To make a long story short, I have managed to bury myself with almost ,000 in credit card debt I did not want to file bankruptcy. I have been able to pay around ,500 a month towards credit cards consistently which usually cover a little more than the minimum payment. I was doing the math and even with getting interest lower this is going to take me anywhere around 8-10 years. So I decided to join a debt settlement program that allows me to pay 75 a month for 36 months and it will get me out of debt by settlement. I have never been late on anything before but this month I have been advised by the company I decided to work with to stop paying the creditors. Does anyone know if the debt settlement companies send pfd’s or are they just trying to settle and get their share? What are somethings that I should expect to happen to my credit in the next 3-5 years? Does anyone have any success stories about settling their debt? I am just trying to sleep good at night with this decison.TY

Technorati Tags: 10 years, bankruptcy, credit card debt, credit cards, creditors, debt settlement companies, debt settlement program, decison, math, minimum payment, pfd, sleep, success stories, ty

I am a full-time college student with income of about 00 per month. I am 22. I was in between jobs a few months ago and during that time went more than 30 days late on all of my credit cards. Since then, my interest rate has went to 32%. I missed payments again last month and now my minimum payment on one card alone is 473 dollars. I don’t make enough money to get it caught back up, and they are unwilling to help me. I don’t know what to do. I hate to file for bankruptcy at age 22.
I owe about 13,000.

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, credit cards, full time, interest rate, jobs, minimum payment, time college student

I’m a 29 year old teacher. I’ve accumulated about 00 in credit card debt since I was in college. I cut up my credit cards about three years ago & have been paying on the balances, but card I fell 9 months behind. The minimum payment was over 200 a month and on a teacher’s salary, I just could not make it. They’d send me settlement deals, but I didn’t even have money to settle. I’d send them periodic payments to try to show them I was at least trying. Now, they’ve sent my account to a Debt Collection Agency. The collection agency seems to want me to come up with the entire amount or file bankrupcy. Is there any way I can get a big debt collection company to work with me on small payments until I can get ahead? I recently took a part time job to give me extra income to work with. I don’t want file bankrupcy @ this age and it is the only marr on my credit report. How can I get them to give me repayment options in writing? They want me to do everything over the phone. Help!
The lame teacher’s excuse, is not an excuse. In the state of Montana, a beginning teacher’s salary is barely ,000 a year and with student loans, a rent payment, insurance, etc., at the end of the month I have maybe left over.

Also, I have tried debt consolidation and because I work "-" in the red each month, they would not take me.

Technorati Tags: 9 months, amp, bankrupcy, credit card debt, credit cards, credit report, debt collection agency, debt collection company, debt consolidation, excuse, extra income, insurance, marr, minimum payment, part time job, periodic payments, repayment options, salary, state of montana, student loans

Ok so me and my friend went to the same school. We both got the same loan. We both got it co signed by our parents.

We also both have been paying the minimum payment cause neither of us makes enough to pay the whole thing off. Her debt was up to 8k from 6k. Same with me. But her dad just paid off her debt for 3 thousand…..

how does that happen? I have money in the bank i have been saving for a car. If i used that money could I do the same thing she did? Where does that missing money go? I"m confused. How do loan companies stay in business if people can settle their debt for like less than half? Her parents are rich too it’s not like they couldn’t pay it off. I thought that loan companies only settled debt when someone was delinquent.

Technorati Tags: dad, loan companies, minimum payment, missing money, money in the bank, parents

AMEX will not agree to any settlement below 85-90%. Unlike Chase, Barclays Bank, Discover, HSBC and B of A who all agreed to settlements under 50 cents on the dollar.
ANY INSIDE NEGOTIATION TIPS WITH REGARDS TO DEALING WITH AMEX WOULD BE APPRECIATED!
A little background info specific to my situation: I owe about ,500. My account was about 100 days past due. But I was told by their collections dept. that in order to make a settlement offer, I needed to make a minimum payment of 9. I did this on Oct3rd. They rejected my settlement offer of ,900. I told them I was going to wait for the account to charge off since my offers keep getting rejected. They said it won’t charge off for another 85 days. They have offered me a hardship program. I have declined it. Like the other 8 credit cards i’ve settled, I want to make a 1 time lump sum settlement.
AGAIN, I AM LOOKING FOR N E G O T I A T I O N ADVICE.
I’m NOT looking for you to tell me how awful/cheap/irresponsible/or evil I am for not paying back all the money I owe. Thanks

Technorati Tags: 50 cents, amex, barclays, barclays bank, chase, collections dept, credit cards, hsbc, lump sum settlement, minimum payment, money, negotiation tips

Hi All,

I have about 35,000 dollars in credit card debt and i am current on each one. I have a credit score of 780. My interest rates on 15, 000 is 4.9%. The one i am concerned about is the 20,000 at 9.9% with BoA…..I can make the payment with struggling at 316 a month i called and see what they could do for me lower interest or not they said no then asked to settle the debt they said they would settle for 12,000 without looking at the credit report pay that in four months which i believe i can do….Should i do it or just continue to pay all my creditors the minimum payment which i am doing now ?????? If i debt settle with BoA how bad does my credit score from 780 go down???

When i get bonus at work i just give that to my credit card companies i have stop using credit cards and hope to pay them off…..
Thanks everyone …..Just don’t know if i should mess up my credit score I good go from 35000 to 20,000 in a year with the settlement and probably pay everything off in 2 years with the boa settlement if not probably going to take 5 or 6 years……
Thanks everyone …..Just don’t know if i should mess up my credit score I could go from 35000 to 20,000 in a year with the settlement and probably pay everything off in 2 years with the boa settlement if not probably going to take 5 or 6 years……
In about 4 to 5 years i want to get another house….i currently own a house that i am current with all mortgage payments…The house would be the only big next purchase….
In about 4 to 5 years i want to get another house….i currently own a house that i am current with all mortgage payments…The house would be the only big next purchase….

Technorati Tags: 6 years, boa, bonus, credit card companies, credit card debt, credit report, credit score, creditors, four months, interest rates, minimum payment, mortgage payments, using credit cards

I lost my job almost 2 years ago and even before I lost my job I was struggling to make the mini um monthly payment. After losing my job I can’t even make the minimum payment and 3 creditor had sue me. Is it too late to file for bankruptcy now?

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, creditor, job, minimum payment

What do you think is the best way to clear up Credit Card dept??? Paying each debt individually with minimum payment every month?? Which is all I can afford. Filing bankruptcy??? Settling out??? Signing up for a debt management program??

Technorati Tags: credit card, debt management program, filing bankruptcy, minimum payment

I owe a LOT on my credit card bill (my minimum payment is 5/month) and my interest rate is 12%. Please understand that this has taken almost 2 decades to get to this point and it was unintentional. Anyways, I have good credit with a score of 771. I don’t want to ruin that by filing bankruptcy. I am wondering if there is an alternative where I can cancel the card, pay say /mo and not have interest accrue. I will pay til I die if I have to but I cannot afford this anymore. I know you can do something similar with medical bills, so I thought maybe there is something out there for credit card bills. If it helps, I am disabled and receive SSDI, so maybe there is a government program, I don’t know. Thank you for any/all suggestions.
Just some additional thoughts, what would trash my credit worse? Filing bankruptcy or debt settlement of some type as one person mentioned? Also wondering, if I just ceased paying or only paid the very minimum I could, and lets say they end up putting me in collections, etc., and let’s say they sue me for it, could they put a garnish on my monthly SSDI check? I don’t have any assets they could take (savings, house, etc).

Technorati Tags: 2 decades, assets, collections, credit card bill, credit card bills, Debt Settlement, filing bankruptcy, garnish, government program, interest rate, medical bills, minimum payment, score, ssdi

I had very good credit. Two years ago, however, I was forced to lose my home to foreclosure. Actually, it was two houses. After that, my big credit cards were cut or reduced, however, I never stopped giving payments. I’ve always been in good standing. I always give more than the minimum payment. Things were okay after the foreclosures, I could still afford to pay my balances, and it was all just alright.

However, about maybe 3 months ago, I started thinking about filing for bankruptcy. My cards weren’t maxed out, but I was still finding it a little bit harder to make payments. Then, business started thriving again, and that’s where I started spending more. I’d never maxed out my cards. Now, they are full. So, basically, three months later, I find myself in the same situation. Business has gone down once again (even worst than the first time) and now it’s getting tougher and tougher to make payments. Up until this month I still made some big purchases. A dslr camera, and somethings because I could still afford it. 2 months ago I bought me a fridge (2,000) dollars. Business is completely dying, but I’m afraid of filing from bankruptcy and having my things taken away… How long should I wait before I file for bankruptcy? I’m also afraid of being charged for something I honestly had no thought of doing (stealing the banks so much money) I would say I’m about 10,000 dollars in debt (i know it’s not a lot, but for me at the moment it is…)

What should I do? How long would it be reasonable to wait so the court doesn’t think I went and maxed out my cards before i filed for bankruptcy? (seriously, that was not my intention) A couple of months would be good? With my small savings I think I could still afford to make the minimum payments… HELP
I don’t know what I was thinking when I said I’m 10,000 (I was thinking just about a few cards) dollars in debt. I am about 50,000 dollars in debt. If not, more. Like I said, I had great income, and very big cards.
Spalmer: I’ve always known how to manage my credit. I’ve never been a big spender. My business was a thriving one for 14 years. I’m a wedding planner, and believe it or not, I made the big bucks there. Somehow, things are not the same. I also had another business, a small landscape designs. Things happen. At the end, yes, I might have spent much more than I should have, but i DID have the money to do so. Its just that you never think something bad is ever going to happen to you.
I’m sorry not saying what my income was. It’s about 100,000 but, like I said, I’m nowhere near making that. I do not own expensive car. The home I recently (2 yrs ago) purchased I bought cash.

Technorati Tags: banks, credit cards, dslr camera, filing for bankruptcy, foreclosure, foreclosures, intention, little bit, minimum payment, minimum payments, much money, three months

I lost my job almost 2 years ago and even before I lost my job I was struggling to make the mini um monthly payment. After losing my job I can’t even make the minimum payment and 3 creditor had sue me. Is it too late to file for bankruptcy now?

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, creditor, job, minimum payment

Long story but I had a Capital One Credit Card with a limit of 00. I ended up not being able to pay the bill. I was swamped with other bills, and since Cap One insists on calling me 20 times a day, I decided they would be paid last.

I have made a good faith effort to pay toward the card when I have the money. I even sold my car for 25 and put toward the card. I just can’t make any progress toward paying off the card.

I now have 00.53 on the card and have received a pre-legal notice. Their voicemails say they have some special offers for me.

I have been setting aside money to make my minimum payment but the minimum payment increases faster than I can save the money. It is currently 9 and I have about 5 saved.

Would they let me pay them 0 now and then every two weeks? I just don’t want to give them any money if it’s all going to be eaten up by fees again like my car money was.

What is the best way to pay this off? I make about 0/month.

Technorati Tags: cap one, capital one, capital one credit card, faith effort, good faith, minimum payment, money, special offers, voicemails

I’m a 24 year old california resident.

My father started a credit profile on my social security when i was 13 on a fake name. I caught him when checking my credit report. He paid all the debt off, but what I had left was an extremely good credit score when i was 18. i applied and applied for credit cards when i became 18 to collect airline miles. i collected nearly 800,000 airline miles through that and I did some amazing travelling.

i had a good income coming in, but then my business crashed but slightly recovered, however, my girlfriend is a shopaholic, and I kept buying her stuff. i bought five new cars in my life. i’m 24. i just graduated college. i have 8,000 in debt. I have an income of about 00 per month after taxes which is really good, but most of my money is going to debts, and I have to live at home with parents and have an ok living. I look at my minimum payment warnings, and they say it will take 32 years to pay off.

I have three options. Option 1 is to not pay. Being self employed, I have the ability to dodge collectors and court actions especially since I can go to another country. I meet the requirements to get permanent residency at Spain, UK, or Canada. I can make the same amount of money anywhere. I can probably even stay here in California, and get away since I have foreign bank accounts.

My other option is to settle my debts, but I don’t know what amount card companies will settle for.

My other option is to keep paying the debts on time, but it will take 32 years to pay off.

I can also do bankruptcy, but given statue of limitations, and the ability to not pay bills, I rather just hide than to declare bankruptcy publically.

I’m also worried that my parents will find out about this. How do I explain 168,000 dollar debt? – What if they ask me to do something that requires me to run my credit. All I can do is put a freeze on my credit report so nobody can check. I also can rent an apt right now with the good credit I have and stay in it until my credit recovers. I see no reason for moving in the future. I’m young, and I’m sure I can stay in an apt until my credit recovers which can take up to seven years.Sometimes, I’m worried about my parents finding out, and I want to commit suicide.
i have no morals. atheist. i believe in helping others so i can benefit back myself in some way. i don’t do it for the goodness of my heart cuz i don’t believe in it.

Technorati Tags: airline miles, amount of money, bankruptcy, california resident, court actions, credit cards, credit profile, credit report, credit score, debts, dollar debt, girlfriend, minimum payment, new cars, old california, option 1, permanent residency, shopaholic, social security, statue of limitations

I wanted to know what my options are in terms of settling old credit card debt. The debt was charged off in september of 2009 and now they are looking to seriously collect as I recieved an official "summons" with no court date. I called the lawyers office who are repesenting the creditors and they said I can still mediate the account by writing a letter stating how much I can settle for or how much can I pay monthly on the account and they will report to the court the agreement and cease legal action. Is this really the case? or do i automatically have a judgement/lien against me being the fact that they took the step to start action with a summons. Called this morning and he said it is just the initial step. How do I approach this?

Should I write a letter to settle the account? For how much?
Should I pay monthly and then settle later on or pay in full over time?
I cannot afford to pay in full up front. Just graduated in 2008 but just started working full time.It is an old debt and credit cord from my college years coming back to haunt me. I use to make regular minimum payment without missing a beat until mid last year and then they charged it off.

Now it is at a collection company who is now being represented by a collections attorney company.

I am interested in pay for delete off my credit report but do understand that it would remove my oldest credit account on my report which would negatively affect me. How should I apporach this and what should I state in my general repsponse letter to them?
the account is about ,000 from student credit card from bank of america. It is now with cavalry portfolio after going through FIA CArd services.

I just could not afford the payments at the time
Does the summons and/or me sending a settlement letter to them after the fact show up on my credit report as a consent judgement or just a charged off account being paid on?

Technorati Tags: bank of america, cavalry portfolio, collections, credit card debt, credit report, creditors, fia card services, full time, initial step, judgement lien, lawyers, minimum payment, student credit card, summons, writing a letter

We have some credit cards with high interest rates and we can’t afford to pay more than the minimum payment because the interest is so high.

Technorati Tags: credit cards, high interest rates, minimum payment

I am currently in debt. I am 21 years old (Yes I know I am too young to be already in debt). Most of my debt has been passed on to collection agencies. I am slowly paying off my student loans and haven’t done anything about my debt with the debt collectors. One of my other debt with my bank, I was able to hold that off because it was almost sent to the debt collectors, however I am making minimum payment on that card/debt. Any ideas on how I can bring my score back up? How I can clear my debt? Thanks!

Technorati Tags: card debt, collection agencies, debt collectors, minimum payment, score, student loans

Hello,

I owe about 000 on a credit card, but I have never been late or missed a payment. The bank recently changed the minimum payment from 2% to 5% and that will make it hard for me to meet the minimum payment. My credit score is in the low 700’s

I called the bank and complained about it and they said that I have two options:

a) Payment plan with an interest rate af 12% for 60 months; I’m sure I can get a better rate from my local credit union.
b) Settlement, ,000 that can be paid in 2 installments.

I’m very tempted on taking the settlement, but how is it going to affect my credit ranking? I really don’t expect applying for anything in the next few years, but you never know. I know I have to pay taxes on those ,000

Thanks for your input.

Technorati Tags: credit card, credit score, installments, interest rate, minimum payment

This debt is for a credit card that I have had for 22 years. Prior to now I have always paid off my balance each month in full.

Last September I was in a terrible car accident, I was in the hospital for over one month, and have since had 4 reconstruction surgeries on my legs. I lost my job, and my husband barely makes enough to pay our mortgage and keep the utilities paid each month. We had to use the card to pay for some of my doctor visits, medicine, groceries, etc now the card had about 00.00 on it. My doctor says that I will probably never be able to work again due to the extent of my injuries, and I should file for SSR. We have been unable to make any payments on this card.

Yesterday I received a notice from the CC company wanting to settle the debt. Has anyone ever settled a debt? How should I proceed? Will the CC company want a lump sum, or will they take a minimum payment each month. Honestly I do not want our credit ruined, as we had perfect credit, but I would only be able to make a very small monthly payment, does anyone know if they will accept the payment?

Technorati Tags: 22 years, car accident, cc company, credit card, doctor visits, extent, groceries, job, last september, legs, lump sum, medicine, minimum payment, mortgage, reconstruction surgeries

I have a credit card debt of about ,600.00 with a major credit card provider. They are charging me 24.99% interest. The minimum payment is around 0.00 and 0.00 of this is interest. What would be the best thing to do? Should I use a debt management program to pay it off or stop paying it all together and let it go to a collection agency where I could then settle with them and ask that when I settle that they remove the negative information from my credit report?

Technorati Tags: credit card debt, credit card provider, credit report, debt management program, minimum payment

Well, it is ashamed to ask this question but it is true that I’ve been living in this condition for couple years now and it made me so depress because of my personal financial problem. But I am still hoping and trying to find everything I could to recover my credit. I hope I will get some advise from you guys out there to help me start rebuild my financial life again.

Since last 5 years ago the first time I moved to this country I started apply my first credit card with US Bank, I’ve been living so happy with it, I thought it was cool when using credit card, I spent money like a rich kid, and I got a really good credit, then I applied for any other cards from one bank to other banks till I ended up with 5 different credit cards. Then 3 years gone by I couldn’t handle these credit cards, I ran out of control and ended up with a balance of 22K at the age 27 years old now, so still there is a long way to go, if I am keep paying the minimum payment like this I will end up paying those creditors for my whole life. I did try credit card consolidation but it just reduced my interest rate Now at this time I decided to go with debt settlement company in order to get rip of this debt and start a new life, but of cause it gonna take me couple years to settle this 22K debt. Now I m paying the settlement company 0/month for 28 months to settle my debt.

So first of all please ignore my grammars I know you understand what I am talking about, but I am seeking for advise from you guys out there:

1. I can possibly maintain my monthly payment of 0 to 0 toward my debt, so is there any alternative way beside debt settlement and bankruptcy to get rip of this debt? now my credit score gone so bad and there is one collection on my credit already, and soon there will be more as I am enrolling in this debt settlement.

2. I start looking at peer to peer loan and sound like an other option for me as long as I have a co-borrow with a good credit, but I am kind of hesitated and not sure how legitimated it is. Can anyone advise me if I should go with it?

I am making 90K from my job but I am still living in this horrible life because of my debt. This is a really bad experience that I am currently having in my life and I hope everyone who read this post will learn from what my mistake was, and won’t go on the same path as me.
Yes I will looking into my daily living expense and hope I will cut some of them. Originally, it was 35K on my balance but then I tried to sell most of my asset (Stock, I don’t have a house) and brought it down to 22K. So at this moment of 22K debt I have nothing beside my monthly salary. I am so upset when I see most of my friends now they bought houses even they make less money than me, I was really poor in my money management.

Technorati Tags: 3 years, bankruptcy, banks, credit card consolidation, credit cards, credit score, creditors, Debt Settlement, grammars, interest rate, minimum payment, money, personal financial problem, rich kid, settlement company, us bank, whole life

Does anyone know of something besides bankruptcy to get credit cards paid off? Any private investors that do that sort of thing…lend money at a low interest rate? I’m not even sure that we could file for bankruptcy because we are not behind on any payments. Some how we are getting by, but are having to charge stuff, because once we make the minimum payment we have no money left. We own a home, but hasn’t been long enough to get any equity out of….any suggestions out there??

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, credit cards, interest rate, minimum payment, money, private investors