ones... (Cap 1, unfortunately).

Thanks for the update and congratulations! Make sure you get that PIF letter and hang onto it for dear life :)

Yes make sure you keep the letters safe since you never know when things are going to pop back up on the credit report years later. I kept copies of all of my settlment letters - I put on in my fireproof safe and scanned them into a special folder on my computer which gets backed up to an external server. I'm not taking any chances. LOL

Good comments!
We have the letter filed, and an electronic copy as well.

It's not just about the debt... it's the peace of mind. Advanta's quadrupling of the interest rate & unscrupulous business practices - sure, they cost us $$ we didn't have, but I'd say even more than that, the mental burden of being "under" their weight was more difficult!

To those reading:
Keep on working towards being debt free. Don't lie, don't cut corners, and enjoy every victory.
:)

~Matt