My credit card will go to collections next week... should I let it?

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by Mikol, Oct 22, 2008.

  1. Mikol

    Mikol Member

    Due to the time constraints (I have until the end of the month to pay), I haven't read enough to see if there is already an answer to this problem.

    I am jointly liable (along with a company) for a business credit card that hasn't been paid since the small business went under. I have spoken to the bank about this, and they informed me that the account was over 120 days past due, and that it will be charged off at the end of this month (Oct. 2008). The lender has been reporting negatively for the past 3 or 4 months.

    After multiple conversations with the credit card company's internal collection people, I have gotten absolutely nowhere in trying to get them to remove any negative information they have reported. They keep saying that they are bound by laws... or that they are required to negatively report on both the business and my personal credit. I asked for a settlement option, getting the payment from me, but only if they don't report any negative history to my personal credit. They simply can't (or won't) do it. They did, however, give me the address for the correspondence department...

    Here's my dilemma: I have about $5.5k that's owed, and they will take a settlement of about half that, but I will still get an R5 reporting from them. If I wait until the account is charged off, I'll get an R9, and still have to deal with the collection agency. I don't know too much about all this, but I think I can overcome an R5 much sooner than an R9, assuming all I do is continue to make on time payments.

    Here's my question: Do I take the settlement offer, and try to get the bank to remove the negative reporting (late payments and R5), or do I just let it go to collections and fight them (and the R9)?
     
  2. woofer

    woofer Well-Known Member

    If you had read some of the threads you would know that most of us here do not know much about BUSINESS credit.
    Rules are different.
    If you want to pay do so, although if it was my only money I would think twice about it.
    IN this day and age cash is a good thing to have damn the credit ; )
    Woofer
     
  3. Mikol

    Mikol Member

    Well, this is kind of a hybrid, because I am personally liable for the debt. In fact, the first people who called me wanting payment were from the "personal credit" department, and only because I was jointly and severally liable for the debt (I guess that means that they can go after either or both of us for repayment.)

    If I were to rephrase my question, it would be: Which is easier to overcome, a settlement payment, or a charged off account?

    (And thanks for your quick response Woofer.)
     
  4. woofer

    woofer Well-Known Member

    I have found that it matters not as they both are negative, HOWEVER you may be able to do a pay for delete so no tl shows up.Maybe if the creditor really looks at it he will see that you did PAY even though it is a neg.
    Of course this really depends on the OC, but you may be able to deal.
    Again though if this is a business account I don't know.
    If you are not going to pay in full you will get a 1099c and have to pay taxes on the forgiveness of debt,if this was a non business cc.
    Oh and you're welcome.
    Woofer
     
  5. Mikol

    Mikol Member

    The OC is Chase. I read on another thread that you had troubles with them too. I asked the Chase collector if we could do a pay for delete, but she said that she was "bound by laws" and couldn't remove any negative information. I could be wrong, but I don't think there are any laws that require negative reporting.

    Chase also told me that they would send me a 1099 for the unpaid amount if I took the settlement offer.

    Any recommendations on how to deal with Chase? They seem totally unable (unwilling) to budge at all. One of their "offers" was for me to pay the account in full, and they would stop any future negative reporting. (Thanks Chase.)
     
  6. jjgross

    jjgross Well-Known Member

    Thats like asking at your hanging hemp or nylon?The reason why chase and the other butt sniff's dont do pdf is because it violates their contract with the cra's.And it's also a form of porn for them.As it once was said *let them eat cake*.
     
  7. woofer

    woofer Well-Known Member

    Well you can wait it out (they tend to sell off pretty fast)and let them sell it to a JDB and keep good records and rack up violatons against the JDB as there WILL BE SOME)and in the end you may either end up a wash and or will get money back : )
    Of course whatever your SOL is you will have to figure out too, and I have not yet been able to get Chase off my cr,despite MANY MANY attempts, BUT I don't have much longer to wait thankfully.
    HOw much do you owe?
    What other accounts do you owe on?
    Like I said those that wanted to deal with me got paid their money back, those that didn't, well didn't ; )
    I would not have done anything different looking back either.

    Woofer
     
  8. Mikol

    Mikol Member

    Three Options

    I owe just under $6k on the Chase account. While I have other debts, none that are past due anymore. Obviously, I would rather pay the least amount of money possible, but my main concern is getting my credit score above 700 in the shortest amount of time.

    When this Chase account hit my report, it dropped me about 100 points to 508. (It caused another one of my banks to close my credit card account with them.) I don't know if I'm way off here, but I think that if all I have on my report is a few late payments, I could get my score up to 700 with a couple of years of on time payments.

    My dilemma is this; I don't want to be stuck waiting seven years for a collections debt to fall off the report. But then again, I don't want to pay the settlement (or full amount) and still have to wait seven years for my credit score to recover. Basically, I don't want to pay the full (or any) amount if I am going to suffer the same damage regardless.

    As I see it, I have three options. The first two require that I work things out with Chase. The last requires me to let the account go to a collection agency.

    1) Pay the full amount, and have my credit report show this account 150 days late.
    2) Pay a settlement, and have my report show the account 150 days late, plus with a settlement.
    3) Try to work things out with the collection agency. (Using the tools I learn here.)

    My main concern is my credit score. The money I save/spend is a secondary concern. I probably could pay the full settlement (a little less than half), but I couldn't pay the full amount ($5.5-6k) due now.

    Which of the three options is my best chance to protect (or repair) my credit score?

    Also, I don't know if my strategy with Chase would change in light of my other credit issues, but here they are: a 6 year old collection, several late payments (90-120 days) within the last six months, several maxed out credit cards, and a few recent inquiries.
     
  9. woofer

    woofer Well-Known Member

    Well I believe that you ship is about to sink all the way.
    IMO you are NOT going to get your credit score up to 700 within a few years, unless those negs are going to be removed form your reports.
    It seems that you don't like the answers to your same question no matter how many different ways you put it : )
    YOu will be able to work out a payment plan with Chase. YOu owe 6K and can pay half now? Can you pay the other half in 30 days?
    Or tell them you will pay them in THREE installments of 2K every month.Can you do that? One thing DO NOT do a deal and not keep to it.
    SO either you pay the total amount either in a lump sum or several, or you don't.
    Bottom line if you don't pay them in full you are going to have a neg,unless you get lucky and you get a pay for delete.
    Good luck
    Woofer
     
  10. jjgross

    jjgross Well-Known Member

    As time goes on it's not going to take 7 years to have a decent score.Through the help of woofer,hedwig,and greg my score went from 497 to 648 in ashort time,credit repair is a time consuming thing and it works you have to listern to stuff you might not like,but it works!Listen to whats been said put the score aside for now.Work to get it repaired.Either that or let it go
     
  11. jlynn

    jlynn Well-Known Member

    Not necessarily. This is a business card. The PG doesn't matter, its what the underlying debt is that determines if the FDCPA would be in play.
     
  12. woofer

    woofer Well-Known Member

    Well I brought up the business credit right away as I said I knew nothing about such,and then the poster wrote in a way that led me to believe it was personal as she is responsible in her name not the business?
    So again if this is a business account none of what we mentioned here as for violations are going to apply.

    So is card a BUSINESS account? Sis you apply for it to use in your business and has your name on it or the business name and or both?

    Now my AX was used exclusively for business and I applied for it with my name and hubby's and it was a business card.

    I also have an AX that is NOT business card and I only have my name on it not the business name and then my name under.

    Woofer
     
  13. woofer

    woofer Well-Known Member

    My take on this situation is if this person only had this debt to worry about then pay it up and her scores wil go up, however her scores have tanked to 508 and maybe I am reading more into htis then I should but I think she is going to get behind pretty easily ,although she says she is current right now, but if her credit line is right up there, and she starts falling behind again her score is going to stay still for quite a while.

    Now I guess we should ask the poster WHY she is in such haste to get her score up to 700 ?

    Does she want to buy a car home?? WHat?

    506 IS not a good number and I don't think she is going to get it up as fast as you did, as you also did a bankruptcy, right?

    Anyway of course we wish her the best of luck : )

    Woofer
     
  14. jjgross

    jjgross Well-Known Member

    Yes i did either that or eat popcorn for years,When your income is cut to $900 a month before anything comes out you have to make a choice swallow your pride and realize that you need help.In fact i have a mortage company that will work with mid 600 scores i want to wait until i'm more stable and my credit is at 10% and then i'll think about it.bk has taught us patience and the value of cash.well almost always mexican food is our downfall lol
     
  15. woofer

    woofer Well-Known Member

    Bankruptcy is a great way for many people to get out from under and start anew again and I think it is a very good thing for most people,and I have helped others that went thru the process and appeared relieved and much more healthier mentally

    I couldn't do it as I had too many assets that were intermingled with business and hubby (which in himself would not have been a bankruptcy type as he does not like to be questioned about anything and would never talk of money as he is an old Yankee, and really I handle all the finances and I got us into the problem so I chose to get us out of the problem my way.
    For me though it really was the only way to go to do my self bankruptcy as I am a control freak and knew that doing it my way was the only way.; )

    When you do find a home jus make sure that it is not too much to handle as so many people buy a home figure on how much it will cost monthly but they forget about the water heater going, or the chimney needs re pointing, or the plumbing needs fixing, etc.

    Case in point, today I got the septic pumped at $400 (I do it every two years) and I also had to have the chimneys cleaned at $950!

    If most people are like me they don't figure that extra $1350 divided monthly but you should figure on another $200 a month in expenses for *just in case* : )

    Woofer
     
  16. jjgross

    jjgross Well-Known Member

    I just got heating oil at $3.49 a gallon.Put it on my 0% interest card then paid half 2 days later and will pay the half on the third.I was looking at some old houses in pa,where my cousin's live and they go out and check them so there's one that's built in 1880 that's in pretty good shape for 50,000 but it's a real small town and we need to be close to a hospital for my spouse.Mr wheezy as he calls himself.but still want to be more stable.Have a well dug WOW! i'm glad i'm renting right now.
     
  17. Mikol

    Mikol Member

    Even if I do pay them in full, I still have a 150 day late payment reported. Just how bad is that, and how many years of timely payments will it take to overcome this? (I figured I might be cutting it a bit short when I thought it was only going to take 2 years.) Is it as bad as having a settlement on my report? And if a settlement is worse, then is the settlement as bad as a collection?

    I don't want to sound like a broken record, but here is my reasoning: I don't want to pay in full if my credit report will go down the drain just as quickly as it would if I settle and pay half. And if a collection does the same amount of damage as a settlement and for the same amount of time, I'll go with the collection. But from what little I understand about credit reports and scores, it seems that a collection does more damage. Yet the general feeling I get from this discussion is that I'm pretty much screwed either way. I want to end up the least screwed as possible. :)

    As a bit of history on myself, my credit problems started out when I was struggling to save a small business a year and a half ago. I made the mistake of trying to save a failing business by applying for as many credit cards as I could, and using that as capital. (I knew I would get a lot of inquiries, but I did all the applications at the same time, hoping the inquiries wouldn't post until after I was approved for several cards.)

    I got two business cards (that were personally guaranteed), and two personal credit cards. I quickly maxed them out, hoping that it would make the difference I needed, but the business eventually failed. I went looking for a job, and after a few months of job hunting and substitute teaching, I found a good job that paid enough to get me out of this hole I dug for myself. While I was jobless, I somehow found enough money to feed my family (lots of rice and beans). The credit cards, student loans, and mortgage all went unpaid for a few months. There simply wasn't enough money.

    After I got my new job, I was able to work things out with most of my creditors, and I am now current with all but this last one (Chase). I did, however, get late payments (up to 120 days late) posted on my credit report.

    With my job, and my wife teaching a few music classes (I am a man, by the way), we are able to make some headway with this debt I am faced with. I know that credit is important, and I am tired of paying 32% interest on my remaining credit cards. I don't have my heart set on a 700 score in two years, I just wanted to set a goal, and I thought that it might be one that I could achieve. If it is too out of reach, I'll modify it to one that is within reach. I just don't want to shoot myself in the foot, and in three years, say "If only I would have...[whatever I didn't do]... then my credit score would be so much better."

    I know I made mistakes, most of them stupid ones, but I want to learn from them and move on. I don't want these financial wounds to cripple me. My plan is to poise myself financially so that I can successfully go into business for myself in 3-5 years. That requires a good credit score. And no, I don't expect my credit report to be excellent anytime soon, I'm in this for the long haul. I just don't want to unnecessarily prolong things.

    By the way, this forum is wonderful. I have been reading lots lately, and I am amazed at the wealth of knowledge here. Again, thanks to all here who are helping me through this.
     
  18. jjgross

    jjgross Well-Known Member

    That's why i said to have patience this will pass,your not alone in your problems were all here to support you and advise you believe me you'll get some advice you don't like but we've all been in that boat.Remember most small business fail the first,second and sometime's the third.Sooner are later it will click.You know rice and beans are not bad make a burrito out of themBetter than popcorn we are doing much better not. Anyway good luck
     
  19. leggo

    leggo New Member

    Don't believe them. They aren't working with you. They can accept settlement AND re-age your account at the same time. They have total control over what they report. Only settle if they will re-age your account current, otherwise let it R9.
     

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