Debt Negotiations with Chase, Discover, Citi, Capital One, GE Money Bank

[ArizonaCh13]

Has anyone had any recent debt settlement negotiations with any of these credit cards to reduce their balance and accept as paid in full for a lump sum payment?

[BigJohn]

Each creditor made offers to me. I think the trick is getting them all to agree to agreements at the same time.

[strugglingda]

What is the best way to get them to settle with you? Is it the threat of bankruptcy? Say I stop paying. They call to harass. I let this go on for a couple of months. Would this be the time to try to settle with the threat of ch 13 or ch 7? What if it's an empty threat? Would that work in general? If they do offer to settle, what % of the debt would they usually be willing to accept? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks.

[ready2puke]

BofA recently offered me 30% and Chase offered approx. 45%...Not worth it for me to pay the income taxes.. If I had about 50k then I'd do it for sure...

[strugglingda]

Ready, did they initiate the offer? How long since you stopped paying on the cards, which I assume is what had happened? Did you tell them you were filing for BK?

[ready2puke]

Yes they were the ones that offered.. I NEVER talk to any of them. I just dont answer the phone unless its my area code.
BofA left me a voice mail with the offer and Chase sent it to me in a letter.
Last payment was made Aug. 08
Hope that helps. I really dont think telling them your plans is a good idea IMHO I think that would speed up any process they have in mind...
Hope that helps some. good luck

[optimistic1]

Chase, Citi, and Capital, 5 months later from delinquent, have sent me absoultely nothing in terms of settlement offers. Even with the threat of bankruptcy.

[catleg]

As BB said it's like herding cats. Getting them all to deal is remote. I am 90-120 days late on most of them. Citi mails offers for 60% of balance (40% off) in letters with chess pieces on them saying "your move". The rest I have found by checking on the cards websites, www.cardmemberassistance.com is Discover, they're offering either 50% or 80% of balance on 2 cards. Had 35% of balance offer from Wamu on their site which is now gone.

Settlement is really not an option unless you have just one or two cards. No way to sync them up, if you file BK anyway it's just like putting money in the shredder.

[OhioFiler]

Let's say I get several of the lenders to agree to a reduced payoff. Once I have their agreements in hand can I then file Chapter 13 using the lowered amounts as the balances due?

[optimistic1]

lol, that sounds like an idea.

[catleg]

Let's say I get several of the lenders to agree to a reduced payoff. Once I have their agreements in hand can I then file Chapter 13 using the lowered amounts as the balances due?

Well, your ch 13 plan is based on your disposable income. Unless you can get the balance so low that your payment covers 100% of the balances in less than 60 months it doesn't accomplish anything.

I would be interested in hearing any ideas about how to reduce the % of claims filed by unsecured creditors, anyone know if JDB's are less likely to file POC's?
Seems to me a lot of fresh charge offs are bought by investors who then slice and dice and resell the portfolio in pieces, maybe at this point nobody would be on the ball enough to file the proof of claim.

[treehugger1]

Cat, I've asked this question also. How much weight is given to POC where the account is buried in the entire debt portfolio issue; especially with JDB's? It can't be easy. I recently requested a DV on an "alleged" Cap! account and the legal firm sent me a couple of years of recent bills, and a copy of terms and conditions from a year or so previous to that. My guess is that this CC is over a decade old with no original contract easily obtained. I'm requesting clarification on the information sent to me, but no response as of yet. Due to the strange information I was sent, I believe it is my right to move toward a request of original contract.

In terms of attempting to work out agreements, I had pretty good luck with most accounts, but then a couple of local creditors sued me, got wage garnishment, and that ground the other agreements down. You need to get everyone on board if you trying a settlement. And, if you miss 1-2 payments, you are back where you started.

[BigJohn]

All the Junk Debt Buyers that have bought my loans filed POC (proof of claim). 8 banks did not file POC.

[Confuzed]

Big John, can you clarify that part where the JDB "filed proof of claim" and the banks did not? I am not clear on what you mean. I would really appreciate it as this forum has really educated me on how things work.

Thanks!

[BigJohn]

I hope this will help.

If the original creditor sells the debt to another business, these businesses that buy the deby are generally called JDB (Junk Debt Buyers). Before and after we filed, some of our creditors sold some of our debt to other businesses (JDB - Junk Debt Buyers). When we filed bankruptcy, creditors had to show proof of claim (POC) that the debt was legitimate. In our case, all the JDB's showed proof of claim (POC) but some of the original banks did not.