where do i start ???

Greetings and Welcome to the forums!

You can do this (with a little help from your friends).
Some in here have completed the debt free journey, while others are fighting the good battle and others are just starting.

It's a "pay it forwards" theme.

My 2 cents for what it's worth.
You have got to read these forums.
I mean read them over and over again.
Ask questions, get answers.

You can then decide on your personal plan of action.
You've indicated that you want to run the settlement route.

Please tell us in general how much you owe on each and how far behind in payments?

And now I digress...
I was about to hire a debt settlement company but with the outstanding advice that I got in here....I did it myself.:cool:


Respectfully yours,
King "Kash" Jabba Labba

my debts are as follows:
FIA (bank of america)- 8,153... just missed first payment 5/14
chase- 7,191...just missed first payment 5/13
american express- 5,255...due june 8
home depot- 2,933...missed first payment today
how far behind do you have to be for them to negotiate?
we just finished a mortgage modification that we started nov-08, i hope this won't
take as long

Greetings again!

Your debts are still relatively fresh.

Have the hounds (snakeheads) started howling?
They will start soon and it's almost comical.

You'll need to be more late....60-180 days depending on the slimy cc's.

Respectfully yours,
King "Kash" Jabba Labba

Cookychris,

Home Depot may be serviced by Citi, which we have had good success in working with.
For us, they removed all feed and took up from a 30% interest rate to a 10%, termed out over 4 years. But, they will positively report us on the credit info... and I was more concerned with monthly payments than settling with them.

Sometimes it's worth calling them- even if you're not behind yet, just to let them know you've got some difficulties, and what you anticipate. Note: not the time to make an offer, but it may be worth asking about what programs or advice they can offer...

Hope this helps,
~Matt

I did a huge and highly successful settlement primarily with the help of my forum brothers and sisters. You can also. Study, receive the help and assist others. All for free....no need to pay anyone. YOU can do the best job representing yourself.

home depot already closed our account. we really want to do a settlement and get rid of the credit cards. if i tell them that i am willing to close the account will they settle quicker for a better deal? when i make the first call do i tell them i would like to settle the account? do i make an offer of an amount to pay them? what is the best way to approach them?

The longer you don't pay the better the deal in some cases. They will string you along and try and talk you into a payment arrangement before they will talk about settlement. In my experience you just have to live through them calling non stop until they really believe you won't pay them anything.

One more thing. I am hoping to get a mtg mod - could you tell me how you got one? I was denied twice but still don't know why.

sok:
the mortgage mod was a nightmare !!! we had countrywide who was bought out by bank of america. htey have so many offices in different states, and one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. it took 18 months to complete. we hired a company to do it for us, they got it started and were basically useless. i found a website called : loansafe.org and they have forums similiar to those here and you can get a lot of info and probably do it yourself...good luck

dantheman:
how did you start the process? do i start trying to negotiate on the first call i get? do i stall them? will they make an offer or do i ? i have been reading these threads everyday and everyone is talking about the process but not how to start. i am open to any advice and/ or suggestions...

Quote:

well the calls are coming in, chase calls at least 2x a day we are not home so they also call on the cell phones, how can i get my home # taken off the records ? i read somewhere on here to use your cell phone so you have some record of calls... i like that idea but don't know how to change this with the CC companies. i have also gotten some mail from home depot saying that they want to "work with us"with payment options, do i ignore this letter and wait for them to call or will they comunicate by mail, should i call them? i know it sounds like i am being impatient, i really am just looking for as much info and advice i can get, i really have a lot of patience ( i have a child on the autism spectrum, and this alone can be very trying at times). i also spoke to someone from chase today, i spoke to them last week and went over all of my info and they transfered me to the hardship dept. today the person asked me again "what is your reason for not being able to pay?" so i told him that i already told them all of this. i know it is all a game , will i have to tell my whole story everytime i talk to them?

cookycris, I am in your same situation but just a bit later, you can search for my posts and read for yourself but I think there are just certain personalities that it is hard on, I am one. I am thankful to have all the support on these forums to tell me over and over to just wait but it is hard with all those phone calls. Then they can almost talk me into paying a little which is the worst thing I can do I know but I am not very aggressive, anyway, yes you will have to repeat it over and over and sometimes they then stop for a couple of days, other times they call right back....it's tough. But hang in there,stick to your story, we are all here for each other.
Kaylee

Greetings cookycris,

I know that it gets old..... repeating the same old story over and over again.

But let's LQQK at it this way.

I figured out that to wipe out $60K in cc debt , it absorbed about 100 hours on the t-phone.

Doing the math.....and lmao....that's $600/hr or $10/minute.

Wow!

What a payback.
Great wages in my humble opinion!

Ciao,
King "Kash" Jabba Labba

That's a great way to look at things Jabba!
~Matt

ok my last payment on my chase card was sometime in April, my balance right now is
$7,391.47, would it be resonable if I were to offer $1500.00 now? I can probably afford more but I read somewhere here an example if you can pay 50% start the offer at 20%. What do you think?

i know there have been phone numbers for the right office to call for bank of america, but does anyone know of a good number to call for chase?

well i decided to take the leap and start the settlement conversations.... boy was i nervous !!! i started with FIA my bal right now is 8,543.75, i offered 1800. i spoke to someone in the senior dept who took my info but told me i'd have to talk to another dept who has my acct.he also tried to get me in a lower monthly payment which i told him i didn't think i could manage. so now i have to speak to the other dept... i'll update as i go
while i was feeling brave i decided to call chase also. my bal right now with them is 7,391.47 so i offered 1500. first i was told that at this time i would have to pay 6,283 to settle but i told her there was no way i could do that right now so she aid she would submit my offer, then she asked if they were able to settle now when would i be able to pay and would i be able to do it in one payment so i told her i could pay it in one payment tomorrow, she put me on hold and then came back and said they need to speak to my husband since he is the primary card holder. so now i have to have him call to authorize that i can speak on his behalf. i am still shaking but i am glad i made the calls, now the game starts!!! wish me luck...

what phone number is that?

that is for a complete scam.the number was deleted,and will continue to be deleted.

thank you paulmergel.
well i made to call to the other dept at fia, the rep there told me that there is no offer on the acct as of now and that i should call after the 5th of the month, that is when they put out offers. i know others have said to call the senior acct managers office, now that i did that why were they acting like all they could do there is set up a payment plan. maybe did i call the wrong number? i called 866-429-1097. does anyone have a different number?

i've decided to call on my home depot acct tomorrow: my last payment was on april 21. i have not recieved any phone calls from them yet but have rieceved a few letters that i did not respond to. would it be too soon to start talking settlement with them?
sorry to throw so much out to you guys all at once, but i am just overwhelmed right now and could use all the advice and encouragement i can get, and everyone here has been so great !

BOA and Chase were the easiest to deal with for us. If you search my posts I have posted results. So far we've settled 14 accounts. Amex can be tough to deal with, they sued us in Dec 2009 and it's still pending. In my opinion and based on my experience if you're employed and you tell them that, it increases the odds at getting sued. I'm self employed, had 5 cards to settle, and no lawsuits yet with only 1 card to go. My better 2/3rds, as I'm only worth about 1/3 these days is employed, a fact which she made known to all 3 of her creditors, albeit with reduced hours. Chase turned her account over to a law firm at day 60ish, but we were able to settle with them with 1 lump sum payment presuit. Amex filed suit roughly day 90ish. The third settled very easily for 3 payments of 1K on a balance of 12K...I have reported most of this and others from my group. Always start low, and pay attention to the repayment schedule for the settlements. I'd worked a settlement with chase and wasn't paying attention. The settlement wasn't the greatest but I messed up by not realizing they shorted me some time with the payments. I paid 6K in 56 days first and last...That made it tough and every month/30days can help. Take a look and see who issued the HD card, maybe it'll say citi on the actual card. They were tough on me and that is still my last card to go. Bal was 15K when last paid, now its at 20k and now with a second CA...Back when I started this site had the best info on recent settlements, and make sure and use the search function to find more info.

how can i search your other posts? my home depot is with citi
what happens if you get sued by one of these companies?

I did it !!! chase is done!!! my husband called for me to authorize me speaking to them, and i got on and continued my conversation about settling the acct. I had offered $1500. earlier and they came back with $2587.oo so i took it. one lump payment.I am just waiting for them to fax me the offer in writing then i will go into my local branch and pay it. boy what a feeling!!! 1 down 3 to go

Quote:

Quote:

Cookycris, way to go with Chase. It's not clear that you did the math, but they gave you exactly 35%, which I believe is about as low as they typically go. I myself just got exactly the same thing, bargaining them down from an initial offer of 50%.
While you clearly are getting the hang of it, please give me a call. I have now settled over half of my total debt of over $50,000, with the help of a marvelous adviser I found on line. He can absolutely answer every question you still have about your remaining accounts. In my experience, Chase likes to settle well before the 180 day period at which they need to charge the loans off. Other banks wait until just before chargeoff, some wait until after chargeoff before offering settlements. There is a risk that if you appear too able to settle, they may not believe you have a hardship. Clearly, this wasn't a problem with Chase, but could be with other companies. Also, Amex is one of the worst. My Amex card has less than $1,000, so with my adviser's approval, I kept that card current.
So, you may need some specialized help in knowing the best way to deal with Amex and not get sued--and to know what is the best likely deal you can get from them. So, again, please call me at 703-957-6768, and I can fill you in more on what I know and have discovered, and put you in touch with my adviser, if you are interested. I'm out a lot, so if you miss me, please leave a message. And good luck. You are absolutely right to do this yourself, and not go through a debt settlement company--99.5% or more are scams.

any thoughts or advice for american express? my last payment was may 21st?

american express called today, they started the conversation off by telling me that we are 71 days late and if we can make a payment in the next 14 days we will avoid being 90 days. first things first...is 90 days significant of something with them?
at this point i figured i'd bring up settlement which they shot down right away telling me that it wasnt an option and they started telling me about a hardship program, which i told them it wouldnt work, so then the rep said he would speak to his manager and see if they could do something. he came back and said that my husband had to call in since he is the primary on the acct. i had him call back, and they put him through the ringer. the woman he had got nasty with him and said they couldnt do anything, so we left it at that and ended the call. then i called back and got someone else who got us to a manager and we went from hardship program,again, to them offering 90% then they said they couldnt go lower than 80-85% and there final offer was at 75%. my bal right now is $5282.54 and their final offer was $3961.50. so i left it that i would have to talk to my husband about it and get back to them. i figure i'll wait a fwe days and try again. any thoughts or advice.......

i am starting to get very discouraged!!! i am at a standstill... i am at the 90day mark with fia and american express. fia wont even talk settlement just today they told me that there is no settlement offer for the account but that they need my husband to call to give authorization for me to speak on the acct. do you think this will open an offer or do i have to wait for them to make an offer? and as far as american express goes, the supervisor told me the lowest they could do was 75% so then i said "not even 50?" she then came back with 70%. my bal is 5282.34 and they are offering 3724.70. will these guys give?i really don't want to end up in collections...

Cograts on starting your settlement journey. The important date is 180 days past due, where they charge off the account, and turn it over to a collection agency. The closer you get to 180 days the better the settlement you'll get.

We settled 3 accounts, 2 with chase, one was 20% one lump sum, other 28% 4 payments over 3 months, and chase 30% 4 payments over 3 months.

Lump sum payments get better settlements than payments. Make sure to get your agreement in writing before you send money.

Read the stories on this site, and you'll get a good idea of what you can settle for. Every 30 days the accounts go to a new department which offers you a little better settlement. 90, 120, 150 etc. Our best settlement came between 150 and 180 days. good luck

so does 90 days mean collections? should i be worried if they won't even talk settlement at 90 days? i've been reding these posts for a while and lately there has been more talk about payday loans and settlement companies, where are all of you credit card people??? give some updates...

I typed too fast mixed up on last post. we had 2 citicard accounts, 1 chase.
my wife's citicard approx 15k, settled for 3k one lump sum payment (20%)
my citicard approx 17.5k settled for 5k (29%) 4 payments over 93 days
my chase approx 13.5k settled for 4k (30%) 4 payments over 93 days.

As you can see, if you have the money to make the payment all at once, you can get a better deal. All these were made after 120 days, so don't fret about them not offering settlements at this time. You haven't reached the proper "aging" yet :) just like wine! Keep talking to them about once a week, take good notes about who, when, amounts discussed, and stick to your guns. Decide what you want to pay and stick to it. I remember wanting to settle for around 25-30%. So I would start at 20% when they were offering 75. Then a month later I'd offer 20 again and they'd offer 55, then a month later 45 etc. In other words you keep your offer the same, they'll come down to you as the time increases. When they offered 35% I figured it was time to come up so we ended up at the above percentages. Good luck

Quote:

Hey Jill;

Our BofA (FIA) just charged off. They offered us 30% right at the end and we also didn't have it at the time. It was bought by Atlantic Credit and we plan on settling with them, sent a DV letter haven't heard back yet.

Who did your's charge off to? What did you settle for? How long after it charged off did you settle? Thanks for any insight.

Quote:

Jill;
Thanks for replying. I'll see how ours goes. We were contacted a few weeks ago by the the CA. I sent the DV letter, I want to make sure it's officially theirs to collect.

We'll see how things go, I'll post the result when it happens.

with fia ( aka b of a ) should i kinda drop back and wait for them to make an offer or should i still call once a week with my offer ?

How many days late are you?
I wouldn't call them, I would let them call you (they seemed to call us about once or twice a week). I had them call my cell phone instead of our house phone b/c we were getting calls from 4 different CC's non stop. Each time they call just reiterate this amount is all you have. If you have other cards you're trying to settle, you can mention that also. I would say I've only got 3k dollars right now but have to settle two other accounts. Don't lie about it, they know from your credit report, but remind them if it's true.

As time goes by and you get closer to 180 days the offers will get better. I've read if you're too eager to settle too early, they're harder to negotiate with.

I never called them offering settlements. They call enough, just wait a couple weeks and pick up and talk to them. Say, I have this much money it is all I can do. They will come down.

thanks for the advice, i guess i just want this to be over... i will wait for them to call me!

I know what you mean. It will be over you are doing great!!

thanks for the encouragement! its good reading what others are doing and what works. but the funny thing is that it seems that what works for one doesnt always work for another. go figure!

well fia called me yesterday looking for a payment, i told them i couldnt make the payment and have a relative willing to give me money to settle. first they told me that my acct is not stamped for settlement right now , but they would speak to their manager. they came back and said there will be an offer next week on the acct and they will call me....anyone have this happen?

WOO HOO i settled with fia!!! they called yesterday, of course they tried to get a payment but i told them i couldnt so then they told me that i could settle for $3500.00, my bal is $8651. i know its only 40% but i could afford this amount right now and i am getting impatient. this was my largest card so i feel better knowing it will be gone!!! i am making the payment tomorow!!! oh , i got i settlement letter faxed to me today for it.
2 DOWN and 2 TO GO !!! this is a game that i am Not enjoying, i just want it all done...a BIG THANK YOU to all of you on here for your help and encouraging words, to think i almost used a company to to this for me for a fee of $2900.i hope to be able to help others some day from my own experiences...

Congrats cookycris!

Chopped off the snake's head.....tis a great feeling.

2 down and 2 to go.....you're down hilling now.

Regards,
King "Kash" Jabba Labba

Hey Cookycris;
haven't checked your progress in awhile. Remind me again how many days delinquent are you? Yes, I seem to remember them checking with a manager. Wait and see what they offer when they call back. What are your details again, what's your balance? days delinquent?

Didn't read your last post. Way to go!! You can do it yourself. You know 40% is pretty good, just think what it would have cost percentage wise if you tacked on the 2900. Good job.

3 down 1 to go!!! i settled my american express. at a bit over 90 days it went to nco and we settled on their offer of 55%. i know we could have done better, but we could afford to pay it and we wanted it done! they called my husbands job, and he could get in trouble for that, so rather than prolonging it we took it. the bal was 5340.27 and we settled for 2938.00. now i only have home depot( citi) left and on the 21st i should be like 150 days late, so i am hoping to settle pretty soon, and be done for good!!! thank you once again to all of you.....