ltlwren Posted February 3, 2007 Report Share Posted February 3, 2007 My first post. It is time to settle with these cc companys.I just stopped all payments and will start the countdown to settlement time. I have been reading all the credit forums and found this one to be the very best one so far. Ton of good info on how and what to do in the settlement process. My big three are Chase-31K, BoM-18K and At&T-24K. We have other small ones also. These are products of bad divorce issues. Dont care if credit is trashed after this. I know about the tax issue after settlement. Starting the 120 day wait and the phone calls. I will be asking alot of questions on this forum so thank for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOC Posted February 3, 2007 Report Share Posted February 3, 2007 wow, ok. the bk route is not an option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted February 3, 2007 Report Share Posted February 3, 2007 Hey...welcome. we'll all try to help if we can...Starting the 120 day wait and the phone calls. I will be asking alot of questions on this forum so thank for any help. So...first question. What makes you think there is something magic about 120 days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the aussie Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 Hey...welcome. we'll all try to help if we can...So...first question. What makes you think there is something magic about 120 days?Perhaps the OP is referring to 120 day late then they will try to negotiate a settlement ......not sure if this early in the game they would have a need to settle when they could just take you to court.The Aussie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 Perhaps the OP is referring to 120 day late then they will try to negotiate a settlement ......I realize that there are references to 120 days and 150 days in the "Settle Debts" link at the top of the page...but...it doesn't quite work that way any more. OCs and CAs can and do start legal action before that time. The "don't pay, put the money aside, wait until charge off, claim insolvency, then negotiate" scheme is primarily a "debt fixer" mantra. The only reason it works for the debt fixer's is because they have contracts (or contacts), just like collection agencies, and if you owe one of their CCs, they might get you a deal. Otherwise, you get sued. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sr28b Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 I'm with you Cope, $73k sounds like a 'countdown to being sued'. I don't have anywhere near the experience of others on this site, but my guess would be that not too much of those balances would be forgiven unless there was a hardship.I'm rooting for you though ltlwren! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHateCAs Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 This should be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direred Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 This should be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the aussie Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltlwren Posted February 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 Thanks for the replys, Just got forced to retire at Ford and they gave a lump sum to quit. If I could get 50% settlements from these three companys, it would help me with other bill payments. I thought they will not talk to you about settlements unless you are not making payments for months. You think they will deal with me if I am only late by a few weeks? Ihave a good hardship story ready for them and its all true. Do I just wait for them to ask to settle with me? Any other ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 I thought they will not talk to you about settlements unless you are not making payments for months. You think they will deal with me if I am only late by a few weeks? Ihave a good hardship story ready for them and its all true. Do I just wait for them to ask to settle with me? Any other ideas?Yeah, well, that's sorta true. In general, they won't talk about settling for a percentage of what you owe until you're several months late. But...for those large amounts, the first conversation might be a summons.I guess I've got two suggestions...1. Call them. Ask about their hardship programs. Ask about settling. You might not get anywhere, and you just might alert them to the fact that you won't be paying, but, at least you'll get a feeling for where their going and you won't be taking advice from debt fixers.2. Look into filing BK. Most attornies will give you a free consultation. If you're now unemployed, you might even qualify for a BK 7, which would make all the debt go away. Depending on where your Ford settlement is placed, you might even get to keep it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AISLE4 Posted February 6, 2007 Report Share Posted February 6, 2007 I wouldn't worry too much about getting sued just yet. I have debts with these same creditors in amounts that are about the same as yours, although your Chase is about 10K more than mine. My cumulative unsecured CC debt is over 100K. I'm now at 120-150 days delinquent on all accounts and am beginning to talk settlement. No one has sued. Of course, the creditors response to your delinquency will be determined by things other than your debt with them. Are you continuing to pay on any debt that is reported to the cb's?...and something that I'm finding interesting is that the creditors I've talked to about settlement are giving me the hard sell on the hardship programs. They are making it very tempting to enter into a hardship program: very low rates, no more fees, minimal monthly payments for up to a year...I do have a hardship story and am a talker and am finding the conversations with the OC's are not unpleasant at all. I think a lot of folks out there are having financial trouble, and the creditors are getting slammed with defaults/delinquencies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltlwren Posted February 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2007 AISLE4We are on hardships with two of these cc. You are right about them now getting better to get into a hardship program. Please let me know how you are doing with the settlements now that your getting close to CO. I will have the funds to work deals with them and a lady from BoA even told us to call back after we end our hardship program and ask for a settlement. She was even very nice to talk to....Thanks for the replyBy the way,what did you mean by if we were paying the other creditors? I guess we dont know if we should stop paying all the cc's or the big ones first, or stop them all. Of coarse we are going to keep paying on the house and car. Someone on this board said they dont look at credit reports and then I read they can check other ways to see if you are having trouble making payments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sr28b Posted February 7, 2007 Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that every cc company spends the $1 (or whatever it costs them on their bulk acct) to check your credit report before agreeing to settle for thousands less $$$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltlwren Posted February 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 sr28B,Ok, Now what are you trying to say, are they looking or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AISLE4 Posted February 7, 2007 Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 I have been researching the settlement policies of my creditors for months. It's all anecdotal research, but I'm working with the belief that the creditors do check credit reports before settling, especially for large amounts. If you are making regular mortgage payments, car payments and some of your cc payments, the creditors might be less inclined toward settlement. If they see that you have $$$ to pay other creditors, they might play hardball to get some of that money for themselves.Most creditors I have talked to so far have offered me the choice of settlement or hardship program. I have stopped paying all bills that show on my credit reports, and my reports show no job history (I'm self-employed). I don't have a mortgage or car payment. I appear to be a gigantic risk to the creditors that they won't be paid a cent, putting me in a good position to negotiate. I have yet to agree to any settlement or hardship program. I'll gladly tell you my results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapeape Posted February 7, 2007 Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 of course they check credit reports. if you look at yours, you'll likely see many account review inquiries, which are generally soft inquiries, on there from these companies. They want to see what your outstanding debts are, any employment listing, and the like. If you try to tell them that you have, let's say, 40K in debt with XYZ CC, and it's not lsited on your report, they'll know something's up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltlwren Posted February 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 Are there employment listings on a credit report. If so can they be removed,in my case I will be retired from Ford thus not working anymore and cannot make payments like before. I guess I could send the cc company Im working with a statement that will show I do not work at Ford anymore. Dont know if that will do any good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapeape Posted February 7, 2007 Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 yes, employment is listed on your CR's. it's in the personal information section. You can simply write a letter to each CRA asking that it be deleted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltlwren Posted February 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 Thanks for that info grapeape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tls032 Posted March 26, 2007 Report Share Posted March 26, 2007 Good lord! There is so much miss information our here about debt settlement and what/how to do it. Also, what the creditors think and why they act in certain ways.I will start taking some time to reply to some items...feel free to tell me to jump in a river but...WOW!!!!My time is limited but I will try and share my knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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