opinion on "good faith" payments?

IMO, you should wait to see how they respond to your letter. You are going to send the serial number of the MO, right? Check if they adjust this amount with your current balance. If they don't, they are not very careful with customers' money. So don't let the next MO go with the wind too.

Mention the amount that you can afford. Give example of your past activities and try to convince them that you have no problem in paying the said amount in future as well. Hope this will work.

thanks Stan! these are along the same lines I was thinking. The thing about sending a good faith letter--and you have to be very careful--is in it you're telling the creditor/collection agency that if they cash your check, it means that you have an agreement. And in my case, I sent sams club one of these letters, they cashed my check and every check there after FOR MONTHS and still sicked a lawyer on me. So guess that doesn't mean anything? They cashed my money and still sued my anyways. hey, thanks Stanley, I've been scratching my head about what to write in my blog and this just gave me an idea!!! hugs to you! shirley

When you do send payments,you might want to send a cashiers check instead of a money order.The bank can trace it and you wont be giving these people your checking account information.

Shirley,

Are you talking about Restrictive Endorsement? David has explained it very well here, have a look-

http://forums.debtcc.com/restrictive-endorsement.html

Go through the post of Virginia Legal Defense as well. He has put some valid points too.

Coming from the inside, babe. Good faith payments or payments of Intent are just ways to throw the dog a bone for a month. You're just throwing your money down a well. Get the terms worked out first, then gather your cash. You don't know this organization from a hole in the wall, keep your guard up.

Thanks for the advice Ari, from the 'inside'. I drew up a proposal letter, thats going out tomorrow-certified. Funny I got another letter from Wells Fargo today---it was a fax copy of the very same letter I got on monday. couldn't get these people to talk to me for the past year, now they're coming out of the wood work. oh well, its what I wanted and I'm happy about it--won't get a surprise law suite from wells fargo this way. Just hope we can agree on a payment that makes everyone happy. thanks! shirley

I would advise everyone to use a cashiers check that can be traced. Money Orders can tell you were the money went but you have to pay for the investigation. A cashiers check give you an institution that can verify money recieved. Of course, always wait for a reply to settlement unless you stipulate that cashing this check is an agreement to the terms that you have stipulated. Best Ideas Wait on Reply

I tried the good faith payment once and they accepted it for a few months then kept wanting more and more. I thought that once you make a good faith payment and they cashed the check that meant they were accepting it, no strings attached. Boy was I wrong.