Large credit card debt, but current, any help?

Nope. Theyy won't just write off a part of your debt because you want them to. You will need to be delinquent. Tell them what your hardship is and then somewhere around 90-180 days you will most likely be able to settle.

Read a ton on this forum and you will see how other people have done it. But their credit is not the same as it was before, but they are out of debt.

Thank you, that's pretty much what I thought. I hate to not pay, but I might have to to get my debt under control :(

here is what we did with citi... we did not make one payment. within a couple of weeks, they called and said "you have always been such a prompt paying customer, and since you missed your payment this month, we wanted to find out if there was a problem that we might be able to help with".. that opened the door.. just say "hardship" and explain what is causing your hardship (illness, hours cut, extra expenses,etc). you can get into the payment plan and get 0% for one year and get payment reduced. they told me just before the year is up, to contact them and they can extend it for another year. that can be done more than once

If you let it go into collection for two or three years, it
can cost you about the same money (in a final lump-sum
payment, the 'settlement') as if you had the money right
now, to pay them off in full (lower your debt to zero).

The problem is also the size of your debt. At $22k the
numbers will grow unreasonably large by three years'
worth of collection efforts. Much of that may be 'forgiven'
during the settlement; you end up paying out about the
same $22k, and now grateful since they jacked it up to
some sky-high figure during the interim.

And .. you have to declare the 'forgiven' difference as
income (sort-of, or actually) to the IRS. Something about
filing a 1099 sent to you by the one who forgave a portion
of a debt (look elsewhere here for more on that).

So say they jack the $22k to $67k over 3 years collection
efforts (you'll be in enough shock over that, alone, eh?).

In the end you paid an attorney $1500 to settle the debt
on your behalf; he got them down to $19.5k -- that's $21k
you laid out to be rid of the debt, and you never went to
court.

Well come next April, it's time to tell the IRS about it -- now
you have to tell them you had $67k less $19.5k in forgiven
debt -- as income. You declare $47.5k in .. income,
essentially, over and above your paycheck.

I have no idea what the IRS would 'charge' you on that, or
how much of it is really counted one for one -- scary to
contemplate. Better find out (I don't know myself; I'm just
saying it's some non-zero figure, and it's probably higher
than you would like it to be).

And once more, you feel the shaft.

One more thing -- collection agencies are not banks; if you
can deal with the bank in the first six months of
delinquency, there's some hope of re-establishing a
workable relationship (albeit one that you intend to end
as quickly as possible).

With the collection agency, it gets weird, fast -- they are
not a bank, and until they actually turn your account over
to their legal department (to sue you in court) there's
very little to trust about them. Generally speaking the
bank will call you, much as a collection agency calls, for
5 to 7 months, trying to get you to reason with them.

Eventually they give up, and refer the matter to the
collection agency.

Please don't take what I'm saying as gospel or as the only
scenario likely -- just relating some experiences of late that
could apply here. That $22k is a lot deeper in than I was,
and I was in pretty deep there, for a while.

In other words, this isn't going to be easy; take a lot of
different opinions, but believe in none of them. Get many
viewpoints; then decide. You are as much an expert as
the next person, but if their advice (or story) had any
inaccuracies, you can't tell that to the judge!

You seem pretty smart, so it probably doesn't bear
mention:

Many posts here are from 'help help I'm drowning'
people not 'here is how you stop from drowning' people.

Never confuse the two.
Peace.

And I short quote "In other words, this isn't going to be easy; take a lot of
different opinions, but believe in none of them. Get many
viewpoints; then decide"

Greetings,

You can do it yourself however it's your decision to make.
Read these forums over and over again.
IMHO....keep it from going to a collection agency.

Gather intel.
Plan a course of action.

Regards,
King "Kash" Jabba Labba