I rececntly posted regarding my 35K in cc debt and my inability to pay much until Jan and the fact that most or all of them were close to charging off. Also for those of you who did not see my previous posting, I need a new car in May '03 because my current lease will be up. I also mentioned that MBNA would be charging off on 10/24/02 if they did not receive a payment. I contacted them and made a payment over the phone. The offered me $100 per month at 10% for 9 months until we get back on our feet. I accepted. Does this sound like an O.K. deal to anyone? Also I am only going to pay $50 per month on all of the other major CC's until Jan and then I will be able to get caught up on those. What are the odds that they won't still charge off? I'm afraid to call and tell them that this is all I can afford because I know they will try to bully me into telling them I will send more than I can afford. Any thoughts on this. I feel like things are starting to make a little more sense now. Thanks for the help previously everyone! By the way for those who suggested BK, thanks for the input, but we decided to do what we can to pay these off. Thx, Toothfairy
Do a search, but I think that MBNA is very good to work with. Really, what other choice do you have ? They could of said NO! How did MBNA say they would list your account as on your CR? I would suggest to ask them after you have caught up and get current that they list it as paid as agreed. If they would do that you you have hit the motherlode!! Charlie
Oh toothfairy... That story sounds so familiar. We are going through it right now too. We're just a little further down the road... 5 cc accounts (MBNA is one of them) = ~$35K as well Here's our synopsis. Early 1999 started first lates on cc. Wrote letter to each creditor (Chase, First USA, MBNA, Wachovia, USAA) explaining our situation...job loss etc. and got on their reduced payment plans. In 2000, started defaulting on the reduced payment plans and got interest jacked to ceiling with late charges, overlimit fees etc. In early 2001, got on CCCS. We've had no problems with them so far. Only one account marked it "acct being paid through financial counseling plan". However, by then, the damage was done to each credit cards...5x 30 day late, 7x 60 days, 3x 90 days...you get the picture. That's our albatross. Each of those accounts has those nasty lates. They are all "closed by credit grantor" and we are still paying balances. My only hope is to get a goodwill adjustment from them with full payoff. With regards to MBNA, they were always sending settlement letters..."pay 50% of balance and we'll forgive the rest" our balance was $8500 at that time with a credit limit of $6800. We chose not to settle because the account would be listed as "settled". I don't know what the rest of the creditnetters advice would be but I think we're just as bad off now with all the lates. Yes, we've paid as agreed for 18 months now but I still think the quantity of derogs is probably just as bad. And regarding MBNAs offer to you, I think $100 at 10% is good. We are still paying 15.9%! We haven't had any problems with CCCS. I think we were lucky only to have one account listed as being paid through them. Our mortgage broker did tell us CCCS is bad, just like a BK in lenders eyes. We were already on it at that point. We were lucky though. The way he processed our mortgage loan with desktop underwriting, we got approved for a mortgage with no credit gap. Which means we got a mortgage at the going low rate with mid credit score of 585.... That was pure luck, and some heavy duty praying. Another note with CCCS, we made sure to call each creditor and move the payment due date to like the 25th of each month knowing that CCCS sometimes takes a few days in the beginning of the month to get payments there. I guess my longwinded story here is to say try to try and negotiate reduced payment plans with your creditors and be absolutely sure you know how they are going to report to bureaus. Don't be bullied by creditors if their "lowest mthly amt they will accept" doesn't meet your budget. Let them know if they can't meet what you're offering that BK is something you're considering as well but that you are trying to do the right thing. If they offer some reporting incentive...get it in writing! Inquire about settlements, but don't commit, just get the info (amt. to settle, reporting to bureaus) And most of all, check back here to let us know how you are doing!!
Toothfairy, You need to start trying to get on hardship programs if you are close to chargeoff. The FDIC requires financial institutions to chargeoff accounts at the 180 day mark. Some {very few} will chargeoff at 150 days. They may well have no choice but to charge your account to p/l if you don't make some arrangements now.
Toothfairy, Also, be careful if you're thinking of settling. I cut this thread from a different forum... Remember first of all you are gonna have to pay taxes on the settled part especially when it sounds like the amounts are large. Then make sure you get everything in writing that the 50% will settle the bill in full and the remainder will not longer be collected on or sold. The CA who is refusing a written settlement is gonna screw you totally. They will collect the 50% and sell the remaining 50% to another CA. That CA will think you are a sucker and really come after you. Meanwhile, your credit from all these settled ccs will be destroyed for 7 years. My settled cc from 5 years ago still haunts me. Send them a certified letter in writing asking them for a letter stating the deal. If they are in a 1 party consent state then call them and tape the phone call or they will make you regret it. A couple years down the line some scumbag agency like camco or rma will come knocking.
Some time ago I visited the Bud Hibbs website. On his site, Mr. Hibbs has some plan to avoid BK & CCS. However, he states there is the potential for legal action against you from creditors although it has never happened to any of his clients to date. I don't know if theres a cost associated with this service nor am I endorsing it. Those of you wishing to avoid BK may wish to check it out. I think the link is www.budhibbs.com.
My experience which is just in the last few weeks.Can no longer pay the credit card payments and may do bankruptcy. Citi gave me an extension and said they will not report it to the credit bureaus until I am 60 days late. Waived the late fee. Did not jack my APR. FirstUSA gave me an extension and said they will not report it to the credit bureaus unless I am 60 days late. Don't know if they will jack my rate. Would not waive late fee.
FUSA has a program where they set your rate at 8% for 12 months, no over limit or late charges and a reduced monthly payment. However, you have to either pay off the account within that time or they will jack up your rate to 24% and if you are over your limit they will start hitting your account with fees on the 13 month.
You know it's strange, I have heard from others that working with a CCCS is just like a BK in some lenders eyes, yet the CCCS will tell you it's only like having a 30 day late on your CR. Go figure! I am quite concerned about getting charged off. But, as I mentioned before I can only pay $50 per month in Nov and Dec. In Jan I can be back to full regular monthly payments. I am afraid to call and tell the cc's that this is all I can do. Should I call and just insist that this is it. Would I be better off doing that than just paying it without saying anything. I know it sounds like a stupid question, but everytime I talk to one of these places they bully me into saying I can send $200 when I absolutely can't. Any thoughts? Thanks for your help so far. Toothfairy
I made a deal with MBNA, a similar repayment program like they offered you. It worked out great for me. I am just about finished after 14 months & last week I called to see if my cl could be reopened, so I could re-establish my credit. They agreed to do it. During the program, my CR showed "account closed by consumer" & showed an R1 rating (I manipulated late payment removals too). I am very happy with how the situation with MBNA worked out, especially now. BTW - I worked with a rep named Mike Taylor at (800) 487-0396 ext 57840. Hope things work out for you!
Wow, I applaud Toothfairy's decision. All the power in the world is in the decision itself. "An amazing thing happens when you make a decision. The whole world opens up and the past just kinda ... slips away". Rebecca De'morney, ("The Inconvenient Woman") Now that the future looks a little brighter be sure to get your agreements from the OC's in writing. Just to avoid any "misunderstanding". Lay out terms that you need and the amount you can comfortably afford to pay. They WILL probably attempt to extract more, but stick to your guns. Once that's done stay on time. If I'm not mistaken Learnmore's payments are probably not very much lower with CCCS as they were with the agreements she made with OC's in the first place. That goes to show that YOU CAN do this on your own and even emerge with a better credit rating. With some "ovarian fortitude" and hard work you gals can do this. Feels tough now but there IS a pay off down the road.
Yes Butch, you are right. We were stupid but deeply in over our heads when we defaulted off the OC payment plans and later went on CCCS. The payments aren't much different. I think if we could've stayed on the OCs plan, we would've been able to "stem the bleeding" of our reporting and had a little more leverage to hopefully negotiate goodwill adjustments etc. But, we've made our bed and by March '03 will be able to either pay them all off or very close. Then it will be time to call and beg for those adjustments. It almost seems harder to be in my position with the copious derogs but no collections or BK. I've seen plenty of posts of people having those removed but not a whole lot with OC lates...especially of our magnitude. I'm hoping my "ovarian fortitude" will pay off for us (toothfairy too). Her's is the closest story to mine that I've heard yet. Thanks for the encouragement
