I am looking to settle $35,000 of insecure credit card debt; but after reading about the debt settlement agencies I am not sure I want to use that route. It is probably better off doing it myself because most of this agencies want 25% of savings. Can anybody help me and outline briefly the steps I can take. My biggest debt is w/ Discover 9.5K, then other w/ Citibank, Amex, FUSA & Chase range between 2K and 6K Anybody's 2 cents will greatly be appreciated.
Jartiga, is BK an option? Do you have any assets? Basically, debt settlement can be handled by yourself. Use the search feature to find various approaches to this. Remember, time is on your side. If you have very little assets the creditors would rather get something rather than nothing. Ivan
Hi Ivan, I do owe a home w/ over $70K in equity but I don't want to change unsecure debt to secure debt. I would rather not BK but settle it for less even if I have to sell an auto or get a family loan. Thanks
I assume that these balances are still owned by the original creditor. Are you current or have you become delinquent on these accounts? If you are current, settlement is probably not an option as the creditors have no reason to negotiate anything with you. If they are delinquent, then you have already received numerous calls and depending on how many months past due, probably some settlement offers. From experience, as these accounts approach chargeoff, the offers for settlement will become more attractive. In the case of Discover, they keep the account "in-house" for two months after the chargeoff before turning it over to an outside CA. I was offered 30%, with a "Paid Settled" but with an R9 (no incentive). Citi never went below 85%, FUSA at 50%, and Chase at 35% (all "Paid Settled"). Your mileage may vary. I agree that debt settlement can be handled by yourself but until I was 4 months past due, nobody had any interest in negotiating at all. Finally, NOBODY would even entertain the idea of deleting or reporting the account R1 in exchange for a negotiated settlement. Hope this helps. This was just my experience.....
