reposting/mysituation
Date: Thu, 04/05/2007 - 19:30
Ok here is my situation, I filed bankruptcy which was chapter 7 discharged in Feb of 2006. Three months later just when I was getting back on my feet and able to start paying that which I could not file I got layed off. I was able to collect but very little and it took me 6 months to start working again. I am not getting to a point where I can work with creditors. I have student loans that I plan on starting to pay this month. Then yesterday I found out about a tax bill I had no clue about which is 990.00.
I have one health care bill that is quickly going up as its for medical equipment I use still. And then the dreaded 3 payday loans I took out because I was in such a jam when I was not working. (they give those when you collect unemployment can you imagine!!!) I am in the process of complaining to the AG in my state as there are some tough anti predatory lending laws here in NC re those loans. However if I combine some small (under 100) bills and the others I mentioned I have 3,000 in debt. That only includes one student loan the other I have budgeted out and will start paying this coming month. This 3,000 is a bulk of taxes, student loans and then some very small stuff that accumulated while I was not working and the medical equipment bill. (it does not include the payday loans for now waiting for atty general to help me with the laws in my state) I have about 200-225 a month that I can use to pay these bills. In the coming months I see that figure increasing a bit as there will be an opportunity to work overtime and a pay increase. (3-6 months down the road)
Ok so first I would like to settle the debt for lower if I can and I have read a bit on the forum and see that its possible. I am wondering how negotiable creditors are of this settlement with payment scenario I have read about. See I would like to begin paying the big bills each month and slowly settleing the lower ones. Then I can ease up cash and offer settlements to the bigger ones when I have more cash to spread around. I would like to have this debt paid in full within 8-12 months. I figured if I was paying faithfully to the larger for a few months and then offered the settlement i would have a better chance? Or am I wrong?
Where should I start....any suggestions??? I have read of the letters to send out re settlement and my fear is they will settle with me all at once and I will not have the money. What sort of time frame do I have? should I only do a few at a time? Is it even worth trying to settle a very old debt under 100?
Lots of questions and rambling here hopefully someone can make sense of it!
Nicole
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but most creditors aren't likel
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but most creditors aren't likely to accept settlement proposals if you have been making regular payments. Now, if you don't make a payment to a creditor for a few months, then they obviously think there is a problem and start worrying about getting their money, and are more likely to settle an acct.
Missing payments isn't going to help your credit score, so some people request in their written settlement proposals that once the agreed upon settlement figure is paid to the creditor, the creditor agrees to either remove all derogatory info reported on the acct. from your credit reports and report it as "paid as agreed," or remove the acct. from your credit reports completely. You do not want a creditor to report the acct. as "settled for less than full balance," as this can lower your credit score and does not look good.
If a creditor agrees to do this, make sure you get it in writing before making any settlement payments to them. Then, if they don't honor the agreement, you can do something about it.
You should not send settlement proposals to any of your creditors until you have calculated how much you are going to offer as a settlement figure, and you have this amount saved. They will not agree to a settlement and then wait for you to save the money, they will want to settle immediately.
