Debt settlement and my concerns

Just wanted to add one more thing. I can't afford the monthly payments that the debt negotiation company wants to do it in 3 years.

Amazinggray - it might be better to list the amount you owe and the # of cards, this might help to give us a better idea of what you can do. I am doing debt settlement myself and have settled two cards, my debt totaled about 72K on 4 cards. If you have alot of little cards, you may be able to pay a few off, save up and work towards settling the smaller ones so you have a little breathing room and then can figure out what to do next. If this doesn't work then you always have the option of Bankruptcy, but you may be able to avoid that. Either option damages your credit and in Chapter 13 it's a payment plan anyway, so you might just want to try this yourself before going down that road. Can you list all your CC's/interest/min payments and what you could afford monthly? And perhaps we can provide better info?

Okay here is all the info about the cards and such.

I have debt over 6 cards. The total debt comes to $82,267.60

Here is a list of the cards, minimum payments interest ect.
Citicards, $567.00 min., 7.50% int., $25,118.37

Barclays/Juniper, $455.00 min., 31.49% int., $22,784.11

Chase, $320.00 min., 29.99% int., $8917.11

Advanta, $200.00 min., 35.46% int., $7,907.86

Sears Gols Citi, $242.00 min., 22.49% int., $8926.75

Citi Cards, $132.00 min., 21.24% int., 8613.38

So that's it. Unfortunately I can swing about $900.00 a month at time of the year I can get 1000.00 a month.
Let me know what you think. Ray W.

amazing ray - thanks for the info, I'm heading out right now, but I will look everything over and post later tonight, your debt does look to be about the same amount that I have so hopefully I can give you some suggestions. Will post tonight.

sorry forgot to log in -

amazing ray - thanks for the info, I'm heading out right now, but I will look everything over and post later tonight, your debt does look to be about the same amount that I have so hopefully I can give you some suggestions. Will post tonight.

One of the bad things about debt settlement companies is that your accounts do default and then charge off. It does ruin your credit but credit can be rebuilt over time.

Have you tried talking with your creditors and explaining the situation? Some could be willing to place you on a hardship plan if you aren't too far behind. All of your balances are large enough for your creditor to sue you. I suggest that you take a look at all avenues including bankrupcy.

Something I don't understand is how does a person get 80k in debt and have no assets. You say you don't pay rent, do you live with your parents?

i think debt settlement is better than filing chapter 13. for one thing you will be bound to the court trustee for 5 years! you will have to go throgh them if you want a new car or anything else requiring debt. plus, it will ruin your credit as much, if not more, than settlement. as far as settling goes, your credit will improve over time as you start getting each card taken care of, so by the end of two years it won't be that difficult to get your score on the upswing.

as far as being sued, it really varies as far as the timeline creditors start suits. usually the closer you are to the nearing the SOL in your state the more likely they will sue. any more than 2 or 2.5 years is really pushing it without being sued.

Amazingray - while it is true your debts are large enough that creditors can sue you, the same can be if you go with a DS company and pay their fee's, in the program you stop making payments and the DS company can't really do anything for you then, you have to go to court and they don't usually go with you. So taking this out of the equation, if you decide to go the debt settlement route you are just saving yourself all the fee's you would be paying them. If you decide for yourself that you can manage the calls, and speaking with them, you should be able to get just as good settlements as these companies would be able to get you. Also chapter 13 is a long process, 5 years, with DS once you settle a card it's done and you can move on to the next one, by doing it this way you can possibly be out of debt alot sooner and start rebuilding your credit. So anyway look at all your options and then make the best decision for you.
As to your cards you listed earlier.

There are a couple of options, you can call them all and see if any will reduce your payment and interest and put you in a hardship status. If any of these do you can pay the smaller min payment and use the rest of your $900 to put into a savings account, the ones that don't work with you, these are the ones you stop paying completely. This option will take longer because you can't save up as much to settle but it does buy you some time as all 6 cards aren't immediately put into the non-payment.

Option 2 - stop paying them all and put the $900 in a savings account, wait 4 - 5 months after your last payment and then work a settlement with them.
You have 4 cards under 10K - I would focus on these first. With Chase at about 6 months they can go as low as 35%, Citi, maybe 40%, and the others not sure but the key is don't accept their first offer, or second unless it's a great offer, Chase offered me 50% but then I called them and said it was to much and all of a sudden they could offer 35%. So really if you do this at 6 months you should have $5400 in your account and be able to settle two of your cards. Then work the next 4 just like you did on the first two.

It does take some time and patience to deal with the calls and letters, but I just usually just try to talk to them once a week and then usually get 5 - 10 days of no calls. At least speak with them, and just tell them you can't pay them. but make sure you do speak with them because you never know what offer they will make and this way they don't call you as much and you can evaluate any settlements they offer.

One last thing, you will always have chapter 13 as an option if this doesn't work but this way you have an option to salvage what you can of your credit. My score after not paying on 5/6 accounts was 479 two weeks ago, my first settlement finally updated on my report on the 27 and my score jumped 59 pts! I'm now 538, of course not great, but my 2nd settlement will be paid on the 4th and then need to wait 3 weeks for this one to update. So you can rebuild your credit. Hope this helps I also have alot of info on my blog since I started this process, it's listed at the end of this post if you would like to read it. Let me know if you have any other questions. I've met at least 4 people now who are using DS and it's interesting to see and hear how everyone is progressing.

First off, I found debtcc a few weeks ago while searching the internet on bankruptcy info. I had an appointment to see the lawyer but I decided to hold off after reading the info here.

All I can say is read this site and especially the last few posts before mine. Get as much info as you can before you make a decision.

Just so you know-my husband and I owe 90K in cc debt combined. That is not including our other bills or other debt. My first thought was bankruptcy. For my own personal reasons I decided not to file.

There is no guarantee that you wont be sued if you do debt settlement on your own or with a company. There is always that chance but I am willing to take it to get out of this mess. I chose to go the route on my own. If for some reason I fail and I am counting on NOT FAILING-there is always bankruptcy.

I also wanted to say that I owe that much and have no assets either. I did have many up until a few months ago when I sold my last home thru a short sale.

Everyone gets in debt for different reasons. It is just important now that you try your best to get out of it. Paying those minimums will not get you anywhere. I know-I have been doing it for way too long!

Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

i'm about 90k in debt, all credit cards. my situation is similar to amazingray's. i've no asset, but own a small business. there are so many debt settlement companies, i don't know which ones are legit. ater reading some of the posted messages on this site, i'm planning on calling the cc companies and try to settle with them. but where do i start? how do i start? just call them and tell them i'm having a hard time paying them? help me.

I am no expert on this at all. I am learning and have just begun my debt settlement journey. I can tell you that I got all my cards together and called most of them and told them my situation. I made the call while still current on all of my bills. Well, only 1 of my cards put me on a "harship status" and lowered the rate for 6 months. One of my creditors even told me they would not have any program or anything to offer me until I am past due. :? I pretty much got the nose in the air from everyone else. I can tell you it is worth a try-just lowering the rate on the one card saved me over $100 a month in minimums alone.

I searched for debt settlement companies here. There were just too many mixed reviews and I was confused. To me this is a BIG DEAL. Well, I narrowed it down to one company and emailed them weeks ago. They did send me an email advising they could help my situation and will be in contact. Well, I never got the call. So that made my mind up right there!

I read so many posts and blogs about people doing it on their own and have had success. They saved tons of $$$ and were able to put the fee's they were going to pay these DS companies towards paying off another card.Most importantly, you are working to get yourself out of debt. If you are determined-I believe you will succeed. I am still nervous about going in it alone but I am confident. I do know there are some people that settle debts for a living who know what they're doing and have relationships with some of these creditors. I do believe that helps out. But finding the right company is a job in itself.

Keep reading here because you will find the answers you are looking for. If you can't find the answers-ask. I am so happy to have found this place. I have only been a member for a short time but I have already learned so much.

Best of luck to you.

Guest - like the post above said, I would try calling them first and see if they can work something out, if they work with you it will be better for your credit score, if they can't, you can always stop making a payment for a month or two and they see what they say, a couple of my cards offered me reduced interest/payments for the full 5 years and said it would be paid off then, I couldn't accept these payments as it was still to high to make all my CC payments so I went the DS route, but if you can make the payments and want to save your credit this is always an option.