palms1124 Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 The collection agency has followed with validation stating that interest rate of 24% was charged since last payment 8/22/06. Is collection agency entitled to that rate of interest to date?They have offered to settle the account for $9k (versus what they say is owed of $18k) if we pay in one lump sum; which of course we cannot.They said the 2nd option would be $14k no interest with a reasonable monthly payment set up as auto pay with check, debit or credit card. What would be a reasonable amount? We are in this situation due to health problems and loss of jobs so could probably not afford anything over $100 a month. Would that be reasonable?Any comments would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahoo238 Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 You would need to check with your states usery laws regarding the interest rate as well as the terms you had with the OC to get a Y or N answer.Are they a CA or JDB? First get any settlement or payment plan in writing before you give dime one, also I would be very leary of giving any financial info to them at all. If you end up setting up an auto pay deal get a seperate account or they will most lickely bleed you dry. Remeber if it is a JDB you hold the cards, I would think you could negotiate a much better settlement than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyingifr Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 They can charge it only if the original contract for the debt allows it. Failing that, the mere threat to charge it would be a FDCPA violation.The fact that $100 per month is all you can afford would be irrlevant to them. At $14000 that would be over eleven years to pay the debt off - I doubt they would consider it "reasonable".If you have no significant income, why are you fretting over this - just tell them you are unemployed (along with 7 million others) and they can do their best - push too hard and they will see a Chapter 7 filing and they get nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palms1124 Posted January 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 Hubby has now become employed although myself and our son are not, he is the only one working. His income is not bad however he has child support garnished and this is not the only credit card he has gotten into trouble with. We are managing to pay our mortgage, car insurance, utilities and put food on the table though with these increasing rising costs for everything. They are Hudson & Keyse so I'm not sure if they are CA or JDB.Thank you for the idea to open a separate account for the payments, good idea and one I would never have thought of.This is for 3 cards, they've added them all up to one lump sum from Chase Bank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recovering Attorney Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 Hudson & Keyse are Junk Debt Buyers. They cannot charge you 24% interest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Nashville/Savannah Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 If I might interject here...It sounds to me as if you need to take a long, hard look at your entire financial situation; get on a REAL budget that covers the necessities FIRST and get in control of your financial life. Then and only then can you have any hope of knowing what you can or cannot afford to pay anybody outside of absolute necessities.Whether this JDB "waits" or not or what they think is reasonable is or how much interest they can charge is relatively unimportant.You may need to file bankruptcy but I suspect that an additional job/bringing in more income would go a lot way to your family getting out of this hole and ultimately you need to do that anyway - bankruptcy can make debts go away but it will not fix an income problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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