Need help negotiating and reducing Debt

Virtualdeal, are you saving money as you go? To pay settlement on full?

Yes, I am

settle at 20% they will do it!!

20% ?????? why, what makes you say that?

Virtualdeal, you can read about Relax's experiences here:

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/settlement/lowering-payment.html

Just a quick update.. US Bank and Amex I have past the 90 days. been getting a lot of calls lately. US Bank actually called and said that they would now verify my employment and assets, does any one what exactly that means ?
Amex I have called them every 15-20 days and given an update.
My questions :
1. How do I make an offer ? or still wait to hear from them about settlement.
2. If I have money to settle wont they want me to pay the minimum payment or in other words would they say that " well you have money to settle , why not pay the minimum or take the debt management plan " ?

I'm not sure what they mean by verifying your employment and assets. None of our creditors used that threat against us. I wonder if that means that they will call your employer to verify?? And maybe do a property search to find out if you own property??

If you want to make them an offer, I would start low. You could always tell them that you have a relative who has offered you a limited amount to settle your debts.

Are they allowed to call my employer in GA ? As far as assets when they realize I have nothing but a car, would that play in my favor ?

I'm not sure whether they are allowed to call your employer. Maybe someone else will be able to answer that. At most, they might be able to verify your employment. I don't think they would be able to release any information about your debts.

I would definitely think that having no assets other than a car would be beneficial to you. Obviously, most people have to have a vehicle.

Hopefully, someone can answer the question about calling your employer.

I got a call from Citi and I talked to a really nice collections rep (for a change) and I told her if there can be a fxed amount so that I can settle that. I mentioned that I have a car which I mght get $1000 in equity and the balance on that card is $4k. She said let me look and put me on hold , came back and said at this point your account has no provisions but you can check back. That account is still not 90 days due. Do you think may be after 90days if I call her (she gave me her extension no.) possibly there might be a chance for settlement ?

I would wait for another 30-60 days

Update: upon me asking the creditors option to settle
USBank: no offers
Chase: 85%
citi : 85%
Amex: offered me 90% but I denied so the acct manager said my account can goto an attorney. Any one know what that means? or is it a standard note my collectors

I think if you wait longer you will probably get better offers, but there are no guarantees. One of them could decide to sue you at any point. If that happens, then you would probably still have a chance to negotiate prior to going to court.

post deleted.bob solicitaion is prohibited per TOS rules-paulmergel.

I got an offer from NCO for my Amex acct. After negotitation finally got a 30% offer. The collector said he would send me a letter by email and mail. If I agree to the terms do I just send them a payment on that address or do I send it to Amex? I havent seen the letter yet, also he said that Amex would report my credit report as paid in full. I have read other experiences with NCO and was thinking if it is safe to send them payments.

I took a risk and accepted the NCO - Amex offer and got it settled for 30%. It's on my credit report as closed and I also got a 1099 from Amex. Now my challenge is to prove insolvency. any suggestions.

Thanks for all your help. 1 down finally!!!!!!!!!

PM Flyingifr with that question. He's an Enrolled IRS Agent.

Virutualdeal,
First of all, hi and thank you for sharing this experience as I have been following it and am curious to see how it plays out for you, hopefully very well. My question is, 1st how late did you let your AmEx account go before the settlement deal? And 2nd, did they offer it up to you, or did you make the first move in asking for it?

This is my first time posting here, and I too am trying to figure out a plan to get out of my credit card debt as I can no longer afford to make my minimum payments. Thanks!

Hi Maggie, I stopped paying in july and I reached settlement in November. My acct went to NCO and the very first call they made I struk a deal. first I talked to a rep and he asked me abt settlement, so it went to his supervisor so gave me 50% offer, i denied so she said let me check with manager and he gave me 30%, I took it knowing its tough dealing with Amex and NCO. I have other cards which I am behind by 6 months but soe settlement offers coming now. So I would say wait ofr atleast 180 days past due. Today I got a citi offer for 45% I denied. SO lets see how it goes next week.
The economy helps people who want to settle, I think thats what I have realized. :D

Got a settlement offer of 20% from USBank! No second thoughts ... took it :lol: Citi and chase giving me 45%-55% offers but am going to wait! Penfed ... no offers :cry:
2 down ... hurrah! both majot chunks almost 46k settled for 10k. Thanks to the forum.

That is awesome for you virtual deal! Are they going to mark it as settled in full or just settled? Can other CA's come after you for the balances that you did not settle?

I am not sure what other CA's would do, I am taking one at a time. Any feedback would be appreciated. I did make 20% offers to others but they did not accept.

Citi said that in the next 10 days my accounts are going to be 6months due and would probably goto attorneys or legal dept.
Iam not sure what that means or what happens then. Any idea?

No idea. Maybe they mean they are at the point of charge off? I'm only just now approaching 60 days late so I am just getting started myself!
I'm sure some one will be along to answer...

for those that are doing diy settlement--

is the settlement for the current amount owed including all interest and fees, or is it off the amount of your credit limit?

also, what is NCO?

I think if you can sell off one of your two cars to start off with it will help things to start with. Then try and make sure you start a personal savings out of the balance left from your salary after paying off the minimum dues (because you still have an income which is more than your expense requirements)

Then try and settle the smaller dues on credit cards, free those credit cards.

Once you have a couple of credit cards freed, try and rotate the debt from one credit card to the other, that way you will save on interest payments and also it will lower the credit card debt.

Thanks, virtualdeal, and thank you for posting and keeping us updated on your situation, it's a great help and inspiration!

I'd like to tell what my situation is and see if anyone can offer any advice or experience for me, which I'm sure someone here can! Here it is:

I am married, we own and operate a small business of which I am considered the sole proprietor, and we own the building that we run it in separately from owning our home. So, that's two properties, two mortgages, taxes, utilities, etc.. This April will be 7 years that we're in business, and it has never made much money, but it used to keep the bills paid which was okay, but with the economy steadily declining so has our business, and we have been operating in the red for quite some time now. My husband has been trying to get a job, but there are none to be found in our area, and moving is not an option right now, so we have decided to put our business up for sale before Christmas. No success yet. The bottom line is that trying to keep all of our bills paid between the home and business has really put us, well actually me, into great debt. I now have about $45,000 in credit card debt and it is growing with all the interest rate hikes and fees. See, my debt to income ratio has become too high, so all of my cards have been raising my interest rates, making it impossible for me to even pay the minimums anymore.

I have this debt spread across 9 different cards (2 Bank of America personal cards, 1 Bank of America business card, 1 Bank of America business line of credit, 3 Chase cards, 1 Citi and 1 Gap Visa card). The minimums on all of these come to more than $1000 per month, leaving me little or no money to pay all of my other bills...which inevitably end up being funded by a credit card, a vicious circle! I've come to the decision that I need to try to negotiate my debt with these creditors or I'll never get ahead again. Up until recently I've not missed any payments on my accounts, now I am 1 payment behind on Citi, and 2 payments behind with one of my Bank of America cards. Now I've received a letter from FIA Card Services regarding my B of A delinquency saying that they'd like to help make payment arrangements. Should I call them right away, or should I continue to not make payments and then try, I don't know which is better.

It also seems as though I'm going to have to default on all of my other creditors as well, as I can't afford to pay them anymore. And from what I've read it seems like that is the thing to do if you're planning to try to settle with them. There's just a few things that I'm not sure about:

1) Will collections be handled any differently being that there is business debt involved?

2) I have all of my credit card accounts linked up with my business checking account for paying online, do they have the right to withdraw money without my consent, possibly over drawing my account? I am especially concerned with Bank of America, because that is who I have my bank accounts with, and I am indebted to them between 4 credit accounts.

3) Should I close out my existing bank accounts and open new ones in which my creditors will not have access before I stop paying them?

Bankruptcy is also a consideration in the back of my head, but I don't know if it would be better to try to settle first or not. Any help that any of you can offer will be greatly appreciated, thanks so much!

Maggie, dont worry a bit. from my experience seems like you have to decide right now if youwant to accept payment arrangements (like 5 yrs at 0% apr or some thing like that) or you want to settle debt. I went for the second option which I liked. Just stop payingthem the money and keep saying that you intend to pay after selling your business. Dont offer a settlement till atleast 4 months past due. 4 months past due is not 4 months since you stopped making payments, I believe it calculates to more like 6 months after your last payment. So be patient and start saving. Avoid unnecessary expenses. I recommend you read some forums to help you out. BOFA is known to accept settlements pretty soon as compared to others based on what I have read. SO keep and eye and use your best judgement. I also recommend you starting your own thread with all the details , much like what I did which will help you and others like you.

1) Will collections be handled any differently being that there is business debt involved?

I am not sure about that

2) I have all of my credit card accounts linked up with my business checking account for paying online, do they have the right to withdraw money without my consent, possibly over drawing my account? I am especially concerned with Bank of America, because that is who I have my bank accounts with, and I am indebted to them between 4 credit accounts.

I would advise you to start saving or keeping money for setttlement in cash at your home , I kept some of my money in a totally local bank which is not that big and donot do any kind of bill pay using that account


3) Should I close out my existing bank accounts and open new ones in which my creditors will not have access before I stop paying them?

same as above

Thanks, virtualdeal, I actually did start my own thread right after posting this yesterday (Small business owner unable to pay creditors anymore) and I am getting lots of helpful advice. But I value yours too and I plan to keep following your situation as long as you keep posting about it. A question for you, when they (the creditors) started calling you trying to get payment, did you answer the calls or let them go? I noticed that Citi has been trying to get a hold of me at work (caller ID) during hours that I'm not open, but I'm sure they'll catch up with me sooner or later. Did you tell them that you couldn't make a payment? I'm just not sure what to do at this point as I've never done this before. Thanks!

I replied to this question in your thread!

I have 40% offers from one of my citi accounts with small balance of $4k and 40% with chase for a balance of 16k. Do you think I should take the 40% offers?? chase has agreed to split in 4 payments. Please advice

Hi virtualdeal, I was just wanting to know if you would post an update on your situation as I have been following your thread. Did you accept the 40% offers from Citi and Chase?

I negotiated my lower balance citi account to a 35% settlement and had them split into 3 payments.
I have a 40% offer on a citi card with ~ $14000 balance and 40% offer for chase cards which I have not accepted but put in a counter offer for 25% but haven???t heard ack from them. They keep saying no decision yet its been 7 days

and what is happening to your FICO scores?

I am least worried abt my FICO scores right now! I havent checked. :o should i ?

I sure would ... even if it just once per 6 months or year, then you can kind of track the damager, for anecdotal purposes if nothing else!

Hi again, virtualdeal!
Great job on the Citi deal! My question is, has all this talk and negotiation been done by phone or in writing? I hope Chase and your other Citi card accept your counter offer.

you made some good negotiations! great job! I too would check out your scores though then that way you know were your at and were you need to go!

Quote: "I have a 40% offer on a citi card with ~ $14000 balance and..."

Hi virtualdeal, I'm just curious... since this amount wasn't listed in your original post, did they combine all 3 of your citi cards and work with you that way? Also, were you able to get them to waive the added fees for settlement?

"Citi Prof: 3k
Citi Premier pass:6k
Citi business: 5k " 14k balance was for the citiprimier pass account. I misttyped when I posted the account initailly, Thanks for pointing it out ..butterfly
I never bargain on the fees and credit report and all that. I just get the total due and I make a 20-25% offer.
Maggie, I have been doing all my communication via phone.

as far as checking the scores .. I will check them one of these days but its my least worries at this point as I am not intending to buy a house in the next 2-4 years at the least or use my credit anywhere. I am thinking I will check the scores at the end of my debt settlement stunt. Is there a free way I can check FICO scores?

no you have to pay for them, or if you are looking for a loan, sometimes mortgage brokers/loan officers will give you a copy. But since they have to pay for the scores, they likely wouldn't give the scores to you unless you are doing a loan, or if it was agreed to in advance.

I check my credit at least once a year at annualcreditreport.com, you can get your report free from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. It's just the report that's free, you have to pay for your score which is anywhere from $5 - $8 bucks.

Finally I agreed with Citi today for 35% on my premier pass.
So.. here's my summary of settlements so far..or my successes:
Amex - 30% (settled with NCO)
US Bank - 20% - 2 payments
Citi PP - 35% - 3 monthly payments
Citi Professional - 35% 3 monthly payments


Chase - 40% offer on table for both accounts made a counter for 25%, pending
Citi biz - 55% offer on table
Penfed - 85% offer on table

Virtual Deal,

I've been following your thread for quite some time and am motivated by your success. Congrats and thanks for the updates!!

Me, too. Very inspirational! You're almost there!

Just heard from Chase, my counter offer of 25% got approved... hurrah! now waiting for the settlement letters for both my chase accounts. they said it was mailed.

Just 2 accounts more to go..citi biz and penfed!!!!

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Just wondering if you settled your last two accounts, virtualdeal?

No not yet! I dont even have money on my end to settle anymore. I am waiting to make offers. But am getting 45% from citi biz, but am hoping to 25%.
Penfed just wont accept anything below 85%. Any one has any thoughts? any experiences with Penfed?