Trying for settlement during hardship plan

Citi is very aggressive when it comes to settlement negotiations. Case is somewhere in the middle but they can drive a hard bargain. BofA is the easiest of the lot.

If the house is a roadblock on your way to filing for bankruptcy, you can just as well reaffirm the debt and keep the house.

Other than that, you can have a talk with each of the creditors and see what they are willing to offer you. If you fall out on making payments while you are in their hardship plan, they might attempt to sue you.

I'm going through the same thing. Bank of America's FIA Card Services won't even speak to me about a settlement, until it has gone 6 months with no payment. So I'm continuing to lumber along, and hope I find work and can make the $170 a month minimum payment. I have paid off over 75% of the debt, have $2600 now remaining. Been out of work, no home, live in my car, work is hourly, catch as catch can.

It's a bitch.

We are currently going through this exact problem. We have 2 accounts, one with Chase and one with Amex Optima. We entered into hardship 6 months ago and I questioned both at the time whether this would affect my ability to settle in the future. They both said no. Now I'm ready to settle both, funds in hand, but Amex is wanting 66% and Chase is wanting 78%. I stopped making payments last month and will continue to wait for a better offer.

I've sent a counteroffer for both and am just waiting now. Wanting to get this completed and to move on!

Since you stop making payments, did Chase take you off its hardship plan? Did they add all the forgiven interest, from the 6 months you were on the plan, back to your account balance? This is my main worry with stopping payments.

I'm not sure exactly what Chase will do, though I can only assume they will remove me from the hardship plan and tack back on interest. But I honestly believe if I continue to make payments, they won't ever be willing to settle.

We're now onto 2 missed payments and Chase is unwilling to settle for anything less than 75%. Given them enough opportunities and even explained that husband received 60 day notice at job last week. Can't continue to pay plan because it will eat away at settlement fund. And no income really means no payments. Oh well...

Though they continue to call daily, the plan is to speak with them twice a month for the next 2 months and try again.

As far as the creditor suing you, this may be possible. I hope you can find a way around that, though. I don't know if you update us yet, but if not please tell us the latest news regarding this situation.

I say stop paying. Bank that $1200 each month. Add it to your $4000 and, if you can get the $10000 from your parents, you should be able to get these accounts settled between 90 - 180 days past due.

Finally, after close to 3 months of no payments on hardship, Chase was willing to settle. The calls were coming daily for 2 months and I would talk to them a couple times a week, telling them the same thing - husband received notice at work, no income means no payments, borrowed money from relative for settlement, but only have a certain amount. They didn't want to hear it and were always eager to get off the phone. But they continued to call back. They were wanting 75% debt was about $23,000.

At close to 3 months, I received a call from someone that "wanted to help". We were offered a settlement at 65% over 3 months. Explained that I would discuss with husband but not sure we could swing that. It was still more than we had and husband only had job 30 more days, so scared that we wouldn't be able to cough up the rest of the money. We countered at 53% and they took it - one lump sum payment. This was $1000.00 more than we originally offered them back in June. Received offer letter, made payment and we're done. Just waiting on settlement complete letter to come in a few weeks.

Just like our Amex, we may have been able to get a lower settlement, but we had the money to take this and it was more important to get it done and not have to worry any longer.

Thanks for all the advice - these forums have been tremendously helpful!

I finally decided to go ahead an start the process of obtaining settlements. I called BofA and Chase and informed them I would be unable to continuing making payments. I asked for a settlement option. BofA was not interested at this time, did not even ask for offer. Chase asked for an offer but told me they are normally only accepting 80%. I gave my offer (a bit below 30%) and was denied after they checked with their underwriter. Decided to hold off on citi as i may not have enough funds if i am unable to get a ~30% settlement and a bit worried about their apparent willingness to sue. Will wait a few weeks before contacting them again. Hopefully the calls during the holidays wont be too annoying.

If you want to actually settle your debt, or do have that option. Relief1debt.com actually did this for me with my bank of america and amex cards. I was able to counter through my rep at relief1debt and they accepted. My card was $5717.44 and they accepted $3217.77...this was a tremendous help because once i went delinquent, i had no idea what i was going to do.
Contact relief1debt.com and see if they can do the same for you.

Peggy wright

I called Chase back and they are still not interested in settlement at this point.

I also received a letter from NCB managemente Services inc with respect to my bank of america credit card. They say:

Current Creditor : FIA card services, NA

Your delinquent account has been referred to this office for collection.
You are directed to address all future correspondence and payments concerning this account to NCB mgmt services, inc

There is also additional text indicating i should notify them within 30 days if i dispute the validity of the debt or any portion.

Should i send them letter disputing the debt/asking for more information (DV letter), call them back or just ignore them for now?

My last payment on the Bank of America hardship plan was done on September. Thanks for your suggestions