Just how bad will your credit get?

[uncrunner]

Hello,

I have just stopped paying my credit cards and am 60 days late. Not because I want to but b/c I sell Real Estate for a living. Need I say more? Anyways the carcass is not that rotten yet and the vultures are calling 5 times a day. I have heard to hold out for as long as you can and they will settle (AMEX $9,900) and BOA ($18,500). Just how bad will my credit score get before settlement offers arrive? I have told them all that I am getting a divorce and that I meet the means test to file BK7 or that I am considering Foreclosure. Matter of fact it will be either of the two depending on my divorce settlement. Should I also be telling my creditors what is going on? Thanks.

[chriselle]

I filed for BK because of having a hard time keeping up with the payments. How credit looked at the time I was struggling was the least of my worries. But before I filed for bk I was 90 days late on my cards and my score was in the low 500's.

[frogger]

The quick answer to this is, if you have to ask, you already know the answer.

Like many of the rest of us....

Too much debt
Late payments
Not enough income
Creditors hounding you.

Your credit sucks!

You don't owe anyone an explanation about your situation except for yourself. The collection agencies only care about one thing, and that is for you to pay the bill (and in full, TODAY!).

Study, read, prepare. Welcome to newfound freedom.

[GoingDown]

It will be bad for about 7 years, and then all the negative stuff falls off, and you once again have stellar credit.

[Flamingo]

Your credit is already bad. It doesn't matter what your score is you have late payments on there over 60 days so just forget about your credit score until you get your situation resolved. What the key is to all this is to get past your credit issues by doing what you have to do (the situation is what it is - it doesn't go away) and in time you work to establish yourself to creditors as being once again creditworthy by being prudent and careful with any credit you can obtain from here on out (no late payments, few hard inquiries, etc.). It takes time to do that and remember a BK stays on your credit reports for 10 years if a Chapter 7, 7 years if a Chapter 13, and it is permanent on public records. Time is your friend if you file...best of luck to you.

[jwmc1]

Your credit will be a mess, but will get better after you have paid everything and a couple of years pass. My score got down to about 490 and I finally settled everything and got my mortgage current and my score is at 545 within a month with two accounts still showing as past due even though they are not. Once those update, it will go up a bit more, but I would think that it will be a couple of years of no late payments before I see a "good credit score."

As far as settlement offers are concerned, B of A will hold your account until it goes to 180 days and then send it off. They offered me a deal of about 30% when it got between 120 and 180 days. I ended up settling for about that amount. I don't know about AMEX, never had the pleasure.

[jwmc1]

Your credit is already bad. It doesn't matter what your score is you have late payments on there over 60 days so just forget about your credit score until you get your situation resolved. What the key is to all this is to get past your credit issues by doing what you have to do (the situation is what it is - it doesn't go away) and in time you work to establish yourself to creditors as being once again creditworthy by being prudent and careful with any credit you can obtain from here on out (no late payments, few hard inquiries, etc.). It takes time to do that and remember a BK stays on your credit reports for 10 years if a Chapter 7, 7 years if a Chapter 13, and it is permanent on public records. Time is your friend if you file...best of luck to you.

True dat...your credit score is irrelevant if you have late payments.

[Jackdog]

Even if you settle your credit is still trashed. Before I met my boyfriend he missed payments on all his debt due to a car accident. (less than 5K debt) Once he got back on his feet he settled all the debt (it wasn't with OC though) but even settling it his credit score was 490. He should of just BK'd.

[flyinbroke]

Mine dropped to 650 without late payments. I was maxed out due to CLDs, some flat out closed accounts that I had paid off, dropping the ratio and making me look even more maxed out. Each "max out" can drop a good score up to 50 points. I am sure the five delinquent accounts dropped it further but I am not worried. Cash is king and I have a job where I make plenty of it; I will pay off what I can and worry about the five later on (or not, knowing they will have to drop off.)

Am approaching 180 with BoA and they have YET to offer any kind of settlement (though I did ask for them to stop calling and they did...the only mail I get are the monthly statements.) Ditto for GE Money. Neither sues much in my district unless it is small claims. Citi offered me 48 percent but I told them if I had 11K laying around I would still be paying them and the issue of settling would be moot. They had temp fixes but refused to defer for four months (gotta pay taxes..would be able to pay after that.)

[feelingnutsy]

What are CLDs?

[NeedOptions]

CLD's=Credit line decreases.

[flyinbroke]

Yep, they "reduce risk" by dropping your credit limit. But they will drop it to what you owe, making you go from 40 percent utilization to 100 percent....which drops your score 25-50 points each time it happens.

Even with "perfect" credit I could not get any more...tried to get a "2 years no interest" deal at Mattress Firm and was denied. Thus the default game began when I figured that defaulting on 5 minimum payments freed up over 1300 a month in cash! When you have cold, hard cash, no one cares what your score is.

[junker]

its just been about 4 months, and chase is already offering 50% settlement to her...the other ones havent offered anything yet, although barclays did offer to stop all interest and work with us....b of a hasnt even tried to call yet....at least according to caller id....they might be using a unknown name and number....because i get a lot of those.....btw.....she got all of these cards, while still having defaulted cc,s on her report....b of a florida gave her a 5k just 3 years after defaulting on major cc,s...her credit score was barely 600.....chase gave her a 5k just 4 years after defaulting....and she got others...crap1 etc....me on the other hand, they are still sending me letters 10 years after defaulting.....go figure..

[dscurlock]

It will be bad for about 7 years, and then all the negative stuff falls off, and you once again have stellar credit.

that does sound like a perfect world...
what planet are you living on?

[junker]

[QUOTE=GoingDown;404789]It will be bad for about 7 years, and then all the negative stuff falls off, and you once again have stellar credit.[/QUOT

on my last credit report, it said "any bankruptcy information will remain on your report for 10 years from the date of filing. unpaid tax liens may generally be reported for an indefinite period of time.depending on your state of residence. paid tax liens my be reported for 7 yers from date of payment. ll other public record information, including discharged chapter 13 bankruptcy, remains for up to 7 years"