Need help negotiating and reducing Debt

My citi biz acct is getting charged off on Thursday, I have made so many offers but am not able to get them to come down more than 45%. Do you think I should take the 45% and get done with it and avoid the hassle of dealing with outside collection agency and may be settling later for around 30-35% ? thanks in advance for the feedback!

Please read my post subject :high credit card debt. If you decide to go with a debt settlement company I list some of the things you should know. Unfortunately I speak to many people who are in similar situation to yours. Make sure you consider all your options before making a decision. A good debt settlement company can help you do this and there is a lot of great info on this site.[samebox:30aa85eca1="paulmergel"]the OP is doing fine on there own.they have weighed there options.i will look for your subject and proceed from there.[/samebox:30aa85eca1]

Thanks, but I am not considering outside agency to settle my debt. I need help whether to take settlement or deal with out side debt collection agency which citi might send my acct to.

I also got an offer today for 0% for 5 years but I am still leaning towards the settlement.

wow, thats a pretty good deal im guessing its a hardship program? but the facts are the facts if you cant pay that over 5 years, then stick to your guns about the settlement. good luck to you!

you think I should take 45% offer?

well this is up to you its below 50% and frankly i was always ready to jump at 50% (nervous about getting sued) but i know some do alot better so its what you are comfortable with and what you can afford.

Took the citi biz offer of 45% split into 3 payments.
Only one account to go.

Also an update on FICO score, last year I was around 680, I checked a month back when the only debt settled was my Amex and the score was 470... took a big hit. But now after 3 accounts were reported settled to the credit agencies it went up to 510. I am hoping once all my accounts are settled by end of july my score should be around 570-600 based on the FICO simulator. so will update you all again!!

just one account to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I see you started this thread in July 2008 and today your at one card left to settle. When did you stop paying them all in Aug? I have just stopped playing mine, most are not 30 days late yet. Just wondering how long it takes from start to finish. I know I should wait around 3 months before I start giving settlement numbers.

July was about when I stopped paying. By the time I started getting offers or I started making offers was after November. I settled only one account AMEX last year, all the other I settled in 2009.

I am in the same exact situation that you were in 1 year ago. Wife out of a job 80k or so of combined cc debt...should i start not paying and travel down the same path you took? would you have done anything differently? what do you suggest? I do make about 70k per year, but it's stretching thin every month.....Thanks.

Virtual Deal, When you start stopping payments the first few months, did the CC company shoot up your interest and add the late fees into the total amount? When you made the deal with them are those fees part of your total amount owed? Or it doesn't really matter once you take this path, since they have to reduce the amount you owed via % owed? Thanks,

Thats a good question about negotiating fees. I did not care about fees. the % settlement included the fees. I just wanted to get it done. my interest rates went to as high as 28% but I didint care. I would suggest just stop paying and dont wait till you get 20 or 25%. Any thing below 40% just take it from the original creditor, coz its a hassle and stressfull thing to deal with 3rd party collection agencies. So if you get around 40% offer jump on it. I would wait atleast 5 months from the day when you stop paying to make offers which is about 90-100 days past due. Talk to a nice customer rep everytime, get their direct extension , (use your judgement to determine who's nice) keep calling the same person and develop a good conversation and relation with that person. Tell them the true situation, dont give too details about how much you make and all tht.
Good Luck!

1. Stoping payment on 70k of CC as of today.
2. Should I pick up and the answer the phone when they call me?
3. I am still currently employee but my wife is not, should I let them know this?
4. What if they want me to continue with my monthly payments? what should is say?

Virtualdeal,

Are you dealing with th CA's or directly with the CC companies?

I generally answered most of the calls, may be 1 or 2 a week from each creditor. sometimes I called them back based on voicemails just to be nice. Tell them you just dont have enough money to pay all creditors are trying to arrange some money and will pay once you get the money.

as far as the question about CA or CC, I have dealt mostly with CC cos. directly. I try to avoid my acct going to CA

Virtualdeal, I have a Citibank card with a balance of 35,000. I stopped making payments last month. I also have an Amex with a 4,000 balance and a Chase with 1,000 balance. Both are current in payments. Do you know if I can negotiate a settlement with Citibank and continue to be cuurent on my other two credit cards? The balances on my Amex and Chase CC are manegable and I want to keep my credit with them in good standing. The balance with Citibank has become to high and now I;m unable to even make the minimum payment. I had to close my business and I'm currently unemployed. Citibank called me and offered 0% interest for 12 months and monthly payments of 1% of the debt ($350), but they required I give them my checking account number for automatic withdrawals, so I told them I would call them later. What should I do? If I aceept this offer can I later negotiate a settlement? Thanks for your insight

Hey George, I am not sure what to do in your specific situation. But its easier to reach settlements when you default on all your accounts. citi may say that why arent you paying us and paying other creditors. you can take the citi offer about hardship program if it works for you but remember to get them to settle you must be atleast 120 days past due.
I would recommend that pay off your chase and amex and then default with citi and wait for settlement. or get enrolled in a hardship program with Amex and chase and then default citi and wait for settlement. But if you want to settle dont take the 0% offer. These are my recommendations, others may have other thoughts.
"..I want to keep my credit with them in good standing.." when you go for settlements whether its one creditor or 10 your credit history is going to be tanked and Chase and Amex 2 or 4years from now are not going to ssee what you did with their accounts, they are going to look at your credit history first, so I dont understand why are you worried about good standin with them. just my 2 cents there

Its been a while I am trying to settle with penfed but no luck. its the only account remaining to settle and they have charged off my account and said that I cannot enter any hardship program, the only option is to pay it off or settle, which they are not accepting anything below 85% lumpsum. It might go to an outside agency. I am not even getting calls anymore.
After settling all these accounts and now I am getting no phone calls but it sure feels good. Previously my phone rang every 15mins.. not any more.
On another note my FICO is 520 now with some cc balances still to be paid under settlement program. I should be done with all cc by the end of this month.

Thanks again! Please let me know if any other way to deal with penfed or what should I expect.

Look at Zipdebt.com.

It's a do it your self settlement. It will tell u what to say and the time line of settlement process.

What about specific negotiations with Citibank?
I know someone they settled at 50%, but he somehow got to speak with a manager.

Virtualdeal,

Would you be willing to tell how much (the $ amount) that you ended up settling on with each company.

usually the cc companies add the fees and higher % rating but, say if you have a debt of 4,000 and all thier fees raised to 5,000 and you get a settlement offer of 2,000 you are still saving 2,000 so its worth it to still go the settlement route even though they add the astronomical fees

South Carolina does not allow any wage garnishment at all, nor do three other states (I forget which ones) so check that out too.

Are you still there virtualdeal? If so, I'm curious if that early threat from one of the cc cos that they were gonna "give it to legal" ever went anywhere? Also, did any of the cc co's contact your employer or do anything to verify your assets (or pull your credit history)? Finally, whatever happened with Penfed?

I have a huge amount of credit card debt ($270K, with five companies), and it's looking like settling is my best option -- though I'm self-employed and own four houses (three rentals), which are all underwater.

I just joined this forum and found this thread and read it from front to back and I too am wondering what your current status is. Where you able to settle your final card and whats your credt score looking like now since your settlement path started back in 2008.