Advanta Bank is not willing for debt settlement - what to do?

To - Joseph A Banks - all creditors are familiar with "BK bluff" game all too well and hear it daily, but if, in fact, you are actually planning to file BK, then that means you're insolvent which means there are NO assets to attach or seize. In this case, making a settlement is pointless. You're better off letting the statute run, and if they do sue, their judgment will be worthless and can be extinguished at a later time in BK anyway. I'd say that, for the debtors out there who still have garnishable income and lienable assets, a settlement may be the best option, but only if it's at 5%, otherwise you're better off spending the money on a good asset protection attorney to render you judgment-proof and just ignoring the debt!

Who does the BK bluff? I just say "You got me down as a refusal?" they say yes, and I say "fine, leave it that way, have a good day. " Cuts way down on the calls.

I just received my first letter from Advanta stating I was 180 days past due and that they would soon charge-off the acocunt and that there were options available if I call them. I changed my phone number so I had no contact with them during this 180 period. Before this (2 years ago), I did enter a reduced payment/lower interest rate agreement with them but obviously was not able to make the payments. I owe approx. $12,000.00 (w/ late fees, etc.). I called the number and they offered a 20% settlement (approx. $2,300) spread over 5 months or in lump sum. I asked if I can counter that and was told no - this is the only offer (other than reduced interest rate offer).

I wouldn't make any payments to them. Lump sum or nothing! You will regret it. Additionally go ahead and deduct those partial payments already made and back that off the 20% figure they are tossing around.

If you absolutely HAVE to settle (you have a salaried job in which your pay could be garnished or have exposed assets in your name IF they get a default judgment), 180 days no where near enough debt seasoning to consider a settlement in your favor. Wait another 6mos. and see if they do charge off, and if so, see what is offered, otherwise tell them to pound sand. I wouldn't settle for more than 5%! If you are a payroll employee and were smart enough to render yourself judgment proof, then DO NOT pay them a dime!

Sorry, I meant if you are NOT a payroll employee..

How can the 3 credit reporting agencies confirm these debts when Advanta bank is no longer in business!! The credit reporting agencies ARE NOT, COULD NOT possibly confirm the debt to ADVANTA! This is impossible. The FDIC took over! Where is the gov't to investigate the credit reporting agencies?? Everyone needs to start suing the debt collection companies at $1,000.00 per violation. If they call and hang up, they don't leave a message, don't tell you who they are...SUE SUE and SUE. Everyone needs to do this NOW. Call Kimmel and Silverman they will sue for you!

Everyone needs to listen up! We need to stick together and everyone needs to sue the debt collection companies that are handling Advanta bank. What advanta did was a fraud. Now if the debt collection company does anything in violation of the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) keep a recording of the debt collectors call, give it to an attorney and Sue them for $1,000.00! If we all do this the debt collector will have more problems then they can deal with. We will put them out of business! LETS DO THIS!

What I don't understand is how can Advanta sue any debtor? How can they report to the credit bureaus? Who the hell owns the balance?

Advanta is gone! Shut down by the FDIC and from I've read, they were so nasty that no buyer stepped in to pickup the company for even .01 on the dollar.

F-them is right. They got what they deserved.

Just settled for 20 % of debt they offered amount
Mckenzie

Advanta had securitized its debt to trusts owned by Deutsche Bank. When Advanta folded, Deutsche Bank hired Cardworks to collect. I imagine Deutsche Bank will at some point sell the burned out accounts to a bottom-feeding JDB who will buy knowing full well that there is nobody to authenticate the media in court, hence the only two strategies that will work well are harassment and mortgage lurking, since litigation will be easily defensible.

Mortgage lurking died with the housing market. So did the players who made a lot of use of it:
http://www.insidearm.com/daily/debt-buying-topics/debt-buying/major-arm-player-files-for-bankruptcy-protection/

Phantom is right. I have been a mortgage lender for 21 years. Credit Card Co's would love to get a call from us in the middle of a refinance because they knew we would require any collection debt to be satisfied in order to close.

Things have definitelty changed over the last three years. As of present, if the borrower has any lates, the refinance will be declined. The decline means the credit card company will not be paid.

Back in May 2009 Advanta said I was late with one payment (which I wasn't) and reported me 30 days late even though I provided cancelled checks with an Attny's letter demanding the correction. Well they persisted then shot my rate to 30 something % and my credit score took a nose dive. So guess what happened....Bank of America saw the 30 day late payment and declined me for a balance transfer which would have paid off Advanta. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!

There is dumb, there is stupid and then there be Advanta.

My .02

Hi,
I'm a reporter with Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm looking to speak with borrowers who still have Advanta debts for a story I'm working on. If you're open to an interview, please email me at
. thanks
John Tozzi
Reporter
Bloomberg Businessweek

Sorry but it is against the TOS to post your email address.

My story is much like many others posted so I'll not be redundant. About a year and a half ago I signed a hardship agreement with Advanta Cards guaranteeing a 9.9% APR for 5 years. I've been diligent and made all payments to them online. Now I discover I can't access their payment schedule site. I'm confused as to whether I'm still liable to them for the remaining balance (10K) or is the contract now null and void. Any advice or clarification would be greatly appreciated as the next payment is due around 3/14/11. Thanks, Mark.

I would recommend contacting cardworks if you have been paying and are now having trouble with the website in question.

So precious!

One of Cardworks' cube drones called the other night and said that when I want to settle the account some day the long record of my not working with them when they called would count against me.

Obviously confused about whether I'll ever want to settle ... and whether not working with them now would ever count for anything.

No Advanta = no court admissible documentation. Period.

Just got a card from Cardworks. Offer 25% lump sum payment and they will update trade line to settled in full. I am considering but will push for trade line deletion. Advanta is dead so what does it matter to them?

Sub - don't bet on it. I wouldn't trust Advanta as far as I could throw them! That being said, I was offered the same, and will pass! There's no sense in throwing good $$ after bad in settling any amount with these defunct clowns. I'd rather use the money for something useful - like survival :))

This thread vanished for a while due to a database error ... they've fixed it but some of the latest posts were lost.

Today marks my 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY of my last payment to the lovely folks at Advanta. So far, so good. Haven't received any calls or mail for months. Perhaps now having a foreclosure & over $1 million in secured & unsecured debt in default show up when they pull credit helps. Another 3 years and I'm out of the woods for good with them (4-year statute of limitations on bringing a suit against me). In the meantime, I can put cash to good use and building back my future. NEVER SETTLE!

Im a bill collector. I'll give you some valuable advise and some good informtation.

Banks don;t want to settle while the credit account is still in their internal collection department. They get more out of you having the deliquent account.

As long as debt is owed to the bank, they can claim it as accounts receivables and sway their investors to keep investing and get more money for loans.

Once the account has been deliquent for a certain period of time, it charges off their books. Now, it is no longer of any interest to them as far as making their books "look" good.

This is why so many banks were giving out so many mortgage loans. The accounts receivables made their banks worth a lot of money... causing peple to invest in them without knowing what was going to happen next.

Once the bank charges it off... it goes to us, the collection agencies.

Believe it or not, we are more on your side than the bank. Because both of us have one thing in common... we want to see the account closed with a $0.00 balance.

As a charged off account, anything we collect on the file wil be considered "new money" in the books of the bank. So now, the bank is willing to take anything without sacrificng too much. So negotiating with a collection agency will always save you more money than dealing with the creditor.

Let it go to collections. We'll take what you have as long as it meets the banks minimum expectations (usually 25 to 40% of the balance owed).

Hey 923, Thank you for the input and advise. I think the collection industry needs a serious ethical overhaul. Can't tell you how many times I wish my phone line was recording conversations when Phillips and Cohen would harrass me.

What readers need to understand is Advanta made it's living by lending to small business owners. To take our interest rates from 6-36%(just because "they can") plays a devilish hand to any company already struggling.

Where is the justice for the damaged credit rating when i cannot afford a 36% rate, and i cannot qualify to refinance that debt to better terms because Advanta gave me a payment a can't afford, and now they report me late!

This shouldn't be legal and management should be put in jail.

To 923: In your experience, what is the likelihood a CA will pursue litigation against a debtor? What do you guys look for as to whether a debtor is a potential target for litigation, in other words? Or is it random? Also, once served, what's the likelihood of a debtor's exam being ordered?

The Advanta credit card debt was sold to a company called Cardworks DBA Advanta Credit Cards. They raised my interest from 6.99% to 34.99% (and I was never late on my account). You can make a formal complain to the Federal Trade Commission at 877-382-4357 as I did today.

It's been apprx one year since my last payment to Advanta. Had to quit paying due to their 35% interest rate increase and a failing business. Haven't heard from them or any collectors in a while. Now have received letters from a law firm in Calif. One addressed to my corporation and one addressed to me personally RE: Advanta Bank Corp in Receivership of the FDIC. What does this mean? My business is going under and the corp. is being dissolved. I have no assets, no money, nothing. Cannot even get a job. Does this mean they plan on suing me? Should I file for bankruptcy? the only thing holding me back from that is I have NO MONEY to pay an attorney.

Hey 927,

Bet you a dollar the "law firm" in reference is "Phillips and Cohen". They are not lawyers but pretend to be.

They threatend me back in 2009 and havent done a thing since.

You don't need a lawyer to fend off Advanta - they do not have the resources to persue. Last offer from PnC was for 35% of the alleged balance to which I said no thanks.

Good luck

It is really is too bad for the people that already settled with Advanta - or any unsecured creditor for that matter - you guys just threw perfectly good $$$ after bad for nothing, as the likelihood of them filing suit and obtaining a judgment, let alone being able to collect anything - is slim to none. It just goes to show you how great creditors are at instilling fear amongst the naive!!!! Only us seasoned pros that have been through this before and don't let the system take advantage of us are still ahead of the game and will continue to be. Our options get stronger and stronger as time passes as the creditors' get weaker - to the point that we win one we make it past the finish line (the statute of limitations).

Just got a call from Sage, which is back on the case. My account went through Sentry, Phillips & Cohen, Sage, back to Cardworks and now back to Sage. Round and round it goes, whether it will ever interest a Florida collections lawyer nobody knows. But if and when it does I have a canceled Accord & Satisfaction check to show 'em.

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I have a business account with Advanta and at the moment I am current and upto date with my payments. I have been struggling financially this past year dueto lack of work. I am not one who Welch’s or defaults on a debt, but lately itappears that I may have to default on my lines of credit. I gave the folks atAdvanta a call and asked them if they could perhaps lower my interest rate to0% and let me finish paying off my account in good standing. I was told thatthey couldn't do anything to help me out, and that I should continue to make mypayments... For the life of me, I can't understand why these idiots won't workwith people before things get out of control.... ADVANTA = BUTTHOLES
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Post 930,

Please provide more info on what Accord and Satisfaction means, how it's done and what I could/should do to protect myself with such a method.

Thank you.

itwasntme - Your intentions, forthright as they may be, will get you nowhere in your negotiations with them or any creditor. I learned it over time myself. They just don't give a sh*t about you. You're just an account number, period. Here are the rules of the game:

1) You must be in default at least 3-6 mos. before they will even consider any type of workout/payment plan.
2) The longer you let the debt "season", the better the settlement - for you. That time frame, IMO, usually doesn't even start until you're a year in arrears.
3) For many, a payment plan is NOT a good idea because your credit is already compromised - and why keep paying when you have NOTHING to gain since the account is already closed? Not only that, but realize that for every payment you continue making extends (tolls) the statute of limitations for them to sue you. A settlement down the pike might be a better option than a payment plan, but I don't see the point unless you're trying to stop the phone calls and letters. Other than that, it's throwing good money after bad.

Enough is enough. They've already made their money off you. I was in the same boat. Not one to go into default. But from a business standpoint, it was the only way to survive. Now going on 15 mos!

I'd like to know if anyone has made it past 18 mos. and no actions???

Too much to explain here about Accord and Satisfaction. Try "Debt Hope: Down and DIrty Survival Strategies"

There's too much detail to include here. Try "Debt Hope: Down and Dirty Survival Strategies"

I have made it past two years and no actions. There were only a handful of actions in the entire State of Florida per myfloridacounty.com's judgment search...

What plaintiff name do we search under to find out of there are any actions in our county? Would it still be Advanta?

The FDIC's name is thrown in there on some of the actions, but they seem to be out of the picture now. Cardworks' name might be appropriate, as might something with Deutsche Bank in it (there were trusts that funded the Advanta receivables, they belonged to Deutsche Bank, and it's believed Deutsche Bank's trusts continue to own the receivables). But the Advanta Bank Corporation name should also appear, with a connecting description of the real party's relationship to Advanta Bank Corporation (as successor, as receiver, as assignee or the like).

There was nothing under Advanta, FDIC, or Deutsche Bank in my local county. I am on 15 months of non-payment and no activity. No more calls or letters. They still have about 2.75 years to file suit before the SOL expires. It makes zero sense to even consider a 1% settlement at this point.

I completely agree with that statement. The longer the wait the less value the charge-off has.

After two + years I have actually grown numb to the whole $hitty credit thing.

Advanta won't dare sue me bc I'm worth $0. Screw them! They deserve to get nothing for shafting me with 36% f-n interest.

Actually, the last case I see was in 2009 by Federated Financial Corp. of America on behalf of Advanta. Before that, only 5 2008, and the rest 2006 and prior. Does anyone know if Federated is still a CA for Advanta?