I think alot of people are saying I condone filing BK, I basically stated from the beginning I wouldn't settle for a R7 rating for paying.
Dave, I brought it up with a Sr. VP and today again with the VP who signed the agreement. They say no to deletion of the tradeline ("never have they done that); no to reporting it as settled/paid; no to deleting the 150-day paid; and no to reporting it as an R5. I am assuming the repeated no is not a maybe. I have asked again and again and I get the same response -- it's an "ethical" issue that they report accounts accurately. Do you think I am leaving a stone unturned here or do I need to approach this differently? And, I am not really going "crazy" here and realize that everyone is voicing their own opinions (for which I am grateful) and that I need to make my own decisions. It's just now I have "buyer's remorse" and people are chiming in that I am doing the wrong thing! Oh noooo....
Sounds like you have done your best. I can feel your pain and exhaustion. So then, if you are considering settling for the 8K I would consider Butch's advice and look into getting a lawyer to negotiate it. He/She will probably save you their fee in the negotiated settlement, and will definitely have a much stronger way of negotiating for the derogatory listing. Someone here can recommend a good attorney well versed in the FCRA/FDCPA...just post a thread asking for legal counsel advice. For $800 I would do it myself, but for $8000 I wouldn't even think twice about getting help from an atty. Good Luck whatever your decision, -Peace, Dave
IMHO...the problem here with refusing to settle without deletion or a change to a positive tradeline is that they have the higher ground. You are looking at a 20K judgment and really have not defense against it at this point if you don't work something out with them. That would be my main concern. I would negotiate the best deal I could possibly make with them and even if that included a "settled" notation on the account, I would deal with that later. At least it buys you some time and you won't have to deal with a big fat judgment on your credit report. Yup...your decision, though. Use your common sense and pull bits and pieces from all of the posts and use what works for you. Those who are saying don't settle without this that or the other aren't sitting here worrying about that judgment hitting their credit reports...lol. Speaking only for myself...its easy for me to give advise when its not my problem. L
From just reading those statements it sound like you are getting good advise. More than likely in your situation if this board is telling you to settle, you probably should. (I havent followed your threads so I am not for sure). But anyways, if you do decide to settle you should ALWAYS ARRANGE TO HAVE THE TRADELINE DELETED OR CHANGED TO A POSITIVE CREDIT RATING. ALWAY!!!!! That is just fundamental in credit repair. The only exception is if you need to clear all unpaid debts for a major purchase and there isnt any time for negotiations. This board can seem overwhelming if you dont review and take note of the fundamentals. Opinions fly here but few people teach the basics. Try getting advise from some oldschool creditnetters and those who write informative post. Always remember your situation is similar to others here but everyone's situation is different. You are in the drivers seat. Good luck!
It looks to me like you have done all of your negotiations over the phone- is this correct? If so, I would recommend putting a settlement in writing - tell them that you are a candidate for BK and that this is their last chance to settle this debt. Include whatever terms you want- make it an agreement that must be signed and returned to you, and promise that payment will be forwarded within 7 days of receipt of signed agreement. Here is my experience- they will not settle for ANYTHING by phone, but for whatever reason they will settle for much less when it is on paper. Perhaps this is b/c they feel like you are serious about sending payment when you put it in writing, esp. in the form of an agreement. If you have been negotiating in writing - i apologize for blabbing on and please ignore.
Re: This board is driving me crazy. Let me throw another spice into the pie. If a creditor says that they cannot report an account as "paid, never late" because that would be unethical, then respond this way: Yes, I understand your position. Then as part of our settlement, I must insist that you at least UNRATE the account. Rather than say I was never late, simply say nothing. Otherwise, I won't be able to settle, and my next phone call is to a consumer law specialist. UNRATE the account as part of our settlement, and I'll have a cashier's check waiting upon receipt of your written confirmation of our agreement. The trend on Creditnet is to score a perfect Equifax R1 ("paid, never late") status, and that's great. While R1 ratings for older accounts add points to a credit score, UNRATED accounts do not add any points at all (but neither do they count against your score). I believe that requesting that an account be UNRATED is a good negotiating tool. If they turn you down and say they can't unrate accounts (which is a lie because that's not even an ethical problem for them), debate the issue. Don't roll over. Say, "Look, I understand your not wanting to report this account as a perfect R1 which would reward me with a higher credit score. However, an UNRATED account will not reward me in that way; on the other hand it won't prevent me from finding housing for my family for the next seven years. I'm motivated to settle if you can meet me halfway. Otherwise, this negotiation is finished until I contact a consumer lawyer." Keep us posted. Doc
Re: This board is driving me crazy. PsychDoc, Thank you very much for this new angle. I have not asked for an "unrated" entry -- didn't know one was even possible. Here's my problem, though -- time. If they hold firm, my only fallback is to let them charge this off on Friday. If they won't budge, do you think I should let this go to chargeoff status and then contact a lawyer to negotiate this with them? Right now, they have faxed me a settlement letter and have arranged for FedEx to pick up my check on Thursday... I appreciate your help -- my gut tells me I am making a mistake here if I don't try to get a more positive (or neutral) tradeline. Please tell me if you think I should buy more time even if it means a chargeoff. Thanks, Susanna
LK, I appreciate your point of view on this. I haven't admitted anything -- only phone conversations (unless they are taping them). I have already attempted to get a confidentiality agreement from them -- they ran it through "legal" and, of course, legal said no.( I am finding that this prime lender is calling all the shots. I had to fight to get them to change their boilerplate agreement to include a zero balance. ) I did find a good settlement agreement posted, but after many conversations with their senior people, I doubt they would ever agree to it. Perhaps at this point, I should hire a lawyer to speak to them on my behalf... Thanks LK for your advice. After I'm done with this, I have an AMEX chargeoff to deal with next...
Re: This board is driving me crazy. I think I remember several people saying that MBNA won't even talk to you after charge off. Can anyone confirm this? Just something to consider since you're crunched for time, if you let it get to charge off and they won't work with you anymore all this advice won't do any good.
Re: This board is driving me crazy. Laurie, I remember it was "gillian" who said she could not get a response from MBNA or the CA. Good point...
Like I said befor, settle the debt. Creditors like to see that something has been paid off for 12 months as long as everthing else looks good. Don't just think about todays credit score. I wouln't try to validate because it hasn't went to a collection agency yet. But for this amount of money you can bet it will go straight to a judgment. Also for that amount of money they may not budge on the rating and if you are not careful they can say that you declined the offer and send it into judgment. Pay them off and be done with them. Don't even think about a BK if you can settle. That will be on your credit for 10 yrs! If you settle, 12 months from now you will be able to get credit again. You may have to expain what happened but so what! The ones that say don't settle because your score will go down are well meaning but they don't know what they are talking about and are not looking down the road. Take if from someone who has been there. My hubby settle most of his debts and now we are buying a house at 6.5%. His score still suck but FHA doesn't care. They only care that everting is paid off.
For an amount of 20K, I'd definitely agree with previous replies that a lawsuit will be filed by the OC. One possibility is to send the negotiated payment with a RESTRICTIVE ENDORSEMENT. Essentially, this states that if the check is cashed, the acct. is considered paid in full and no negatives will be reported. Very frequently, a creditor will go ahead and cash these checks even if they haven't previously agreed to the terms. The rules for such instruments are tricky and they cannot be enforced in some states. For example, California has special rules regarding them. Therefore, a consultation with an atty would be in order to make sure the technicalities were handled properly for your state. For this amount of money, it could be time well spent. Greg P.S. Some ppl have used restrictively endorsed instruments (make sure you keep a copy of the cashed check) as a basis of disputes with CRAs even if they aren't legally enforceable.
I have tried that with no luck at all. We paid several items in full with a restrictive endoresment. All of them came back as rejected, eventhough it was for the full amount. You can try that but I would think it would be harder with an original creditor rather then a collection company. My main point is just settle the debt one way or another. Don't expect it to come off you credit at this point because it's not like you owe $100 but 20k. I think your best bet is pay them and diputed at some later point in time (like a year or two). Once they are paid it is easyer to get things removed.
Susanna, I filed a BK, and I would recommend against doing it. With that on my credit report, it has been impossible to get an unsecured credit card with a good rate, even though my credit score is 700. I've disputed to get it off numerous times and have not been lucky getting it off. Another point, rrom what I've heard, restrictive endorsements only hold legal ground (if challenged, of course) in California and then by an exact procedure. Can anyone else verify this?
Indy, Restrictive endorsements will not work in Delaware -- MBNA's state. But thanks for the thought!
Re: This board is driving me crazy... tmitchell | Susanna.... The bottom line (and I think EVERYONE will agree): Send validation first. If they fail to validate, send estoppel and then dispute with CRA. if they can't validate, give them nothing. If they DO validate, you then offer to settle the account for less than owed in exchange for deletion. If they balk, offer full payment for deletion (or at least "not rated"). In worst case scenario, they don't budge after they have validated. In this case, pay them and dispute later and hope they fail to respond and it gets deleted. Now if the amount owed is $1k or greater and they have validated, be careful - they may sue. If you really think they will, you are probably best served by paying or settling. Even at that, you should try to negotiate a deletion in exchange for payment. ======================= None of this will work if they decide to sue first.
Kiyi | 159 posts since Apr 2002 24.158.178.98 | 05.21.2002 @ 23:01 Why can't they take 10k and make it an R1? Maybe I am just a little miffed but if you pay, you should get rewarded, if you don't, then pay for the bad credit. According to her, she was late. Not running from the debts. I just think she should be getting more for her money.=========== ============ They look at it like she didn't pay so no reward.
quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by Nave Susanna, I see several threads about this settlement stuff and a lot of posts so I thought I would just ask you without searching through...in your settlement discussions, have you attempted to negotiate the deletion of the derogatory listing in return for payment (partial or full)? Or have you just assumed for 8K they will sue rather than negotiate anything off the report. I hope you have not been asked that over and over and I apologize if you have. Also there will be LOADS of conflicting advice here ... heck its free wadda you expect but the folks here all have opinions, advice, and answers and are only trying to share...the reason it is free is that now YOU have to filter through it to see what is best for you. Most of it is great advice so hopefully you will get the help you are looking for in the end. -Peace, Dave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Dave, I brought it up with a Sr. VP and today again with the VP who signed the agreement. They say no to deletion of the tradeline ("never have they done that); no to reporting it as settled/paid; no to deleting the 150-day paid; and no to reporting it as an R5. I am assuming the repeated no is not a maybe. I have asked again and again and I get the same response -- it's an "ethical" issue that they report accounts accurately. Susanna XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Where are there ethics when it comes to treating the consumer properly? They don't have ethics anywhere else but when it comes to this all of a sudden they get ethical on you. Ethical issue bull. The motive is revenge pure and simple!
