I am trying to fix my credit and one of the collection agencies that has one of my old credit cards has sent me a settlement letter. should i just pay it off in full which is 00 or should i take there offer of 0? If i do settle will it help my credit or hurt it?
OK, few questions. If someone has say, 25k in debt – credit cards, the like – is it really possible to call the companies and negotiate a settlement for less than owed? And #2, how does this reflect on the credit report?
My brother in law is telling me that he is inheriting about 30 thousand bucks soon, and will be calling his creditors (credit card debt only) and negotiating with them, telling them that he has to file for bankruptcy and offer them less than owed. He SAYS he can negotiate and get them to about .30 cent on the dollar.
Is this correct? And how does it appear on the credit report? I don’t believe him. He says that he wants to keep as much cash as possible to open a business in a year or so. I say he will regret it because of the marks on his report. Who is right?
I’m 29, and my debt is under but probably close to 10K, much of it sent to collection. This debt includes student loans, credit cards, and my bank account balance, which was in the negative and sent to collection. I’ve been ignoring the debt for a while because I currently have no money to pay it off with. I used to be a responsible person with stellar credit until personal problems turned my life upside down. I need to recover my credit and my dignity. What should I do? And do those debt consolidation companies truly help?
Unfortantely due to divorce and the economy I’m very behind on my utilities and credit cards. I feel helpless. I need to file bankruptcy ASAP. I live in Pennsylvania. Does anyone know of a very cheap attorney? Is it possible to do it by myself? I’m looking for as much information as possible.
My wife and I make about gross about 00/month and our monthly rent is 00.
Most of our debt is from expenses for pregnancy, income taxes, credit cards, etc.
I don’t think our rent may cause our bankruptcy. Do you think I should fear having to lose my rehome?
I have 2 credit cards that total ,000, I was approved for those during my bankruptcy. I know this is my fault because i shouldn’t have gotten the cards, but I did. I was wondering could the credit card company be sued.
Two months ago I maxed out all my credit cards and opened an unsecured personal loan because I needed cash for family emergency. Now I have approximately ,000 debts from credit card companies and bank (all unsecured). After one month, I couldn’t afford to make the payments. For my situation, I don’t think I am able to payoff all the debt. What are my options now? When would the credit card company sue me? Can they garnish my salary? If the debt transfer to collection company, how much can I bargain off for a lump sum payment? Should I settle the payment myself or go to debt consolidation company? How many years the bad record would stay on my credit report?
I live in California. I’m working full time with ,000 annual salary. The only property I own is a free-and-clear car (2007). I might able to borrower ,000 from my girlfriend if a lump sum payment is offered.
Please answer as much as you can. Your help is much appreciated. Sincerely thanks.
I’m filing bankruptcy at the end of October.
I’m recently divorced and my ex dumped all the debt we had on me to deal with, so I was thinking, maybe I’ll get myself some stuff and add it to the pile.
I don’t have any credit cards (they were all in her name) so it’d be a waste of time to apply for any.
Can anyone suggest, what to get on “credit” that I can dispose of in the courts?
So I opened a credit card as a freshman in college (2008) and ended up losing my job and never paid off the debt. Collection agencies have been blowing up my phone and sending letters trying to collect the almost 00 that I owe. I am presently unemployed due to health issues and have no way to pay off all the debt now. They are offering me the option of settleing the debt but i dont want it to ruin my credit score. what should i do?
I have no other credit cards in my name, only the hospital bills i have been paying on from three surgeries and the hospital stays and what not. will paying these bills on time and in full help my credit score?
I do not own a house or have any money in the bank. I do own a car. My job has cut back and i can no longer pay my credit cards. I have no money to file bankrupsty. Besides the calls, what can they do to me if i never pay them?
I am a 64 year old widowed man ,who is in need of a major back operation to be able work,walk,stand etc.for the past six years .Ive seen many doctors and the operations they say I need I dont have the co-pay money even with insurance throw the state I have throw my deceased school teacher wife.(Ive been self emp for years ,and cant keep up,IVE SPENT THE EQ LOAN ON MY house just to stay going ,credit cards are max out and have no way to pay all this,im screwed! anyway I go ,so should file bankruptcy or just let thing go ????? into forclosers and charge offs,my previous good credit will be ruined either way but whats the better way for my further if there is any hope after this ??? I really need some helpfull advise. please !!!!!!!!
And tons of bills. Mostly medical bills harassing me (30000+)and old credit cards(10000)?
Will this effect my student loans I now receive? I am a grad student.
The medical bill company said they will take my student loan money so I want to file B to get them out of my life!
Over the last two years, while I was in college, I was dumb enough to let myself get about 5,000 in debt. This debt is for 3 credit cards, a payday loan, and an overdrafted bank account. I am graduating in a few weeks and will begin looking for a full time job. I had planned on either attempting to settle these debts or explore the option of bankruptcy once I began my career. However, I was served with a subpoena from Citi today for 1000. I know this is my fault and it is something I was preparing to work out as soon as I am financially able. Should I consider bankruptcy? Im 24 and in the state of KS. Thanks!
Thanks for your suggestions and well wishes. I would greatly prefer to settle than go the bankruptcy route, I was just not sure if settlement was an option since the subpoena has been sent. I am looking forward to getting past this!
Dear SQURIRELL,
Although I shouldn’t pick on such an easy target, you may be benefit from some higher education yourself. Your grammar and use of punctuation leave much to be desired. However, thank you for your input. It helps me realize that my financial setback is not nearly as bad as plain stupidity.
my wife an i are going in to see a bankruptcy lawyer next thursday. we have two cars 10 years old and are still paying on one we got last year. the other is paided off. we owe about 60,000 on credit cards and hospital bills and school loans. she was caught in a down sizing and i was put on ssi because of medical problems. we do have a mortage on our house. what can we expect to lose if we file for bankruptcy. how much will they take inside the house and if they will take one or both of our cars and even the house. this is very scary cause its was all good until i started having too many surgery and she lost her 16+ an hr job and now has to take a 10 hr. myself was put on SSI for good.
Do you think that individuals who have credit cards, but can not pay more than the minimum payments (which means they can not pay back that debt) or all individuals who have ever filed bankruptcy are immoral? Interesting question here. Just curious what others think?
Interesting answers. I have to agree with maxbegood on this one, as this individual has actually gone through the process. I have absolute compassion for people who are in debt, because I know what it is to be in this situation. I am working hard and will pay off all my debts one day, but unfortuneatly in this great country of ours, came credit cards and with that came close to usery limits by banks with promotional encouragement to consumers to spend more then they had, without being educated in how seriously hazardous this can be. I think it is imperitive to get kids off to the right start teaching them about money, principle and interest. There is such a huge divide in this country between the rich and the poor, and it is getting wider. I am not sure why, but I think that many people who have little money are more moral than others who make a good living. A person who has nothing, and gives a penny is more than the sacrifice of a rich man. It is biblical. Good topic though.
I’m 25 and owe more than I make on credit cards and now that I had an accident at work, my hours had been cut and my mom is left to pay some of my credit card bills but I pay some of the bills yo help out.
Is it hard to file for bankruptcy? Expensive? How long does it take?
I’m from California
I’m a 20 yr old single mother almost homeless without a job with up to 30k in debts that at this pace will never get paid and become higher every month should i file bankruptcy? what should i do? i’m desperate!
Yes i admit i was young and ignorant but whats done its done and i need a remedy so no need for rude comments plz 
did i forget to mention that i have no family and only my mom but she lives in MA and i live in MD and i have failed her lots of times so i cant go back to her…
debts are credit cards + 2 loans (car and other) i do not have a spending problem i had a nice job in the past so i got an apartment and furnished it completely and bought a car but the job wasn’t so steady and i ended up with all this debts piling up
I filed for bankruptcy about a month ago, and paid him in full last week for chapter 7. Well my bills for my loans and credit cards are due again and I’m wondering do I still have to pay them since i already paid my lawyer and filled out all the paperwork for the chapter 7. Or do I just let it ride until he does whatever it is he does?
Here’s my problem… I am 22 years old, and I went to college for 2 years. during that time I racked up some pretty large bills that I couldn’t handle. I have about 7500 dollars charged off and in collections from credit cards. 2200 of that I have a judgment against me for and they said that they could garnish my wages soon if I don’t pay it off. I had a repossession 14 months ago and owe Wells Fargo ,000 to pay it off. Last but not least, I subleased an apartment to a stranger 2 years ago and I moved out of town. Now I have found out that that person stopped paying the rent and that because I subleased the apartment I am responsible for the rent that was not paid which come out to about 00. So, all together I owe about ,000. I have called all of the creditors and asked what it would take to settle. After calculating that all up it comes out to about ,000. The only thing I have paid perfect is 2 student loans and that’s it. I have no car and I cant get a car loan. I have been rejected for an apartment because of the judgment on the sublease issue. Basically, I am better off dead but I cant bring myself to do that. So I have to decide what to do….Is bankruptcy the way to go?
i am 22 and my husband is 24 and we have horrible credit and lots of debt. We’ve had 2 cars repossessed in 3 years and a few credit cards we cant pay. we also have loans and blah blah. i know we’ve made bad choices but how do we manage now? we have 3 kids and we are ALWAYS broke trying to just keep up and our family is suffereing. should we file? will we lose the car we have financed right now? will it really be 7 years before we can buy a house? HELP!
OK FOR THE RECORD i have my tubes tied now, and also we are military and get paid shitty. we HAVE made mistakes but all the credit cards and loans were in emergency situations.
Hey.. I was unemployed for 8 months and got very behind on all my bills, credit cards, loans.. etc..
I have collection agencies and debt collectors calling me at least 15-20 times a day trying to get there money (everyday all day).. I am about to file bankruptcy to get out of this mess.. I tried debt consolidation, its a joke.. My question Is when the creditors call me should I tell them im in the process of filing bankrptcy OR WILL THAT CREATE MORE PROBLEMS , SUCH AS WAGE GARNISHMENT OR SUEING ME ….
Ok I have around ,000 in credit card debt. I also co-signed with my mom to buy a house 4yrs back and it is due to go in foreclosure soon due to the fact that her husband lost his job (construction) and I couldn’t make the payments by myself which is why I defaulted on my mortgage and credit cards.
I also suffered a broken ankle in December and upon returning to work in May I lost my Supervisor position which was nearly a / per hour pay cut. To top it all off they decreased our work-week to 32 Hrs.
So my question is can I get away without filing for bankruptcy and just wait til everything clears up in 7 years or do I have to file?
Unfortunately my injury happened at home so I was receiving Disability insurance which was about %60 percent of what I made normally.
My mom or her spouse haven’t been able to find a job and their unemployment ran out 2 months ago.
I don’t have anything of value that I see the court selling off to pay back some of my debt. I am really broke and don’t have much in the way of assets. I only have about ,000 in my 401k other than that I am broke
I enrolled with Renaissance Debt Solutions out of MD and paid the initial 9 start up fee to help me with credit cards and a repo that I have been paying on for 3 1/2 yrs. I was not behind in anything at the time but am now. Checked with the BBB (after the fact) and the company has an unsatisfactory rating. Does anyone have any further information about this company before I just cut my losses and try to get back on track with my creditors myself?
I decided a few months ago to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I hired an attorney in late December and informed all my creditors. I have only heard from one on and off since then.
I have had a temp job since mid-December, but I think it ends in the next week or two. I have enough now to do the bankruptcy…however, what if I just never did it? I have no open credit cards nor needs for credit. Will the agencies start calling me again eventually?
I always see those commercials that say if you owe 10k or more on credit cards, you can settle for a little as 40%. How does that work? Could I call my company and offer them half of my bill if I pay rigth now? Does that affect your credit? I am curious.
I have about 15,000 debt between car payments and credit cards along with 0,000 in medical bills from an accident that’s left me unable to work for a few months. I will have a full recovery however. I’m hoping to go back to school, but obviously will need student loans.
If I file for bankruptcy, will I still be able to get enough loans to be a fulltime non working student?
A lot of bills, unemployed, it’s too much now
I had to put a lot of my college tuition on credit cards because I expected I would find a job after (graduated 08)
Bank of America after that new law was passed for banks and/or creditors to increase their rates
my monthly payment went from 150$ to 300$
I have 1,000$/mo. in bills and only make 600$/mo from unemployment
I’m wondering if I can kind of selectively go bankrupt on this
I figure if I just don’t pay that I’ll only be at a negative 100/mo
I live out of my car and don’t eat much so gas/food is pretty low.
Only I usually had to put them on a credit card. A different card.
Not paying this one bill will probably cut off my other cards too?
I have really good credit and I was hoping to hold on until I could find something but I can’t and once i find a job I’ll have another 500$ in student loans.
I either need a good paying job or 2 or 3 regular ones but I have to acquire them at the exact same time because of that student loans. Right now I can hold up some of it with unemployment deferment
not sallie mae, you can’t defer private loans for any reason
I’ve already sold most of my things. It doesn’t hold up too long
I just want to stop paying bank of america
How bad will it be?
I recently received my annual bonus from work and I want to pay off one of my credit cards. What should I ask to be reported on my credit record that will help improve my credit rating? I have numerous missed payments and had gone over my limit since I could no longer pay my old debts but I want to start fresh and work on being responsible building good credit instead of being haunted by my college mistakes.
ok first let me add to the fact that I have not taken out a new line of credit in over 3 years I haven’t charged anything to my cards in the last 18 months and my goal is to put the past behind me in the most favorable light so that I can get debt free and when I need credit (to buy a car or house) I can do so with out rates that leave me a slave to my creditors. and if we can leave out bible references that would be great thanks
If you don’t make any payments on your credit cards or utility bills for 7 years is your debt written off? Or do you actually have to file for bankruptcy to make the debt go away?
I’ve heard of companies like cureadebt.com that will settle your credit card debts for 70% of the amount owed. I’ve also heard of government grants to pay unsecured debt(credit cards), but I don’t know where to get the info on them. I’m considering a second mortgage to pay these off with a lower interest rate. Thoughts?
We no longer use credit cards, so the balance only increases because of high interest rates.