Debt settlement rules

Some are harder to settle than others but pretty much all major creditors will settle.

Thank you!

They just want information on how to do it themselves. First you open a special purpose bank account then you get them to automatically draft a certain monthly payment to those credit cards. (Make sure that you devide your debt by 50% and then devide that by the amount of time you would like to get yourself out of debt(months)). That will be your payment that is drafted by your special purposes account. Then you will have to get an attorney to send them letters so the creditor cannot harass you during the 24-48 months its going to take to get these debt settled. Then once you have a lump sum payment you call those creditors and you settle. MAKE sure you get this in writing.

*OK then here is the kicker. If you get sued you have no advice on what to do or where to go. Please don't get ripped off by attorneys that overcharge!

Almost everyone will settle BUT there are a few creditors that do like to play hardball. I have them all-Capitol One, Chase, Citibank, Direct Merchants, GE...there's more but just to give you an example. I got settlement offers from almost every one of them. They didn't come quickly either-it took months-almost 1 year. Some even longer.

I can't stress enough without sounding like a broken record-YOU DO NOT NEED AN ATTORNEY and YOU DO NOT NEED A DEBT SETTLEMENT COMPANY(unless you want to use one). You will get calls and letters and some will be harsh. You WILL need nerves of steel to deal with these creditors if you decide to talk to them by phone but that's it. Otherwise just let them send everything in writing. Utilize this site-you will find examples of letters you can send to the collection agencies to stop the calls as well as read some awesome stories from other members here that have settled debt on their own. I know a few that settled BIG debt without spending a dime. It can be done.

I also want to add that there is no guarantee that you will not get a judgment or lawsuit filed against you in the process. I can only speak from my experiences, my husbands experiences and the experiences of others that I personally know to say that we haven't. BUT, there IS always that chance. This is what you will face whether you do it on your own or with a debt settlement company.

Citibank was hard on me. Sued me right after charge off. So did Target National Bank. So there are some that may sue pretty quick. I live in MN which is a very creditor friendly state though so it makes it easy for them here.

One bit of advice is that for any settlement you get, get it in writing and make sure the letter states that it is a settlement in full on the account. Even better will be wording that once your settlements funds clear that the creditor will send a zero balance letter.

I'm dealing with one account right now that I thought was settled but the OC sold off the remaining balance to a junk debt buyer so now I'm going to have to fight that.

Did you get a 1099 for the amount of the forgiven debt? Because if you did (if it was over $600), that's all you need - no creditor is allowed to try further collections or sell the remaining debt once they have issued a 1099 and declared the forgiven debt as a loss. That is federal law.

There is a perfect example. Like arb posted, Citibank was quick to sue as well as Target National Bank. Between my husband and I, we have multiple Citi accounts as well as Target and no lawsuit or judgment sine 12/07-2/09. That is what...like 15 months? So as you can see, there are no set "rules" and these creditors will do what they want. I am still not sure their criteria though for who they send offers to and when.

As I mentioned, my husband and I had a lot of the same creditors and some would offer him settlements right away but the same creditor would not offer me anything until months later and a few none at all. I really don't know if they figure it out by the balance you owe, how long you had the account or what but I know it is not uniform or one size fits all-that's for sure.

its amazing the differences. i myself had gotten sued by citibank, while others have had sucessful settlements yet my account was small. i hear the smaller ones are harder to deal with.

how does the 1099c effect your income ?

how does the 1099c effect your income ?

Quote:

We had gotten 1099'ed by a credit card company. We just sent in proof of insolvency with our taxes. We were upside down on everything and still owed on credit cards!

Now we are being sued by Citibank. New territory for us. We haven't had this in all the other cards we dealt with.

i agre for debt settlement to the bank .and ihave already 4 payment done and the remaining 2 payment default due to my bank mistakes .right away my creditor sell to debt buyer with out giving me notice. now they say they will sue me . but i dont have the original creditor notice that they tranfer to other debt buyer.

please reply my question

1099 shows as income that has not yet been taxed, so you will have to pay the taxes on it when you file

Hi,

If I will not pay the settlement amount of my credit card as they are settling it in very high amount then...can the bank take legal action and what are chances to get the legal case against me.

Thanks

In my experience in settling credit card debt, I found that citifinancial and chase will file a law suit to get a judgment. Send a letter ASAP to all creditors then their likely to charge the debt off and sell the debt to another company, allowing you to be able to settle for even less and faster. Also, in you have any personal (consolidation) loans where you applied and received the load in person. Those tend to be tougher. However, every case is different, if you are on a ???fixed income??? meaning you???re ???judgment proof??? you won???t have to worry about wage garnishment, than those accounts will be easier to settle. As for law suits, if you do receive a summons you should send in an ???Answer??? also note the way in which you were served, familiarize yourself with the proper legal ways one must serve you. Someone here has mentioned Collection calls and all the threats, that tend to drive most crazy and off their goals, however, with new laws and the use of the ???[COLOR=black][URL="http://www.citydebtrelief.com/"]Fair Debt Collection Practices Act[/URL][/COLOR]??? one can STOP the Collection calls, but like anything you must know how, send the correct letter. As for doing this all on your own yes, you can you do not need a professional. However, of course a Good professional (like any industry) can be a real help. As for fees, good companies will not charge any upfront or monthly fee you only pay a percentage of what the Settlement Company Saves you. So I wouldn???t let fee stop me from hiring a professional company. Because if you settle at say 40% including a debt settlement fee, verses settling at 50% on your own, you would have actually saved money by hiring a company. One last thing on tough Creditors, and common consumer mistakes is picking and choosing who you are going to settle with, in this case any and all Creditors will be difficult to negotiate with. They should know you are in a hardship, and you are not paying any of the Creditors. Be honest because most if not all are pulling your creditor report. Best of luck. Stay the course and live Debt Free! :)

If you don't agree with the Settlement amount, simply reply with an offer in which you can do, just don't commit to an amount in which you can not do. Banks can at any time proceed with legal action, depends on your situation.

Did you send them a settlement agreement? Anything in writing?
If not then, all you can really do is play hard with the new "debt buyer" Collection Co. and offer them 10% of the balance, see what their counter is and like any negotiation stay firm only agree to what you can actually do, and get it all in WRITING. BOL...