Calling Citicard Soon to Try & Negotiatie...Advice?

If it is 5 months past due I would be tempted to wait until they charged off the balance and then try to negotiate unless you can get them to drop all the junk fees which will probably be very difficult. I suspect that at least 30% of the 2300 you owe them is fees, penalties and interest. Really all you can do is list your terms and see if they agree. The terms I would give them would be as follows:

1. Remove all the late fees, penalties and penalty interest.
2. Change the default rate from 30% to 12% or less.
3. Close the account.
4. Accept $60/month until balance is paid.
5. Send your offer in writing via registered mail.

If the final balance ends up being 2,000 then it would take you about 3.5 years to pay it off at $60/month and 12% interest. I would not get into a big discussion about it. I would give them 5 minutes of time one time per week. Tell them to put it in the notes and when an idiot calls outside of that time block refer them to the notes and then hang up. I would list your terms and tell them to either accept it or charge it off and send it to a collection agency. I would be surprised if they accepted those terms though so it would probably end up in collection but those are the terms you are willing to settle to. Once it goes to collection you can offer the agency the same terms if you want. Make sure you document everything because if it goes to court it will help. I think the odds are slim that they would sue for 2k though and if they did it will be a couple years from now.

If you are able to enter a hardship program, they will probably be willing to delete the accrued late fees, overlimit fees, etc. At least, that's what they keep offering to do for me.

But as Dollars said, I would be surprised if they accept the $60 per month on more than a temporary basis. Also, you may have to bring the account current in order to qualify for their hardship program.

Do you have any lump sum funds available that you might be able to negotiate for a settlement instead? If you could get them to drop all of the fees and penalties, and then negotiate a 40% to 50% settlement, could you come up with a one-time amount to pay them off?

There's some things I can sell to try & get money (jewelry that I don't want or wear, some antiques I don't want...)-going to see what I can get for that & go from there. At least then I can offer them something.

Thanks for all the advice guys.

We are in a war with Citi. We owe $17,000 plus and they refuse to do anything meaningful even though we are 5 mos overdue. Chase and Bank of America have been awesome: 4.04 avg rate on $44,000! They are really out of sync with the industry and I am hoping they get in touch with reality. I will pay them 9% for 60 mos but they have not taken it yet. I am using a finance counselor ( not to be confused with a debt solution company) and he thinks this strategy will ultimately work.

Citi wont take long term payments...they will sue instead...that is how they operate. Did your counselor warn you of this?

Lighthouse financial??? sounds like an advertisement

This is the business name of my counselor and I prefer to use it. I have read of Citi suing and that could be an option, but I have options too.I am not averse to walking away from it all but I would prefer not to.
Citi wants us to use a third-person agency. Will such an agency handle just one account? I talked with Take Charge America in January and they wanted to bundle all of them. My wife does not like this idea at all.

citibank also has a rep of suing those in debt repayment plans...they want the account paid in full by payments in a fairly short period of time. Or they will settle. They will not offer you a settlement and give you a 5 year payment plan to make those payments. They are agressive....

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