Some specific questions about trying to negotiate on my own VS a debt settlement company?
Date: Wed, 01/27/2010 - 16:36
I would really appreciate someone's help with this.
I am current on all obligations. Have never been late in my life. My income is much less now than it used to be. I have had no help from my CC companies in wanting to negotiate payment down (because I'm not late yet).
My questions are these.
1. If I am willing to take the hit on my credit report, should I let my accounts go delinquent and then try to contact the CC companies and negotiate for 50% of what I owe, putting the $ away each month in my own savings account pretending like I am still paying so that I have the $ to negotiate with, and then paying the lowest first etc. etc.
If the answer is yes, then, at what point do I contact the CC company to tell them of my plan (wanting to gain as much leverage as possible to negotiate with, while not putting myself in a worse situation by waiting too long - triggering some kind of lawsuit). And do I contact all 5 at one time and tell them? What is the balance between the two?
Also, if they want to lower my payment at that point (say 3 months from now) and they are all "hey let's put you on a lower payment plan etc." (which is what I tried to do now, but they weren't willing) do I take that and try to do that? Because WHAT I REALLY WANT is to get out of debt as fast as I can, paying as little as I can, and I would rather take the hit on my credit and get something settled for way less, than to just reduce my payment each month and still owe the mountain of debt. I would rather take the hit, and get out of debt sooner.
I also want to know if the unsecured Business Credit Line that I have is something that I can include. And if I can, do I handle it just like the others? Are there different ramifications associated with that I should be aware of that are different than with the other CC companies?
How do I handle the phone calls that I will get (someone mentioned going in and changing the # they have in their system, so that the calls go to some other # and not my home or work #). And if I do that, when I get a message from the CC company do I return the call? If I do return the call, what do I tell them? If they say well "can you pay us something" and maybe I can pay them say 50 bucks or something, I don't want me paying that to undermine THE WHOLE POINT of what I want to accomplish, that in essence doesn't allow the process to move forward to being able to settle the debt. But at the same time, if a token payment keeps them from wanting to sue because I look like I am trying in good faith to do what I can, then I would want to know if that would make a difference. I don't want to be stupid about it. I want to go through as little pain as possible, while getting the biggest amount written off. To be able to weigh two options (Real Ones, not ones that I am tricked into, or bluffed into) and make an educated decision on if in a particular case I should do something different with one company, that in another case I would be advised not to do the same approach.
It seems that if I have all of the information necessary, to do all of the same things for myself that a debt negotiation company would do, that I will come out even better off that if I went through one to handle the process. Is there a real decided advantage to using a company VS myself? Really? If so, what is that compelling thing that they will do, that I can't do?
Is there anything that I should do before I start to go 30 days late on my payments that will help me in any way?
Once I start this, I want to be prepared and geared up for what is to come, knowing I got all of the advice possible so that I don't look back later and say "oh man, I could have saved $10,000 by doing this or that, or "I could have avoided this or that, if I had just done this, at the 3 month mark.
Does this make sense?
In summary:
1. I need to get out of debt!
2. I can't make the min payments anymore and I want to settle the debts off as quickly as possible, and am willing to let my credit take the hit, but don't want to invite more trouble than necessary into the equation.
3. I need to know if I can write off as a part of the equation a business line of credit (my company is still in business) so I assume if I can, I would need to change my banking to a different organization. Also, the biz line is $50,000 it's the biggie, and would definitely make the biggest difference. Working with $90,000 total, VS $40,000 makes doing this more worth the hit to the credit.
Thank you so much for any advice that you can give.
I am current on all obligations. Have never been late in my life. My income is much less now than it used to be. I have had no help from my CC companies in wanting to negotiate payment down (because I'm not late yet).
My questions are these.
1. If I am willing to take the hit on my credit report, should I let my accounts go delinquent and then try to contact the CC companies and negotiate for 50% of what I owe, putting the $ away each month in my own savings account pretending like I am still paying so that I have the $ to negotiate with, and then paying the lowest first etc. etc.
If the answer is yes, then, at what point do I contact the CC company to tell them of my plan (wanting to gain as much leverage as possible to negotiate with, while not putting myself in a worse situation by waiting too long - triggering some kind of lawsuit). And do I contact all 5 at one time and tell them? What is the balance between the two?
Also, if they want to lower my payment at that point (say 3 months from now) and they are all "hey let's put you on a lower payment plan etc." (which is what I tried to do now, but they weren't willing) do I take that and try to do that? Because WHAT I REALLY WANT is to get out of debt as fast as I can, paying as little as I can, and I would rather take the hit on my credit and get something settled for way less, than to just reduce my payment each month and still owe the mountain of debt. I would rather take the hit, and get out of debt sooner.
I also want to know if the unsecured Business Credit Line that I have is something that I can include. And if I can, do I handle it just like the others? Are there different ramifications associated with that I should be aware of that are different than with the other CC companies?
How do I handle the phone calls that I will get (someone mentioned going in and changing the # they have in their system, so that the calls go to some other # and not my home or work #). And if I do that, when I get a message from the CC company do I return the call? If I do return the call, what do I tell them? If they say well "can you pay us something" and maybe I can pay them say 50 bucks or something, I don't want me paying that to undermine THE WHOLE POINT of what I want to accomplish, that in essence doesn't allow the process to move forward to being able to settle the debt. But at the same time, if a token payment keeps them from wanting to sue because I look like I am trying in good faith to do what I can, then I would want to know if that would make a difference. I don't want to be stupid about it. I want to go through as little pain as possible, while getting the biggest amount written off. To be able to weigh two options (Real Ones, not ones that I am tricked into, or bluffed into) and make an educated decision on if in a particular case I should do something different with one company, that in another case I would be advised not to do the same approach.
It seems that if I have all of the information necessary, to do all of the same things for myself that a debt negotiation company would do, that I will come out even better off that if I went through one to handle the process. Is there a real decided advantage to using a company VS myself? Really? If so, what is that compelling thing that they will do, that I can't do?
Is there anything that I should do before I start to go 30 days late on my payments that will help me in any way?
Once I start this, I want to be prepared and geared up for what is to come, knowing I got all of the advice possible so that I don't look back later and say "oh man, I could have saved $10,000 by doing this or that, or "I could have avoided this or that, if I had just done this, at the 3 month mark.
Does this make sense?
In summary:
1. I need to get out of debt!
2. I can't make the min payments anymore and I want to settle the debts off as quickly as possible, and am willing to let my credit take the hit, but don't want to invite more trouble than necessary into the equation.
3. I need to know if I can write off as a part of the equation a business line of credit (my company is still in business) so I assume if I can, I would need to change my banking to a different organization. Also, the biz line is $50,000 it's the biggie, and would definitely make the biggest difference. Working with $90,000 total, VS $40,000 makes doing this more worth the hit to the credit.
Thank you so much for any advice that you can give.
Who is the business line of credit with?? Send me a PM and I h
Who is the business line of credit with??
Send me a PM and I have a usefull web site for you.
It is was with WAMU who is now Chase. Thanks for your help.
It is was with WAMU who is now Chase.
Thanks for your help.
