Need opinions and advice with % to settle?

What is the current amount you owe to each company, and how many days late are you with each one? Have any of them been charged off yet or sent to collections?

100 - 120 days late. They have all offered around 40%. I am just wondering if that is the best I can do? My credit allready took a hit so what is a few more months? Only one in with a collection agency AMEX all others are with OC. Does holding out a few more months help or hurt? Thanks

Wow, you're doing well. May I ask your advice on negotiation? I can't get an offer less than 60% and I'm 120 days late on all too! Do you get leverage by letting them know you're aware they will lose more (than 40%) if they charge-off the acct? Any advice on playing hardball?

OK glad to hear those are good offers. I just do not want to go BK. If I have to I will and they know that. I paid an attorney to gather the info and have a BK ready. Have you dealt with any of these greditors?

Bill, looks like you are off to a great start.

I know debt settlement brings down your credit score, but,...I guess some people may not have a choice. I have received letters, from CA's, for PDL's I had in the past. I'm not gonna settle on these, since PDL's are illegal..ya know. I would like to know how you're handling things, too. Sometimes it's hard to deal with when you're not sure which debt to start on, etc.

I found out the hard way, I went through CCCS and initially was told that it shouldn't affect anything, but then found out that it is almost like filing bankruptcy so it did do some damage to my credit.

CCCS told you that? WOW!! I haven't done debt settlement, howevr, the more I see on this website about doing that, I may NOT do that. I don't see how Debt Settlement would NOT do some dammage.

The bottom line is not your credit score it is getting out of debt. If you cannot pay and have a legit hardship - all which I do - Then settlement can be worked out and it is 100% better than a BK. I am trying to settle as many accounts as I can - with my resources before they go to charge off. And if nothing goes my way and I get sued I will go BK.

Sdchargers, CCCS is debt management, not debt settlement. That's why they said it wouldn't affect the credit.

Dawn, did you finish with CCCS or did you quit in the middle? My understanding is that your credit report is noted while you are in the program, and understandably, creditors would be hesitant to let you open any new accounts during that time. I believe that once you finish the program, the notation is supposed to be removed and nothing shows on your credit report.

I'm sorry..I must have misunderstood. With Debt Managment, do YOU learn to manage your accounts? I mean, do you get advice on how to save to pay accounts off, etc.? Or.....do you have somoene do this program for you? I've read about BOTH management and settlement. they seem very similisr ( as in the way they work) to me. I don't mean to sound ignorant, but, with CCCS, what's the difference between the two programs?

I haven't finished yet, I am down to 1 account and I hope that it will be paid off soon. I haven't look at my credit report lately to see if the others were changed. I know that while they were through the program, the accounts did say paid through debt management plan or something like that.

My plan for next year is to look through the website & get on track to fix my credit back up...

Dawn, hopefully, once you finish the program, your report will look better!

SDchargers, CCCS sets everything up so that you pay them one payment per month and then they pay all of your creditors. They can sometimes get you reduced interest rates, but essentially you pay off your full balance with all of your creditors, unlike debt settlement, where you pay less than the full amount. With CCCS, you would still be making monthly payments that probably wouldn't be much less than your payments on your own. However, you would probably get the debts paid off sooner, due to hopefully lower interest rates. They do also have counselors to help you with budgeting advice.

With debt settlement, you stop paying your creditors (theoretically due to some hardship), and you hope that somewhere down the road they will be willing to settle for less than the full balance on the account.

OHH..I see! I appriciate the explanation. So..Debt Management would look better on your credit than a Settlement..right? Ok.....I believe I understand the difference now. Does anyone have a reccommendation on a specific person to deal with, with CCCS?

When I was looking into it, I went to nfcc.org. From there you can search for a local non-profit CCCS. You'll also be able to see which ones do phone counseling, internet counseling, or only in person counseling. Initially, they will want all of the details of your income and expenses, so be sure that you have it all handy when you contact them. The initial consultation is free, and if you use their services I think they charge something like $25 to set up your account and $25 per month.

Be aware though that they can't help everyone. In my case, since we didn't have enough income to cover all of our expenses and debts, they told us that they couldn't help us (I talked with two different ones). Also, be aware that any negative items that are already on your credit reports will probably stay there.

Good luck!