Okay, I couldn't sleep, so here goes. I have a capital one that went to charge off status 03/02, the original limit was $800, and with interest and fees, has skyrocketed to $1776. I am wondering, has anyone had any experience with asking the creditor to restore the balance to the limit (adjusting the late fees so that the balance is the $800 limit) if you were to make payments again, basically give a fresh start, then once payments are made on time for, I don't know, three to six months, removing negative lates, going to positive tradeline? Once they have charged off, can they restore the account? I have gotten collection notices, but they could be from an in-house collector, I am not sure. Am I asking for too much? It seems as if they would get more than they would by selling it off, and I would also get a chance to get positive tradeline by paying on time. Is this something Mr. Cook would handle? How far do his "powers" reach? I have read to ask him about raising limits, etc., but was unsure about restoring accounts after charge-off. Any ideas, or could this have just been a bad dream?
There are several options you may have here in regards to working with Mr Cooke: 1. If you are willing to pay in full ($1700), then PFB him asking what he is willing to do for you if pay in full through a payment plan. I have heard a few people getting new credit offers, meaning they open a new card for you with a balance of $1700 and you make payments, once it's PIF they give you a new card (I THINK this is how it works, someone here whos had the offer can tell you). 2. OR if you want to be done with them he may offer you a settlement ($800) in exchange to mark the account as Paid Settlement 120 days late (R5). So n case this didn't help <bump>
Stacey- I am almost 99% positive that Cap One (or ANY CC) will NOT take off more than 50% of what you owe and then reopen your account. If you are willing to pay in full, then they will be more willing to work with you. Send a PFB to Cap one and grovel, "I made a mistake, I lost my job, my grandmother died and i had to take care of my grndfather" whatever works for you. Before you do decide what you are willing to pay. If they won't do what you want, ask them if you pay $800 if they will delete the account.
Maybe I wasn't alltogether clear. My original limit was $300, it was upped to $800. I don't have any issue with paying the $800 principle. The difference is only late fees, over limit fees, etc. Basically, the over limit and late fees are more than what the original debt was. I sent a PFB to Mr. Cook, hopefully I will get a response soon. It really benefits them too, the $800 is probably far more than they would get if they sold-off to a CA, and hopefully, I can be on my way to a positive tradeline a few months down the road. I would still appreciate any feedback or suggestions.
Stacey Let me know what you find out from Mr. Cooke. I am in the same boat with Cap 1. Their interest and fees can turn a $500 balance into $1800 real fast. Thanks!
Providian tried the same garbage with me. they dropped the interest, then I just paid the principle. I have a zero balence, but it says paid chargeoff. I then sent this letter to get it fixed; Dear Sirs: It has come to my attention that you have placed a derogatory remark on my credit bureau files pursuant to my having paid you what you claimed that I owed you. When I paid you, I relied upon the belief that you would do the honorable thing and remove your nasty and derogatory comments from my credit bureau files which you not only failed to do but actually changed my listing to paid charge-off which is a far worse rating in the eyes of any potential future creditors. In doing so, you obviously failed to realize that the Doctrine of Estoppel directly applies to this type of situation and is cause and more than sufficient grounds for my pending lawsuit against you for punitive damages in whatever amount a jury might deem appropriate for your violation of the estoppel doctrine of law. Here is what the Doctrine of Estoppel is and how it applies to your violations of it. In order for the doctrine of estoppel to apply, the party of the first part (you, the collector) must make some statement or engage in some conduct upon which I have relied and acted upon which later proved to be to my detriment or prejudice. In your communications with me you told me that you would update my credit reports as soon as I had paid the debt to you. Quite naturally, I assumed and relied upon your statement to that effect to mean that you would mark the account as "paid as agreed" or even quite possibly remove it entirely. I am quite confident that both you and a court of law will agree that such is a perfectly reasonable assumption for an average debtor to make. And so upon that assumption I agreed to pay the debt and in fact did so on ---,--,---, whereupon you actually worsened my credit bureau scores and that was most definitely to my detriment and prejudice and provided me with grounds to sue you for the full amount paid plus attorney fees, court costs and whatever additional punitive damages a jury might award. Unless you move to cure your error and remove your derogatory remarks from my public records within 15 days of your receipt of this letter and provide proof of your cooperation with my demand in the form of mailing me a copy of your UDF which you transmitted to the credit bureaus demanding it's removal I shall immediately move to file against you in a court of law with jury trial demanded. I am quite well aware that you have a contractual agreement with the credit bureaus which covers this problem and supposedly prevents you from compliance with my demands but a contract which is in violation of the law is null and void and of no force and effect whatever and therefore cannot be enforced either by you or upon you. Your so-called contract with the credit bureaus will not protect you for your willful violation of my rights which are protected by the Doctrine of Estoppel. Your failure to cure and provide me with proof of your having cured the problem within 15 days after your provable receipt of this letter will be considered sufficient reason to refer this matter to the courts for their resolution. Sincerely
I'll make sure I get something in writing. I sent it PFB this morning, and from what I read, this Mr. Cook(e) is a good guy. I'll see what happens, it is already charged off, so anything is better than R9 right now. It will really benefit them as much as me. I just hope they see it that way.
Okay, I just got an e-mail from Mr. Cooke to call him. It's too late to do it today, I will call first thing Monday. I am sure it was just a generic e-mail response, sent to a million people, has anyone actually had some kind of conversation or interaction with him that you can give pointers?
Anxiously waiting to see what happens, Stacey! My acct with Cap 1 was charged off 11/00 and my CR says I owe 861.00, with all the fees. My credit limit was only 210.00. I, too, would be willing to pay the 210.00 for either a deletion or paid as agreed. So keep us all posted. Hockeymom
Re: Cap 1 question - UPDATE Okay, I just hung up with Mr. Cooke, and I am not sure whether I am pleased or not. He would not accept the $800 that I proposed, he offered $1000 to mark the account "settled". If I accept that proposal, aren't I re-starting the seven year clock on reporting? I believe I would do it in a heartbeat if he would be willing to revise to "paid as agreed". He is sending me a written offer, I will think about it until then. The guilty conscience of mine is telling me to pay the money, as I owe it. The "trying like hell to clean up my credit reports in the quickest way possible" part of me is telling me not to take it, that the "settled" is not much better than the "charged off", and wait for them to sell it and try to get it off that way. What would you do?
Re: Cap 1 question - UPDATE I believe it would restart the clock once it's paid....and you are correct "settled" is still going to be viewed as negative by creditors...if this is the only deal they're offering i'd keep the grande and put it away for a rainy day.
Re: Cap 1 question - UPDATE Paying will NOT restart the clock. When I paid my Cap One card in 99 it was settled, but they never marked it as settled. When I first disputed my CR's in 01, I disputed it as not mine (it still showed a balance), it came back as mine, but with a zero balance (R9), it helped my score, not a lot, but it did help. I then sent a PFB to Mr Cooke asking for deletion, he offered to change it to R5 instead, which helped A LOT. I think you are better off paying it, only in exchange for an R5. Did you ask about paying in full for deletion. Remember this is a fairly new Charge off, so it will hurt you for several years to come. Think about what you may want or need in the next few years, house, car, etc.
Re: Cap 1 question - UPDATE i guess i stand corrected on the re starting the clock part....but still question whether an r5 notation on your CR is worth the 1000 bucks.....but if you're going for a mortgage any time soon you might want to pay...because as far as i know you won't have much luck with an unpaid item still showing.
Re: Cap 1 question - UPDATE I'm not, my scores are 480, 522, and 580, so I have a ways to go. I think for the moment, I am going to move on to other things, and think on this for a while. I don't want to sound callous or cheap, but it's not the only thing on my reports I have to worry about, thanks for all the input. Keep responding if you wish.
