so what happens once a card hits charge-off?

Charge off is just an accounting function for the credit card company. They will still continue to try to collect. Some credit card companies will now assign your account to a collection agency and some will keep it in house. Cap One kept mine in their Recovery Dept for 4 months where others were sent to a collection agency within a couple of weeks. So there is no telling when you will go over there.

The good news is that with Cap One they did tell me I could pay any payment I wanted until it was paid off. She even tried to get me to pay just $20 a month until paid off -which would have taken forever and a day, but the payment amount would be up to me.

Who are the creditors and how much do you owe? then others can chime in on their experiences to help you out.

Debt Free, from your previous post, Cap One has to be the smartest creditor on the planet.

With a plan like that they will get their money back. No one does that.

CITI is the one that just went to chargeoff, and BOA will be following shortly. Should I call CITI before they possibly "farm it off", and and see if they are any more cooperative now that it's charged off? or just wait and see who contacts me? about a month ago UCB was leaving me messages and when i did a validation letter they stopped. interestingly enough, they (UCB) didn't respond to the DV letter, i just received a packet from CITI with copies of the last 10 or so statements. i wasn't contesting the account (i had been TRYING to work with CITI for 5 months, but since i had a portion of the account on a low - 2.99% - interest rate, they couldn't (or wouldn't) set up any payment plan), just wanting to verify that UCB was authorized. Since that packet (about 2 weeks now) nothing heard.... should i call CITi now that it's listing as chargeoff and see what i can work out with them? any advice is great...

Hi there, UCB is the one calling me now with a Citi card just over 120 days late.
They were not very pleasant.

I am calling Citi this afternoon since I have another card there that is only 90 days late and I will post what I find out since they had led me to beleive we were all working toward settlement and they would not send it out until 180 days...
but thank you for posting here about sending the validation letter, when I get home I will also look into this!
Kaylee

let us know what you are told..... i'm wondering since it just got reported as charge off (as in yesterday), should i call CITI or wait to hear from someone? part of me thinks that maybe if i call them at least i am showing that i am trying to resolve it..... but it is awful easy to "let sleeping dogs lie".... a little longer! based on what BOA rep told me, i guess it's probably better to call within a day or two of chargeoff, so maybe i should try tomorrow......

thoughts???

Quote:

and if i call CITI, should i use that "special" number i've seen posted, or just the regular one?

well, i tried the "special" number on saturday, and was told that it's in the recovery department and they gave me that number. they were not open on saturday, and it's been a truly crazy week - not the least of which is my husband going in for exploratory tests at the hospital tomorrow, so it's not been the top priority..... anyone else talked to their (CITI's) recovery department? how are they to work with?

Keep trying. I would make a settlement offer to them for what you can afford. They may end up selling the debt to a CA, but keep trying. You can settle with a CA, sometimes they'll take less, sometimes they want more than the original creditor.

Citi and Cap One rarely sell to collection agencies. They prefer to sue thru their own attornies...both are very agressive.

Citi AT&T sent my account to Global Credit and Collection upon charge-off. I got a letter from Global four days after charge off. They said Citi is not like BoA, etc., and don't have to settle quick because they did not get a lot of money from the government when the rest of the banks were getting it. They offered me 85% with a payment plan of $400 a month for twelve months and who knows what after that, and then asked me to send in my last three bank statements when I said I could no way afford it...which I can't otherwise I would be paying my bill. They said that they will have the account for a while and then it will go back to Citi if it is not settled.

Never EVER send any bank statements into a creditor. They will ONLY use it against you.