Comments on: Credit Card Debt Negotiation or Debt Settlement

By: Sandy T.

Sandy T. — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 06:20:28 +0000

Hi,
In Oct. 2006 I settled with all of my creditor’s and thought that everything was taken care of but almost 4 yrs later I received two bills from Capital One saying I owe them money as the accounts were charged off. My problem is that I did not receive a final settlement letter from them but I do have proof of payments which were processed electronically.
I am unemployed and I really need advice on how to handle this matter and how can I get Cap1 to correct their statement on my credit reports. The credit agencies asked for verification and my reports were updated to “verified” and the bills have neen re-aged to 2010.

By: kevin

kevin — Fri, 28 May 2010 11:22:34 +0000

Credit card debt is always unsecured debt as opposed to a secured debt like a housing loan or a car loan wherby the bank owns it until the full payment, if you have very high credit card debt and low income it best not to pay it, and worry about it if credit companies ask tell them you are not in a position to make payment as you are strugling with everyday expenditures cc companies can absolutely do nothing to you always remember that and don’t live in fear of action its unsecured debt and the banks are taking a risc legally even courts will not favor cc companies, sure your credit score will go down and you won’t get a loan, but you won’t have to worry about it any more moreover in a couple of years bank will settel for about 20 % of orignal amount and you can start building your credit history again.

By: debbie

debbie — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:28:10 +0000

Credit scores mean nothing if you can barely make your payments. There is NO WAY OUT for a long time and none of the cresit card company’s will help or work with us?! I have held a fantastic score for YEARS! I’m trading it in for peace of mind!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:24:40 +0000

I have been able to work out a debt repayment program at 0% with every one of my credit cards until they are paid off-American Express, Citibank and Household Credit. I also have worked out my mortgage under the Obama plan. The hold out is US Bank-which I owe $4000. The interest rate if 29.9% They refuse to lower the interest rate or settle. I finally got them to at least close the credit card.

US Bank claims that I do not qualify for their hardship program because my income is not HIGH enough? What? If my income was high enough, I would not be in this situation. They forced me to talk to a debt counseling company-which I told them was ludicrious since I have got 0% interest on all of my credit cards and a nice lower rate on my mortgage. I went through the exercise and the dumb credit counselor told me to either A: file for bankruptcy B: Sell everything I own and just pay off those credit cards that I got 0% on now C: she would recommend to US Bank they give me 7% interest and a $135 dollar a month payment-of which 24 dollars goes to the credit counselor. She also tried to convince me that I should close my overdraft protection on my checking account which no BALANCE. WHo are these people?

This is stupid. US Bank by the way is where my husband and I have three personal checking accounts.
And between our businesses we have 5 business checking accounts. And my business that I own has a large line of credit with them.

What gives with US Bank-I have already threatend to take every single one of our accounts including the credit card. This makes 10 accounts that I have with them.

By: lynn

lynn — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:57:07 +0000

i spoke with an attorney about filing bankrupcy –7. he suggested trying to settle first and talked about asking for a 1099 waiver from cc companies/collection agencies. has anybody heard of this and if so anyone successful?

By: Gilly

Gilly — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:08:42 +0000

I’ve dealt with Bof A and several others. The only way I could make headway with any of them was to go into default and negotiate over time. My BofA accts took anywhere between 6-10 mths to settle, and at anywhere from 14-20% of the new balances as they accrued with usury interest and fees. By the way, when I first began trying to work with BofA, it took me 8 people, multiple phone calls, xfers, getting hung up on before I reached a so called analyst who finally suggested I call a debt settlement company to settle at 60-70%. Do it yourself, be patient, and don’t pay anyone fees for this-they’ll only guarantee you results that are less effective than what you can do for yourself. Remember, you’re gonna need the extra cash to deal with the 1099′s on the back-end(for taxes)that you’ll receive later–their ae different options in dealing with this as well depending on your circumstance. Hope this helps you!

By: Faye

Faye — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:40:45 +0000

Anyone deal with Bank of America? Called them today. They indicated that they no longer will negotiate principal reductions. You either, according to them, “qualify” for a 5-year program through their “Proactive Account Unit” or you don’t. If you have too much debt (I threw some numbers at them to see what they would consider), you do not qualify and they will not tell you what their criteria is either. They certainly seem to lean towards negotiating with a debt consolidator/management company but not a debt settlement company because, like I said, they stopped accepting debt reduction. No answers as to why using an outside source is more effective than doing it yourself. The little I got out of that question was the assurance they get that the monthly payment is somehow more apt to be consistently paid through a debt consolidation company versus dealing direct.

By: Tim McCarthy

Tim McCarthy — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:30:08 +0000

Great article! By the way, I recently read in the book Bankruptcy 301 (http://www.bankruptcy301.com) that some credit cards will settle your debt for 60% payable over 60 months and not requiring you to pay all of it within a month or 90 days. I called up all of my credit card companies and found out that Citibank is doing this out of kindness to their customers during this difficult time. I took them up on this great offer–what a relief I didn’t have to pony up the cash right away. Better to negotiate directly with the companies–by the time you factor in fees, debt settlement companies seem to be a rip-off.

–Tim

By: Rabi H

Rabi H — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:19:00 +0000

Hi.
I have two account with GE Money (Furniture: Bed and Flat Screen).
As per today I have $3000 (bed) and $2800 (Flat screen) balances , my brother agree to payoff $5000 for me. I want GE money to lower the total balance with $5000 so I can Pay it off .
How can I do that ?

By: Joseph

Joseph — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:18:07 +0000

If you have trouble dealing with creditors then do what I do and only communicate through letters. If you only work through return reciept letters then if they do sue you then you have proof you have been dealing with them or attempting to deal with them. The worse thing I believe you can do is stick your head in the sand and expect the situation to go away. if you get sued do not admit you owe any monies at anytime because it is an automatic judgement and you will never get a good deal. If creditors have the burden of proof then they are more likely to work with you.