Settlement offer: 15% of 75,000 with B of A?

[tyfoon]

tyfoon...how long did it take your credit score to get to 540? It would be really interesting to know what it would hav ebeen if you would have done a Ch 13 instead. Ours is weird because we have so many debts that we have never had a late pay on, then the three credit cards that are now charged off. The house had missed payments but not all at once. I am meeting with an attorney who does settlement as well as BK so owe will see.

6 months.Like HHM said above, chances are that my score would have come back quicker if CH13. I have not checked my score for a couple of months now since subscription ran out and, go figure, the credit card # on file with Equifax was no longer valid.

[tyfoon]

My Experian score as of today was 643. Not sure if i could get credit anywhere yet but appears to be an improvement.

[onthebrink]

Typhoon,

Thanks for sharing your experience. Very useful to see that there are alternatives to getting back on track besides BK. My big concerns with filing are that I am due to make about $70K over the next 3 months for a consulting project. Plus we have about $40K in checking and stock.

If I try filing Ch 7, I'm afraid I would have to give this up to the TT. This "high" monthly income might push me to a 100% Ch 13. The problem is that I have zero guarantee I can maintain that level of income let alone any income after this project is done, although there are some possibilities for other projects.

We owe $120K in CC debt, are way underwater on our first mortgage by about $100K and owe $120K on a HELOC. We're thinking about trying to do a debt settlement withh CC's in the June/July timeframe. If we can settle for 30% to 40% and be out of CC debt, we'd be happy. Also looking into a loan modification but will only consider this if we can get principal reduced.

We stopped paying our mortgage and CC about 2 months ago. I hear that 4 to 6 months is the best time to negotiate with CCs. How long did you go without paying your cards before you settled?

Thanks and congratulations about being out of debt and not having to file BK. I bet it feels great.

[flyinbroke]

I am going into month 4 with FIA/BOA and thus far I have received no offers to settle. BOA sent a letter "pay in full by 3/17." Spoke to them on the 13th, told them to quit calling (mail and email are fine) per Texas law. I have received nothing at all from them since. I am diligently checking the county courts just in case.

Ditto for GEMB; they contracted a CA to strongarm me into paying them and thus far they have only managed to rack up about 40K in FDCPA, Texas' debt collections act and TCPA violations by calling my cell constantly after I DV/C&D'ed them (not counting the "private" calls that come in within a minute of them calling their listed number). I am sitting back and letting them gather enough rope....and then will fire off a letter to both them and GEMB's general counsel. Bet I can make them go bye-bye.

Citi has called a lot (I am going on 60 with them) but when I return calls I can't get anyone thru their extensions. May have to send a no phone letter, and ask what options they have for me.

[tyfoon]

Typhoon,

Thanks for sharing your experience. Very useful to see that there are alternatives to getting back on track besides BK. My big concerns with filing are that I am due to make about $70K over the next 3 months for a consulting project. Plus we have about $40K in checking and stock.

If I try filing Ch 7, I'm afraid I would have to give this up to the TT. This "high" monthly income might push me to a 100% Ch 13. The problem is that I have zero guarantee I can maintain that level of income let alone any income after this project is done, although there are some possibilities for other projects.

We owe $120K in CC debt, are way underwater on our first mortgage by about $100K and owe $120K on a HELOC. We're thinking about trying to do a debt settlement withh CC's in the June/July timeframe. If we can settle for 30% to 40% and be out of CC debt, we'd be happy. Also looking into a loan modification but will only consider this if we can get principal reduced.

We stopped paying our mortgage and CC about 2 months ago. I hear that 4 to 6 months is the best time to negotiate with CCs. How long did you go without paying your cards before you settled?

Thanks and congratulations about being out of debt and not having to file BK. I bet it feels great.

Stopped paying credit cards in January 2009. Finally settled with BOA and a couple of other cards in July 2009 but payments were spread over three months. Ended up settling with third parties for Sears and GM card in September I believe. They all let you spread the settlement payments out.

I am far from being out of debt.. Still owe about $130,000 in first and second mortgages on a home that is now worth maybe half that, $9K on a car that is worth maybe $6k and a total of $9k on discover and kohl's cards that I never settled for since they reduced monthly payments substantially.

Have to work on Green Tree, my second mortgage company. Interest rate way to high (10.25%) I owe more on second mortgage then first and there are more years left to pay on my second then my first (six years left to pay on first, nine years on second). I am looking to reduce my mortgage debt to so had a talk with a rep from a free financial service company named Auriton, phone 888.697.7980. They are very helpful.

[tyfoon]

I am going into month 4 with FIA/BOA and thus far I have received no offers to settle. BOA sent a letter "pay in full by 3/17." Spoke to them on the 13th, told them to quit calling (mail and email are fine) per Texas law. I have received nothing at all from them since. I am diligently checking the county courts just in case.

Ditto for GEMB; they contracted a CA to strongarm me into paying them and thus far they have only managed to rack up about 40K in FDCPA, Texas' debt collections act and TCPA violations by calling my cell constantly after I DV/C&D'ed them (not counting the "private" calls that come in within a minute of them calling their listed number). I am sitting back and letting them gather enough rope....and then will fire off a letter to both them and GEMB's general counsel. Bet I can make them go bye-bye.

Citi has called a lot (I am going on 60 with them) but when I return calls I can't get anyone thru their extensions. May have to send a no phone letter, and ask what options they have for me.

Sounds like a real pain. I never gave out my cell phone number or office number. Turned off ringer on home phone too. But I would call back if they left a message. Also, I made the offers. Offered everyone 15%. BOA was the only one that accepted that but told me towards the end that they were told to stop accepting low settlement amounts (just what they told me, I have no proof of a change in policy). Sears and GM card would not settle (they wanted 75%-80%), wrote off my account and I had to wait to settle with the third party for about 35%.

[DYLAN150]

TyFoon: Just wondering about Sears? Was that a visa card or a Sears store credit card. If it was a store card did Sears want to pick up their stuff?

[flyinbroke]

My cell for this purpose is a prepaid. Too bad, it is still a cell phone and still under TCPA rules since I told them to quit calling any number they had on file for me.

As for offers, don't have cash in hand and no one made decent repay offers that they were willing to put in writing. I won't do banking over the phone, and I won't do anything that is not in writing. The CC companies taught me that much...

[tyfoon]

TyFoon: Just wondering about Sears? Was that a visa card or a Sears store credit card. If it was a store card did Sears want to pick up their stuff?

The Sears gold MasterCard was really a Citi credit card (if not Citi was some other credit card company). The GM Card was HSBC. No one wants their stuff back as far as I know.