credit card debt reduction

Well Cooper I was in the same boat as you last year. Took me some trail and tribulation, but I'd be happy to share my experience with you.

refime(at)gmail.com

Well asking for lower interest is different than asking for settlement. When doing a settlement you quit paying (most of us not on purpose but because of financial hardship). Usually after not paying for about 90-120 days you can then say that you were able to sell something or get money from family if they would take x% as full settlement on the account. They usually don't bite on the first time around but sometimes they do. Once you come to an agreement then you pay them the reduced amount in a lump sum or over 3 payments in 3 months and you are done.

They then report your account to the credit bureaus as "settled for less than full balance" or something along those lines. So this does a number on your credit, but you are done with the debts.

I think the most common places people get settlement money are 401(K)s, family and from selling things. so if you can tap any of these you can settle your accounts yourself and be done.

As for exact verbiage, I think I started with "You know I can't make any payments in the future, my income has dropped 70% and I'm thinking I might have to declare bankruptcy, but I think I can come up with $$$ from selling some stuff and from family. I would much rather pay you something than nothing. Would you be willing to take that as payment in full? I really would like to pay you something."

The other thing to know is that they will call 10 times a day during until you settle and some cards are harder to settle than others. But a few months of discomfort saved me from declaring bankruptcy so it was worth it. It was also better for the credit card companies since they got some money instead of none. In my case it was turly a win win situation.

tell us who you owe and how much and the community here will be glad to help you.