Tough Negotiations w/ Wells, Discover & Citi

mich,

If your intent is to settle direct with the OC's you listed above, Discover is very Sticky at 55 and citi at 40. If you budge um, you will need documentation supporting hardship. Even with documentation, you may not be successful.

They will deffinately be getting more at your proposed settlement than the going rate on a sale to a debt buyer.
They may not sell it immediately, or at all. Your debts may fit a set criteria for referral to local counsel to proceed with litigation.
If it goes to assignment collector and you hit the same 40/55 numbers with them, if you accepted, they have performance fees to pay the collector. The math works better for them to come down. They generally dont though. Trying to make sense out of the decisions made by the risk management teams at these banks can lead to hair loss.

Wells should also be at 40-ish. I have gotten some 25ers out of um recently though.

You can only do what you can do. My suggestion would be to consider the math and deploy available funds toward the best savings, leaving your exposure to litigation with only one creditor. Of the three you listed, Discover represents the highest risk.

Probably wouldnt hurt to play chicken until the last possible moment too.


Mileage may vary.

Thanks! I was pretty optimistic about getting these settled this month, as I just finished settling with BofA at 25% and my Wells Fargo HELOC at 17%. With BofA, they were my highest CC balance. They called me up and offered 25%, and they asked for no income information, no expense related questions... nothing. Just an offer to settle at 25% and I took it. I guess dealing with BofA gave me a false sense of accomplishment because I figured the other creditors would fall in line as well.

The end of the month is also a better time to try and settle. You have two choices, wait it out or pay a higher settlement. My choice is easier, I have to wait, so we will see what happens.

why rush it? If you are in a hurry to settle they may sue instead.

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No real update as to my settlement attempts. I've been talking to Wells, Citi and Discover every 3 or 4 days. Citi is set to charge off today, supposedly. This morning they told me that they can't consider a settlement unless I make a minimum payment first. I declined and now it's going to be charged off.

One thing they are all telling me is that the next step after charge off is to be sent to the recoveries department. Apparently that department may still settle the account, but could also send it to legal or sell it to a third party. So we'll see how that turns out.

When the recoveries department calls you, that would be a good time to offer a settlement. Citibank is a hard one to deal with. BofA is one of the easiest in what I have seen. Be patient. The longer is goes on, the better the chances of a settlement are, and the lower you may be able to go. It is usually difficult to settle before charge off.

Still no significant update. All three accounts have charged off.

Citi started using UCB as some sort of collection agent. I sent them a letter requesting validation and haven't heard from them in a few days. So I called Citi's recovery department today and they said the account was under a "ceast and desist". I assume that means they got my request for validation that I sent to UCB, even though I haven't gotten the return receipt back yet. Anyway, last I spoke to them they were down to 40%-ish. The lowest per this call was 50-60%. But they were very nice.

Wells is still stuck at 50-60% as well, and I've talked to their recoveries group a few times. Still working on them.

Discover I have not talked to since the charge-off. Actually I'm sort of surprised I have not heard from them or a CA or lawyer yet. They were definately the most difficult to deal with in my experience, and very aggressive. So I'm not sure what to expect here. I should probably try to call and get their recoveries department. Any advice on this one?

My other great white hope is that they will be more apt to settle closer to month-end, and even quarter end for these financial companies that are doing their best to meet analyst expectations.

I am dealing with Citi and Wells Fargo as well. Citi is stuck at 50% and won't budge even though I can't pay that amount and my only other option is bankruptcy, in which they will get nothing.

Wells Fargo just charged off my personal line of credit, at least I think it did, because it disappeared from online banking about 6 months after the last payment. Do you think I should take the initiative and call them, or wait until they try to collect? I would like to avoid litigation if at all possible -- if that happens I will certainly lose my job, and bankruptcy will become a foregone conclusion.

Yes, it will go to charge-off status 180 days after default, then it will be sent to a collector who will be contacting you shortly.

As far as litigation - that depends on the individual collector, some are aggressive, some not so much.

I settled with citibank on several personal credit card accounts that had balances ranging from 4K to 19K. The collections agencies they worked through arranged the settlements for 25% of the balance.
What make it particularly difficult with citi is they send each account to a different agency if you have more than 1 account with them. Each agency was different in what they offered though all except one offered 25% (or 26% in one case) in the end after the account was charged off.
B of A settled for 20% on both personal and business credit card accounts
Chase settled for 25% on personal credit card accounts.
From reliable sources, I'm told HSBC and Amex will settle for 25% on personal accounts.
Capital One didn't make any offers to settle even after charge off.
Wells fargo made no offers then sued even before charge off. Their attorneys offered to settle for 70%

Citi bites my balls. They charged my account off at the end of August and they still won't be reasonable on a settlement with me. It's over 6 months since charge-off. I spoke to a representative on last Tuesday (a week ago). She said the lowest they could offer is 50%... BUT that if I call back on the 16th (today) that they would be able to "work" with me. It was one of those "wink wink" conversations with someone who wanted to help but couldn't...

So I call back today. 50% that's it. They claim they won't go lower. So I continue to sit in limbo on this. They apparently don't want to sell it off. They aren't taking me to court (yet). They aren't charging me any more interest. The balance just sits. I asked what is next? They just say they don't know.

Talked to Citi again today. They've finally budged. They are now willing to settle at 35% of my balance. I'm not sure if I can take it, as it's about $1.5k higher than what I had been offering. But at the same time, it's a pretty fair settlement offer, and I realize that.

I was told that they'd need their manager's approval for it... that's pretty much what they all say. And that the offer is good for 30 days, which I've never heard before. Although I don't believe them, if true, that would signify that they won't send the debt anywhere for 30 days which is nice to hear on a debt that is over a year from my last payment.

I'm thinking about calling them back with an offer in the range of 31%... better than 30%, but not quite the 35%. Thoughts?

I've been having a difficult time with Citi credit card. They won't budget for less than 60% although they previously sent me an unsolicited offer letter at 53%. They went through UCB, then Client Services and now have given the account to a local attorney. They are playing hardball and I have a feeling they are going to try and get a judgement on me. I have a balance over $20K so they seem to be more aggressive because of that I think. Settled very easily with Amex on two accounts. One for 16% and the other for 19%. They jumped on it very quickly and both accounts were over $10K.

If I might ask, what was your balance on your Citibank accounts?

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I just wanted to let you know I just settled my Citi CC with a balance of 18k for 25% !
It was about 80-90 days late.

I talked to the "Managers Assistance Unit"... they were very nice ... they had to get my offer approved. Originally they were stuck at 55 %... this went on for about 3 weeks... I kept calling and calling....
We are very close to filing a chapter 7 BK...
Finally got a very nice lady and it got approved !!!
I could not believe it... They were tough to deal with but at least nice.

good luck

This is getting easier.... I broke down Citi today to 35% on a debt of $30K!! I think I am getting pretty good at this. You just need to keep calling until you get someone to say YES!! These banks don't know what is going on from one desk to another...

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My Citi balance is now with a local attorney as well. They are stuck at 50% right now. I had Citi down to 35% just before they turned it over to the attorney. Unfortunately, that seems to be a lost opportunity now. I have about 3 weeks before they claim they will take action. Hopefully I can get the attorney to come down a bit.

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Update: I settled Citi at 50%. Missed opportunity on my part as I had Citi down to 35% and did not take it, then they turned it over to a law firm and I could get no movement from them. So I took the 50%. It was my last debt to settle and I felt like I had lost some leverage because I was no longer in a position to threaten bankruptcy given the $13k owned on this one card.

Anyway, it's done and now I'm onto the next phase: Credit Repair!