Please Help!!!

How far delinquent are you on each account? From what I understand, Providian is in fairly dire financial straits and might not be too willing to deal with you - I don't know much about the other one.

How willing they are to deal might depend on just how delinquent you are on the account.

 

How is the next card listed on your CR's?

 

I would try getting a payment plan with Nextcard to prevent it from being charged off and going to collections. For Providian I would contact them and see if it's not too late for payment deal. There might be chance Providian rather collect than allow CA to collect. I have no experience in this area, so maybe someone else has a better idea.

 

This may be heresy on this board, BUT-- you should get your life in order,open up a savings account, and forget about the plastic for a while. Get a checking account with o/d protection from your savings account, a visa or mastercard atm card, and forget about credit scores, credit cards and thrashing around trying to pay interest and late charges for credit you are not yet in a position to manage.

 

WhyChat, this is a credit repair board - why on earth would you give advice to forget about scores, cards, etc? You're right - it IS heresy. (for those who are grammatically challenged as I am, the word means dissent or deviation from a dominant theory, opinion, or practice b: an opinion, doctrine, or practice contrary to the truth or to generally accepted beliefs or standards....).

Casper is obviously trying to rectify a situation, not ignore it. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away.

Maybe I'm just cranky since I have bronchitis again, but the comment about 'getting your life in order' just kinda toasted my weenie. I mean, it's 2 accounts that are screwed up - not Casper's entire life. Sorry, but I think that comment was outa line. Of course my comment might be out of line to you too.... I don't mean to start anything, but I just don't understand the rationale behind your suggestions.

Ozzy.

 

First of all, I don't think Why Chat was out of line at all. This board has a good history of being balanced with respect to credit-related advice. Unlike MotleyFool.com, for example, which ALWAYS takes the anti-credit stance, or other venues I can mention but won't which ALWAYS take the pro-credit stance, Creditnet has always been a place where diverse opinions are welcomed. Creditnet is not typically the place where participants have advocated the irresponsible use of credit.

That being the case, Casper, I hope you'll pardon a bit of "tough love" and metabolize my comments if they're helpful in order to hopefully prevent your getting into this situation again and again. (If you find the comments unhelpful, I certainly understand, and I'm sure you'll find others who disagree with me as well.)

1) First, yes, you are right when you said, "So I stopped paying them. I know it was stupid but I had all I could take." As you said, that was stupid. You owed the money, so you're obligated to pay it back. On the other hand, you don't have to sit back and take a lot of disrespectful bullshit (pardon the expletive, lol) from some two-bit customer service rep, and there are ways of escalating and handling people like that. But just deciding that you aren't going to pay "and that'll show 'em" doesn't hurt the person who was rude to you at all. In fact, it's likely that in a big company like that, your actions never ever came to that individual's attention at all. If you really wanted to pee on his/her Wheaties, you could have escalated all over the company with phone calls and letters decrying that person's (by name) lack of skill in dealing with basic customer service issues.

2) You mentioned that your credit was bad so you were happy when the Aria card came through. If you're like me, your credit got bad because you didn't manage your finances (especially payments) very well. At least that was my problem; perhaps your situation was different, more unexpected or tragic, etc., but whatever led to your financial crunch should have provided an alert for you to BE MORE CAREFUL. I think it was Lizardking here who has commented that Creditnet members who clean up their credit files are probably the last ones to ever want to incur even one more "30-day late" tradeline, and overall I believe that. Once you've fought tooth and nail to restore your credit, you get a little protective of your credit rating. We psychologists simplify the behavior and reduce it down to something right out of Grandma's playbook: we learn from our mistakes. In your case (and again, pardon me if I'm wrong because I can only give the advice you requested based upon the few facts you offered... so here goes my best deduction based upon the little I know about you), it would appear that you did not learn from your mistakes because indeed your credit was trashed once and then again. Now, before you decide that I'm simply nagging you about it, please realize that I of all people (and most of us on Creditnet) aren't preaching from a high horse -- we've been there, and we know what it's like to make financial mistakes. There's always room for improvement.

3) I think a "MotleyFool.com" point is apropros in your case (heaven forbid because I hate the attitudes there, lol): try to avoid having two car payments. In fact, if you can help it, avoid car payments at all, especially when you're living paycheck-to-bill-payment month after month. If all your money is allocated to paying your monthly bills with no emergency fund and no regular savings, then all it takes is one emergency to throw everything out of kilter. (Again, like so many people here, I've been there.) In that situation, two car payments is just a recipe for disaster. Buy nice $4000 used cars (and, no, I'm not talking about $400 clunkers, although I've driven those when I've had to) rather than $25,000 new cars until you're on far more solid ground with respect to an emergency buffer. Hey, you asked for advice, so that was another tip for better living.

4) As for how to deal with the two creditors you mentioned, well, first of all, be willing to pay back the money. It doesn't sound like you're ready for bankruptcy, so take steps to preserve the positive aspects of your credit files while minimizing the negatives. Call them repeatedly until you find a kind-hearted human being (KHHB), and luckily even the most evil places have at least a few KHHBs on staff. Use charm, humor, anger, friendliness, sweetness, innocence, responsibility, whatever it takes to connect with the other person in an effort to get them to help you. Try Planetfeedback.com as well -- that may (or may not) help you to get some late fees reversed. At the end of the day, though, you owe the penalties because you decided to quit paying, and that's a tough record to defend. If you had reduced your payments, you'd have still trashed your credit, but you would have some moral ground to request a fairly extensive goodwill adjustment along these lines: "You can see that I sent in $15 per month for the past year, despite the medical problems. I realized I owed you money, and I wanted to pay you. Unfortunately for me, the late fees, overlimit penalties, and interest more than wiped out everything I tried to pay. I'm better now, and I want to rehabilitate the account any way I can. Would you work with me?" Unfortunately, in the situation where you simply stop paying altogether, though, you're basically asking them to treat you far better than you treated them, and it may not work. (Then again, it may! Give it a try, and as I said, hunt for the KHHBs.)

5) As Why Chat said, until you get your financial life in order, you should consider swearing off using your credit cards except in the direst of situations. That is not "heresy"; rather, that is smart credit-related advice which certainly corroborates the rehabilitative goals of this website. Going to dinner? Pay cash. Don't have the cash? Eat in tonight. Need a new TV from Wal-Mart? Get out the checkbook. Can't cover the check? Keep the old TV for awhile. Even better, buy a little cheapo used one until you can afford it. Please don't think that my message is to stop enjoying life! My message is to live completely within your means until you're in a safer financial spot. (Been there. Not fun. But been there.) Remember, if you live on the cheap for even a brief period, you'll be amazed at how much that will help you to recover. On the other hand, continuing to buy great stuff during the crunch time, especially on credit, can be a recipe for prolonging or even worsening the trouble.

Ok, this is the best I can do for you. I hope I've not offended you because I write this as someone who completely understands first-hand what it's like to not pay bills on time and to suffer through the tough times. I just had to learn that in order for things to change permanently I had to begin thinking and behaving differently -- otherwise, I was doomed to repeat my history. Good luck to you, and I hope you'll keep us posted as this progresses. Now, I'm interested in hearing how it all works out, and I'm crossing my fingers for you! Irrespective of whether or not they'll work with you a bit (and they may well do it!), I always like to remember the old adage that "everything will work out." I know that sounds trite, but just reminding myself of that has helped me cope during terrible times.

Best,

Doc

 

Ok Casper you wanted some responses and boy did you get them! Take a breath and try to digest what Doc has said. Doc comments are a wake up call for me too! I'm rebuilding credit while still sometimes being a big spender. I need to cut back as well. The Doc gave us the truth in the form of a pill we can swallow. Why Chat meant well but her pill was hard to swallow.

 

Yeah, Killer, maybe that was it.... I just perceived a 'tone' to it... I dunno... maybe I shouldn't post when I'm feeling miserable.....

WhyChat, I apologize for my post.

Ozzy.

 

Apology accepted (but not needed) I was a little judgmental and harsh,BUT I deal with people who slid from easy credit,to poor credit, to trying to eat their cake and have it too. Some get into a habit of figuring they can slide thru life paying when they feel like it, getting whatever they think they want, and winding up in a lot worse trouble then just having bad credit.