Hope springs eternal. Made my last minimum payment in July, 2008. Acct went first to Nationwide, around October. This week I got a ltr from a different CA, GC Services. NCI never, ever, offered a settlement although I begged on many occasions. That's before I started reading this site. Still, I didn't listen to advice here, set up a new bank acct for auto withdraw, and then got cold feet and closed the acct. So, tonight, GCS calls me (first time I actually got caught off guard and picked up the phone--they've been leaving msgs for a week.) Within 15 minutes, I was handed a $16K settlement offer on a $22K debt. I asked why I wasn't dealing with NCI any longer and was told that Amex routinely "audits" its accounts, and they weren't satisfied with the progress of NCI. Don't know if it's true--just repeating what I was told. Now, I don't know where I'll come up with that kind of money, perhaps it "might" be worth considering a home equity loan??? Just seems too good to pass up. (I'm 65, retired, income less than $1800/mo, no investments.) I'm not so worried, at my age, about what it will do to my credit score--used to be 800, now has dropped to 650 she told me. But if I can come up with their settlement offer, I would like to know: What should I expect? What should I demand? Other comments? I think I'm nearing the end of my 6-month nightmare. And I won't have to go BK13. It seems Amex is loosening its claws.
At the very least demand a settlement agreement in writing, and make sure it states paid in full, settled in full, etc or some other similar phrases. You want to make sure you don't give them 16K, and later on someone else tries to collect the other 6K.
Good for you! Best thing you could have done. What do you mean, you got caught off guard and answered the phone? You should always answer the phone even if you know who it is or suspect that it is a collection agency or attorney calling you. What you want is violations of FDCPA and you will never get any if you don't answer the phone and keep careful records of all such calls. Yes, that sounds like it might be the truth. At least to some extent. On the other hand, if NCI is a small company they might have gone belly up. Many debt collectors are in deep trouble now and are closing their doors because they can't collect enough money to stay in business. If NCI closed their doors they probably sold the debt to some other sucker. Another possibility is that lenders are so strapped they are quickly losing patience with debt collectors who aren't producing results quickly enough. Are you out of your mind? Do you also want to lose your home or get a lien against it? Get a home equity loan and you will have just committed financial suicide. Of course, you may not even be able to get such a loan today. That you will wake up one day and realize that you shot yourself in your financial foot. Demand? Once you pay them you won't be in a position to demand anything. They won't even give you a receipt for your money. You can't even demand that they stop laughing at you for being so stupid. Don't be deluded into thinking anybody is loosening their claws. BK? Why on earth would anybody be thinking about BK and especially at your age? They can't get any money from you because it is illegal to garnish pensions or even threaten to do so. You should be on your knees praying to high heaven they try to take your pension instead of thinking about filing BK. If you have any stocks or bonds then sell them all today while you still can. If you have more than one vehicle then do something to protect them before it is too late. If you have any boats or other valuables then protect them as well. You don't have a thing to worry about except keeping yourself from digging your hole any deeper than it is now.
They can't garnish Social Security or a federal pension, but they can take funds from other sources. If the OP has other sources of income, they could still be garnished. If he takes out the home equity loan and pays this off, he'll be paying the loan back on terms he can better afford and won't be subject to the harrassment from CAs. That in itself is probably worth something to him.
no I would just let it ride if you have no other income what will they take.Purge yourself of the thought this is a nightmare. If you pay with no letter of settlement they can just pass it on and somebody else will try to collect.Their's many other things you can do.Just tell them to go away and tell them to contact you by mail.Send it by cmrr.Get some violations on them.
On the other hand, the average FDCPA lawsuit costs defendants $3500.00 and there are an average of more than 500 such lawsuits filed every month across the U.S. The O.P. should be able to file at least 2 against each debt collector and at least one against the attorney who sues him. That's more than 10 grand. On top of that he gets rid of any judgments they might have against him and makes them stop any and all collection activity. Might even be able to get it off his credit reports as well. And he is thinking about filing BK?
Good grief at all the advice given based on speculation. He has 3 lawsuits against debt collectors? And you know this from the messages he posted? He's committing "financial suicide" if he takes out a loan, yet you recommend he put his eggs in a $1000 per action FDCPA lawsuit basket. I'm simply amazed... You don't even know what state he is in, the source of his income, the value of his home, and you tell this man they can't get anything from him because of his age? Pretty dangerous...
For starters, "he's" a "she". My income is about 1/3 SS, 2/3 non-investment pension, no other investments. Home: $85K on today's market, son on deed; Auto: $3500; Personal prop, no jewelry, art, etc., so perhaps $2500 on a GOOD garage sale. Oh yes, state of Missouri. That's pretty much me in a nutshell--a very small one. I know that even half my house is more than the debt, so couldn't I be sued for the full amount? I don't want to pay all the interest that has been tacked on (approx $3,000 now), nor for attorney's and court costs. That's why I thought if I could dump this cookie now at an $8K "discount" I might not get a better offer before having to hire an attorney if they sue for the debt.
Thanks jjgross and jlynn. I'm not saying Cap1Sucks doesn't have good advice. But it would require lot of attention to apprise oneself of every FDCPA document detail, and constant documentation (suggests I pick up every phonecall and talk to these jerks for hours--since I can't tell them to beat it due to not having filed BK) and taping, playbacks, letters, etc, with hopes of catching them in violation of some small detail. The stress of all that record keeping --and on top of that knowing I'd then have to hire attorneys to sue-- would be more than this ol gal could handle! For younger folk who have more to lose with credit scores, and more time to build a new credit history, etc., it might be an option. But seriously, having no background in law, (even though I'm no dummy) it is not a viable solution for senior citizens, Mr. Cap1sucks.
That decision is yours and yours alone to make. Whatever decision you make will be yours to live with. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
