It Begins Today!!!!
Date: Wed, 10/27/2010 - 06:07
[SIZE=3]I’ve come to the conclusion that we must do something drastic to get out of this whole we’ve dug ourselves. That something drastic is going to be attempting to settle some of this debt. We are making ZERO progress the way things are today. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]My plan is to concentrate on each debt one at a time. The most bang for my buck would be a gold option loan obtained through MBNA now with Bank of America. I’m paying $500+ each month at an interest rate of 19.99%. They have refused to lower this rate no matter what I try. I have a balance of about $17,500 on this account. I figure if I at least work this one out, we’ll have enough to cover my wife’s medicines. My October payment is going to be the last I make. Let the calls begin! Then we’ll move on to the next debt. [/SIZE]
A few quick questions:
[FONT=Calibri](1) [/FONT]Has anyone done it this way? One at a time? I don’t think I’d be able to settle all at once as I wouldn’t have enough saved to do so.
[FONT=Calibri](2) [/FONT]Anyone have any experience dealing with BoA and the Gold Option Loans?
[FONT=Calibri](3) [/FONT]If I do it one by one like this and we get to the point of settling, what do I tell BoA when they look at my credit and see that most if not all of my other accounts are current. How do you answer why I have singled them out?
Thanks everyone! Looking forward to participating in the conversations and finally becoming debt free!!
[QUOTE=makinchangeinPA;763383][SIZE=3]Hi everyone. I???m j
[QUOTE=makinchangeinPA;763383][SIZE=3]Hi everyone. I???m just beginning my journey and thought I???d introduce myself. My name is Rob. I???ve currently got about $75K in unsecured debt to deal with between myself and my wife. I make a decent salary as does my wife. While we were able to scrape by with the large amount of payments I had to pay, it has become increasing difficult to make the payments every month. My wife was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis a few years ago. In addition to the debt payments, mortgage payments, etc we are now faced with paying $500 or more to obtain her medicines, go to her doctors etc each month. We are falling further and further behind each month. No money in savings. Worried about how I will send my 11 year old to college in a few years. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I???ve come to the conclusion that we must do something drastic to get out of this whole we???ve dug ourselves. That something drastic is going to be attempting to settle some of this debt. We are making ZERO progress the way things are today. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]My plan is to concentrate on each debt one at a time. The most bang for my buck would be a gold option loan obtained through MBNA now with Bank of America. I???m paying $500+ each month at an interest rate of 19.99%. They have refused to lower this rate no matter what I try. I have a balance of about $17,500 on this account. I figure if I at least work this one out, we???ll have enough to cover my wife???s medicines. My October payment is going to be the last I make. Let the calls begin! Then we???ll move on to the next debt. [/SIZE]
A few quick questions:
[FONT=Calibri](1) [/FONT]Has anyone done it this way? One at a time? I don???t think I???d be able to settle all at once as I wouldn???t have enough saved to do so.
[FONT=Calibri](2) [/FONT]Anyone have any experience dealing with BoA and the Gold Option Loans?
[FONT=Calibri](3) [/FONT]If I do it one by one like this and we get to the point of settling, what do I tell BoA when they look at my credit and see that most if not all of my other accounts are current. How do you answer why I have singled them out?
Thanks everyone! Looking forward to participating in the conversations and finally becoming debt free!![/QUOTE]
Hi Rob. After reading your story "I" personally would look for a good Bankruptcy Attorney. Why. Because $1600. or so would get you out from under. Especially if you have ongoing medical bills which could escalate (God forbid) anytime in the future. What if she or you should loose a job?
I would at least get a consult and find out how this road could help the two of you begin to recover. It does not sound like it is going to get any better anytime soon. And who needs the added stress with someone ill in the household.
I have filed b4 about 10 years ago. It was not hard, relief was immediate. I did not worry about the "credit hit" because I was done with that. I have had no other adverse problems. I was even able to get a cell phone account afterward with AT&T with no deposit. Sometimes the "nuclear" option can be the way to go. Regards, -Ken
Thanks for you reply. I'm a bit confused. When you say $1600 w
Thanks for you reply. I'm a bit confused. When you say $1600 would get me out from under, what do you mean by that? What is the $1600 for? I thought, with the new backruptcy laws, the courts would look at my income and say i make to much and make me pay back a bunch anyway. Maybe I'm not understanding that whole process too well yet.
Hello, I am currently in a debt settlement program, I was also r
Hello, I am currently in a debt settlement program, I was also really hesitant at first, I had about $40000 total in credit card debt, like you I was able to make payments, but it left me with little room to save for other things or emergencies or I decided to try debt settlement to get rid of the debt faster. I stopped paying on about 6 credit card accounts beginning in June (I kept one from Citibank because I have a citibank checking account, I didn't want them to come after my money there, which they can if you have a checking account with a bank you have a credit card with). So as expected after 1-2 months of not paying these accounts, the calls came in, then slowly tappered off. My debt settlement company helped write letters asking for written communications only and the calls have stopped. Also once the creditor passes your debt onto a collection agency, the debt relief company will send them a cease and desist letter which then they cannot call to harass you. So 4 months later, I'm in the process of settling my debt, even though I stopped paying on all 4 at the same time, you settle one at a time, usually starting with the one with the lowest balance and go from there. The company I'm using charges 10% fee of the total amount of your outstanding debt. But today I was actually settle one of my accounts myself online (First National Bank of Omaha), so this one I didn't even need the help of my debt settlement company, so they'll credit back the 10% fee on this account. The bank accepted a 25% payment plan so I just went ahead and did it myself online. Different creditors might do different things, for example one of my accounts is with a collection agency now, another 3 with chase they passed off to a law firm (after threatening to sue me, but still hasn't yet) which can also act as a collection agency. Another bank hasn't sent the deb to collection so I might have the debt settlement company settle directly with them. But generally when you enroll with a program, they basically ask you to stop paying on all accounts and start saving money towards debt settlement. That's probably better than not paying one at a time since like you said the banks can see on your credit report that you are still paying other creditors, they're less likely to offer debt settlement as an options.
I think since your debt is also really high, if you decide to stop making payments, just stop all those accounts (unless if one of them you also bank with), then start saving towards settling debts, most often when companies negotiate on your behalf, they start low at around 25-30%, and they have more leverage once it's with a collection agency, so that's why they wait till the accounts go into collections, rather than right away. The company I'm using is Debt Remedy Solutions, I went with them because they charge just 10% fee, most others are 20%. So far it's been ok, just make sure if you have any questions, to always call them for advice, be active in this process. And if you can settle one directly with a creditor yourself for lower amount, do it, then you save another 10% by not having to pay the debt settlement company to help you, which is what happened to me today, I will get $500 back in fees because I settled that one account myself online.
Hope this helps.
Settling them one at a time may be a problem. I had a slight pr
Settling them one at a time may be a problem. I had a slight problem at the very end with the last card. Basically I used "I'm filing for bk" reasoning, but at the end of the line they could see that I was no longer in a bk position and were really pushing for full payment. I just told them that I had business debts that were not on the report and I was trying to settle my personal debts before I filed bk on the business stuff. It worked and they settled.
On the 2 cards I kept and were paying on time I told them that someone else actually was paying those. Yes they were my credit obligation but someone else used them and was making the payments. You might want to try that. Remember, they will lie to you in a heartbeat to get you to pay. There is no obligation in oral communication to be truthful. You cant lie on a written application for credit as that is bank fraud, but in collections they will lie to you over and over again - dont hesitate to create a story that gets you to your end game.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: As of Oct. 27th (yesterday), new laws go
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: As of Oct. 27th (yesterday), new laws governing debt settlement practices went into effect. So basically now when you sign up with a debt settlement company, they can no longer charge you any up front fees, they can only charge you after they have settled an account for you, after you receive a settlement offer in writing and have made at least one lump payment to the creditor. I just emailed Debt Remedy Solutions to day to see if I can request for them to stop automatically charging my checking account for fees starting next month, I have already paid $2200 and they are just working on the first settlement offer for me. So you are in a great position now, because any company that sells you a debt settlement service over the phone (this law does not apply to those you meet in person with or is a legitimate law firm), cannot charge you anymore up front fees. So in effect, since it won't be at least 4-5 months before a credit will start settling with you, that means you don't need to pay any fees until an account is actually settled. You probably will be asked to set aside money to cover the fees so that once they do help you settle, you need to pay them, but you must have control of that money, they cannot ask the money to be kept somewhere else where they have control.
Here is a great article you should read so you know the changes in the laws, now is actually a much better time to have debt settlement companies work for you, they won't get paid until they have done something for you. But to be honest, whatever they try to negotiate for you, you probably could also just do yourself, so right now I'm trying to work on a few accounts myself to see if I can get the creditors to settle with me directly then I don't even need to pay the 10% fee, and generally the creditors are more interested to work directly with the customer and probably will be more sympathetic to you than the debt settlement company, since you can give more detail about why you can't pay than the debt settlement company can. I'm sending in a letter tomorrow to try to convince one of my creditor to settle for 20% of the debt, and I mentioned that if they can't agree then the funds I have saved will just go towards settling another account. I've been told that usually will make them more eager to settle when they know you have multiple accounts that are in process of being settled, which is why it's probably best to stop payment altogether on all your accounts rather than only keep one deliquent at any time, then you don't have as much leverage to say "I have other accounts that's competing for the money saved".
Good luck
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/07/tsr.shtm
Greetings " [URL="http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/forums/me
Greetings " [URL="http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/forums/member.php?u=236057"]makinchangeinPA[/URL]" and welcome to the forums,
Defaulting on one creditor while paying the others will make it difficult to settle with the defaultor. They will say that you are paying the others.....why can't you pay us?
I had a Gold Option loan with boa-the snake. Twas an easy settle at about 150 days as I recall, settled for 30%.
I did them all at once.
Overall it took about 6 months.
Settled 87k for about 27k.
The phone calls were no big deal, in fact somewhat entertaining.
Changed my contact number to my cell phone before defaulting.
Had weekly conversations going with the plastic masters.
Make a spread sheet and kept it updated.
I settled before charge off.
Good Luck.
Please keep us updated.
Regards,
King "Kash" Jabba Labba