$30,000 in cc debt - Need some advice

I feel a little weird giving ???advice,??? since our financial situation is likewise pretty grim, but what I can do is just relay what we???ve done and what is being done to us...

The best piece of advice I can offer is to have a strategic plan and stick to it as best you can. It???s possible you will be buffeted by all kinds of variables and tricks, but if you keep your over-arching plan in mind at all times, you???ll do yourself a lot of favors.

1. For us, I decided to stop paying on two accounts and keep two current. A fifth C.C. account, with no balance, was closed by Discover as soon as my first default hit my credit report.

The reason I did this was because this board said Bank of America was relatively easy to deal with, but Capital One was a real bear. So I defaulted on the BofA account???the largest???first. Two months later, partly to show BofA I really was in dire straits and partly to save more money for settlement, I stopped paying on the one CapOne account. I likely will try to resume paying on the CapOne account as soon as I can settle with BofA.

2. As per info on this board, most banks will probably call you after you???re about a week or so late. The frequency thereafter will vary, depending on the institution. I've gotten called about once every two weeks, but more in the beginning. You???ll want to have a coherent and concise explanation for why you???re missing a payment, and remember to stick to this story throughout. Don???t get emotional. The best policy is to tell the truth, but you also don???t have to go into a great deal of detail, either. I noticed with BofA, consistency and pessimism were the two things that they were receptive to the most.

Anyway, not too many banks will even mention settlement until you???re at least 90 days late, and even then it probably won???t happen until 120 days. As you can see elsewhere on the board, they don???t get down to brass tacks until 150 days.

3. I decided that we were either going to kill ourselves to get out of as much debt as we were in and have a low score anyway for many years, or bite hard, trash our credit now, and try to get it past us. Your credit score will tank. It???s a fact of life. But if you can settle with as many lenders as possible, you can slowly make your payments at a fraction of your total debt and then start building your score back up. Most say it takes around two years for you to be able to borrow again. Of course, you won???t want to, having gone through this ordeal...

4. I don???t think too many lenders stoop that low at first, but you never know. It happens. Skip tracing is just trying to collect as much contact info on you as possible to put pressure on you. If your debt is charged off and goes to collections, this may be more likely. Never say never, but it???s fairly rare. If you answer their phone calls and you're polite, you should be OK.

5. Sure, if you can find one you???re comfortable with. I would say a lot of people here, however, will tell you that you can do this yourself with a smart plan, and by doing your homework. A debt settlement outfit will charge you money???maybe a lot of money. The D.I.Y. approach is always cheaper. If you do a lot of homework (by reading through this board, for starters!) and keep a positive attitude, you???ll probably be OK without a debt settlement company.

Hope this helps. And hopefully somebody else will chime in because I???m not that far from being a newbie myself! :-)

Glurg,
Thank you for your advice. Your response was spot on to what I was thinking as well. It is just so nice to hear it from someone else. This forum has been a great discovery for me because while I hate to see so many people struggling and going through what I am going through, it is the first time I truly realize that I am not alone. There are tons and tons of normal, hardworking people in the same boat as me.

As for the moral aspects of all of this, I lost that thought once they tripled my interest rates which tripled my payments and refused to reduce them so that I could eventually pay them in full. So I now feel that they did this to themselves and I no longer feel badly about reaching settlements with them.

As for the skip tracing, they only do this if they are unable to get ahold of you and they feel they have bad phone numbers etc. So make sure once you default, that you talk to them once in a while and they will not contact your relatives.

The phone calls for me at the beginning were unbelievable - 20 times a day - no kiidding. Most were auto dialers with a recording. Irritating, but liveable. Then when I started getting the real live people, I have to say I was amazed that they were actually nice. No one yelled at me, no one threatened me. Of course they tried to get me to pay but they were not rude about it. but I was always very nice to them and just kept explaining my situation.

I started getting settlement offers around 90 to 120 days. I have settled 3 of my 4 cards. The only one that got charged off and still wont settle is my 2nd Cap One card. My very first settlement was on my other cap one card but they refuse to settle on the 2nd one.

I suggest you settle these yourself. Your credit score is already way low so I simply wouldn't worry about it - I think your priority should be to get all of this taken care of and get the pressure off your family. Keep reading the forum and you will find tons of info - that's how i settled my accounts myself. Since the good debt management companies are hard to find, I would simply do it yourself. Since the debt company wants to be paid before they start accumulating money to pay your creditors, almost all of your debt will charge off before they even start talking to them. Some creditors won't deal with these debt companies at all and simply sue you once they get notified ou are dealing with one of them according to some posts I've seen.

Is the EXACt situation I see on a daily basis. Email me to discuss some of your options. I may have an answer for you on not only your Debt, but maybe your upside down mortgage as well. I have helped people that were in worse shape than you believe it or not. It doesnt cost anything to simply email me or call me.

[EMAIL="mattmaroney83@gmail.com"]mattmaroney83@gmail.com[/EMAIL]

I am pretty much in line with Glurg....I am pretty much in the same boat with you all....I am about to post my settlement agreements and amounts as soon as I have enough energy....I have been going non-stop on Settlements...most at 120 days for the past 2 weeks. I will post about my experience as soon as I can. I am debtor in Ca but somehow I got locked out and cannot seem to figure out and have not had the time to look follow directions from one of the mods here....LOL....
One suggestion that worked for me (and since it was mainly my husband who ran up our debt to try to prop up his business), is that he called all the credit cards and changed the phone # and address to his cell phone number and business # because I was motified of having my family or caregivers for my Mom hear all these calls. I can generally say that the calls usually don't begin until you are 60 day late...that is just a general statement. As for us, we were preparing bankruptcy when I found this board. I was kind of at the end of my rope....and had BK papers ready .....I read about debt settlement. We decided to settle all of my husband's debt....it was not that difficult(if you settle with BOA ....find the Senior Accounts Management Dept # that Ben posted ....look for my posts too with the number. They were most helpful....BOA settled at 25-27%...citi settled at 40%. I then paid my credit cards in full....Look at what are business cards....then decide if you can "save" one of you. It's too bad that I did not find this information about settling sooner....I might have saved myself. At this point, most of my CCs are closed....but I am hoping for a brighter future. Please think clearly over the next two months so that you can decide the best way to proceed. You have a little time if you want to settle. I can tell you that Settling was not very difficult...but you must save to have cash to settle or family to help!

I will be thinking about you....please post or ask questions.....read here all you can
dont' pay attention to those who tell you to contact them ...that they have a magical solution....If you have any questions about settlement ....post them and I will try to replay
debtor in CA

I too found settlement a lot easier than I thought it would be. With the exception of one Cap One card (they settled the other quickly) I have settled 3 of my 4 cards. Cap One charged off the second card and am now waiting for it to go to collection agency for easier settlement.

Phone calls weren't bad either. Only had one rude call to India for Cap One. The guy just had a tone of disgust in his voice and was unmoveable, but once on the our side of the pond, the people were great. So don't fear the calls they are not bad if you are nice to them.

great info you gave .i have a question where you say "save one of you"
are u saying i should try my best to keep either mine or my wifes cards paid in full and mabey try to settle most of mine ? there fore protecting one credit score ? im not sure i understood right or if thats even possible

I think that's the idea. If you can manage it, settle your accounts and keep the others current or vice versa. Whichever makes the most sense. Once the delinquent accounts are settled, you can start paying extra on the others and get them paid off.

Then at least one of you will maintain a decent credit score.

Make sense?

such a simple concept yet i never thought of it your a genius thank you



any advice on ,when to pick up the phone from the creditors? should i ignore all till i know im after 30 days or after 60 should i stay in constant communication all the way through and let them know where im at ? any suggestions

I'd pick up the phone and just give a response like "look I'm trying to get the money together please give me more time" or something. Be careful with ignoring the calls completely... they might be faster to sue you that way. Who are the CC companies? We can provide you with help.