About to default on two crecit cards. Can you help me out.

Mortgage in her name too? If so, then Citibank in particular is more likely to want to file suit and not settle. They are known for being extremely agressive and routinely do sue on their accounts.

Hi Spooldup,

To Add to what Soap said about Citi, depending on where you live, Chase has been increasing accounts placed for litigation too.

If you want to mitigate the risks of being sued you should look to settle the accounts prior to their being charged off, which typically occurs after 180 days of consecutive non payment. If you are only able to fund one settlement prior to this, be aggressive in accumulating funds for the other and settle as quickly as you can.

Would she be able to swing the payments if the interest rates were lower?

If she can, a credit counseling firm can assist in getting the interest rates cut to half or more from where they are at now by enrolling you in a debt management plan.

You will also be offered hardship plans by the banks after the accounts go delinquent. These plans can be temporary, or for the lifetime of the balance spread out over 60 months. The benefit to these plans are that your monthly payment is reduced via interest rate concessions. While enrolled, similar to a DMP, you have no risk of being sued and do not have to weather all of the collection calls.

You can find ample information on this site about what to expect and when with regard to settlements with these two banks. For certain, no settlement will be available while current, and the most optimal savings results do not happen for several months.

Best of Success in your efforts!