Darkdoj, You are not incohrent at all -- and I especially appreciate your responding after the taxing day you had in court. You and dancer gave me "real-time" advice that stopped me from making a big mistake. Thanks, again.
I hope everything turns out well for you. Don't let them push you around on anything. Stick to your guns. Your the only one who really knows what financial position your in. MBNA has a record of doing one thing and saying another. Have they responded with a new offer?
Darkdoj, No, I haven't heard from them since Friday. They faxed an offer letter with the due date of April 24. I expect they will pretend I didn't have the "re-negotiation" conversation with the VP and expect me to put a check in the mail... Let me ask your opinion -- if they refuse to remove the negative CR info. and I settle for 50% or less, how badly will a "settled" 120 day late account hurt me? And, is there anyhing I can do about it in the future? I have time on my side -- don't need to clean up my credit right now for any pending loans, employment, etc. Our financial situation is really poor. After no income for 18 months for my husband, we are hurting. With the help of my husband's family, I paid off all other credit cards. After paying off the balance in full with United Visa (no lates, ever), they checked my credit report and promptly closed my account. That's our thanks for not declaring BK and paying them in full...
I heard from yet another MBNA rep today asking when I would be sending payment...I told them I was waiting for another settlement offer made by the VP I spoke with last Friday ( she gave no details only that she would look at my file and credit report). The VP is out of town all week now. Should I just sit tight and wait for her to call? Or, am I just waiting for Godot???
I would ask who is next in line and speak to them. It's a pressing matter. Stick to your guns and don't let them get you down. It will probably hurt a bit any negative remark on a report can damage scores 20-30 points sometimes. But! It's better to do the right thing now and try to explain it away later. Employment & some loans will give you the opportunity to explain what happened. DON'T KEEP LETTING THEM PULL CREDIT REPORTS ON YOU! Sorry for the caps. Bad, BAD,Bad thing. Call MBNA in the morning and ask them to pass you to someone who can give you an answer today. Tell them they are almost out of time and you can't afford to wait for them. You can try mentioning bankruptcy and seeing how they respond, but make it clear that you really would like to settle, but it has to be on FAIR terms IE: REMOVE 120 LATE!
Darkdoj, Thank you for the great advice. I really don't know how to "play" this with them -- don't want them to think that I am anxious to settle. But, I will call them and get a VP on the phone, if possible. I want to get this behind me and move on. This stuff is so draining and I have an AMEX charge off to deal with next. Speaking of which, I got advice on this board to negotiate directly with AMEX even though a CA has the account. I sent a validation ltr today to CA. Amex is reporting the charge off -- not the CA, so I presume the CA can't delete neg. info. My recent attempts at getting AMEX to talk have failed. Any advice?
If your settling with the CA, it might be cheaper to try with AMEX. if you're disputing and requesting validation send it to the CA, but the Amex will still appear. Basically you'd have to pay AMEX to get it off if they are willing to accept it. The CA can't do much with it unless they have placed it on your reports too
I spoke with MBNA and they say no to deleting the 120 days late. They told me to call the VP I spoke to earlier. They think the best they can do is 50% (about 10K), Settled status with 120-150 day late status. Ouch! Any thoughts?
Darkdoj, I notice that Lizardking always suggests not paying for deletion. I am torn between doing that and just paying the chargeoff in full and trying to delete that way. I can see from posts here that MBNA will be extremely difficult to deal with in terms of CR deletions, so I know I will have to live with a settled, 120-day notation on my CR for 7 years now. So, I want to do what I can to get that AMEX chargeoff removed or else my CR is in no better shape than had I filed for BK... I know this is a decision I have to make, but your advice speaks to my sense of what's right. I appreciate your input... Thanks, again Susanna
Should I even ask... if your husband hasn't been working and your home value is now maxed... aren't you pretty judgment proof??? Why are you worrying over unsecured debt? If your credit is 150 days+ old, it's shot right now. It'll recover 24 mos after settlement or payoff.... but I'm wondering if everything else is stabilized enough to even worry about the credit cards? If you're still having difficulties, well, is this even the right move to do? I mean, if it continues like this... will you be ok or will you be filing a bk? My point? 5k may be more useful to you for living expenses than for a silly credit card... I understand wanting to put this behind you... I really do... I was just wondering where you were on the recovery path...Am I off base? I don't know enough about this... just thinking out loud... If I am off base I apologize, I just don't want to see MBNA get paid anything if it compromises your mortgage, for example. As an aside, I paid Amex 40 percent and it went to a collection agency. The account was over 2 years old, so the agency got half. Amex got about 20 percent of the amount due on settlement. As for timing, if you seem anxious they sense it and they'll want more. The older the debt is, the less chance they get money. Ask them when it will go to a collection agency... that they're just being too difficult and you will just pay Amex now if you can and deal with an MBNA collection agency... after all, they'd get part of the money but they also seem to settle for a lot less (you've been told...) don't settle for an unsigned letter. they'll call it a payment and you'll have no recourse. without a signature you could have made up the letter. just a thought on strategy
oh, never fill out those asset questionaires... will only hurt you. they're fishing to see if they should sue you. You're under no obligation to do them... You may want to curtail putting all your money in the bank. You do want to look poor... even poorer in these situations. If they find assets they'll want to sue you to get them. also, when you talk with MBNA you may wish to elaborate on how difficult financially it's been and will continue to be... and you may want to say that a relative was trying to give you some money (by paying a settlement for you) and that's how you're trying to pay some bills.. after all, if you and your husband had been able to with your own funds... the bills would have already been paid... (that way they won't think the funds are yours to begin with) I would do some "side thinking" aloud how another relative keeps pushing you to file bk7... but you're just not sure... this is just too difficult with MBNA... maybe Amex will be nicer to you anyway... just some more thoughts. Good luck. I had a friend try to negotiate with MBNA and he ended up doing a bk7. Best thing he ever did, according to him Have lizardking pipe in here if he can. he is a pro at dealing with credit card companies... but of course, he has some steel... methods
Marie, Thank you for taking time to help me think this through. You are right -- we are still on the recovery path. My husband just got a job -- paying 30K less than his last one. We refinanced our house in order to pull money out to pay our son's college tuition for this year.(We have 3 children -- all in private schools). My mother-in-law has helped us with the rest of our bills and kept us afloat...I have no money in the bank. I am still recovering from 3 dotcom clients filing BK owing me 20K... My worry about unsecured debt is that I don't like having these monkeys on my back which may continue to haunt me. We have avoided BK and paid all other bills now except AMEX, MBNA, and a $600 Sprint. If I could get these bills resolved once and for all, I'd be pleased. If I could make them go away without having to pay them at all -- I'd be ecstatic. Someone on this board suggested that at some point, I will be sued considering the amount of money I owe (AMEX, 10K), MBNA (19K, thanks to their 24% interest that they refused to reduce during our job losses). Although we are judgment proof now, that will change as the equity in our house grows...7 years is a long time. Should we risk that? MBNA is at 150 days, as of yesterday. I am trying to "save" it from chargeoff. Is that worth doing or not? As for AMEX, I am validating with the CA right now. Is that a good course to take? For Sprint, I haven't decided. There is a CA involved, but nothing has been reported on my CRs.Someone advised me to contact Sprint directly and pay in full...The CA has offered 50% and settled/paid on CR (right now there is no CR listing for this account). Thank you, thank you for your support and advice.
The advice given you so far has been pretty good, BUT !! Wht you are talking about doing is taking funds away from your family needs, not paying back your mother,and not having an emergency fund for the next time a problem arises . Depending on the State you are in, an unenforceable judgment or 2 or 3 may be easier to deal with down the line with a 20% settlement for discharge than dealing with the cc cmpanies now. If the cc debts are in your name with your husband as authorized user, and if you aren't in a community property State, and if you are in a garishment free State,you may be better off taking care of your own family first.
Why Chat, You make an excellent point. The cc's are in my name only. I am in Colorado -- not sure about regs around community property, garnishment, etc. I'd rather not borrow any more money from my mother-in-law to payoff these bills. The little money we earn now should go to an emergency fund, retirement, kids education. We wiped out all our savings, IRAs, 401Ks to pay the cc bills, mortgage, etc. The last 18 months have been extremely painful and not one cc would reduce our interest rate knowing our circumstances...So, I would not bat an eyelash over not paying them... Thank you for your advice. Susanna Also -- just curious -- are there pro-cc company people on this board?
well... I'm pro cc in that they can be of great use when you're not in trouble. My real issue is stuff like 24 percent penalty rate. what they're doing is legally overinflating the debt so they write off part of it and come out ahead (versus if you'd never gotten into trouble and just paid the regular rate). there's part of the penalty interest thing that feels like a scam... and I hate that part of credit cards. I would send validation to Sprint's collection agency. When they come up with no signature and possibly some fdcpa/fcra violations, then you have leverage with Sprint directly... I actually do really understand just wanting this behind you... Boy do I... If you don't have equity or money saved you are nicely judgment proof. Will they go to judgment? Amex doesn't always, I don't know about MBNA... Amex will run it through several collection agencies normally... anyway, if you want to try and settle these, frankly, if you're not getting deletions... I'd let MBNA charge off and then see what issues a CA gives you... they normally screw up so much that they become a negotiating godsend... Again, Amex at a collection agency will offer 70 percent normally... then 50... I got mine settled for 40 and no deletion (came off in a regular cra dispute)... by the way, my AMEX balance always stayed the same as the charge off amount... it never increased... I don't know if that's how they still do it... but the balance didn't double or triple once it charged off... it stayed exactly the same from one collection agency to the last one that I paid. So... it's certainly up to you how to proceed... I was just playing a bit of devil's advocate. Your credit is dinged pretty nicely right now... so in a way that's good... no new debt Save a bit of money... frankly, you may wish to do it as cash or in your mother-in-law's account until these debts are taken care of... I'd probably go after Sprint... (little and likely can't validate properly)... then Amex (ca will be better settlement with/out deletion)... then when MBNA is a bit more aged, MBNA... their settlement is what they'd get if you paid a collection agency for the debt in full... If you pay a ca 50 percent MNBA will get 25 percent or so of what's now owed... You know... you could call MBNA back and say the relative you were going to borrow the money from just realized MBNA's 24 percent penalty rate and told you they wouldn't pay that kind of penalty.... maybe if you back off they'll be more reasonable... but then again, it is MNBA. they are a bit heartless... Amex is pretty reasonable, and certainly in comparison.
Oh.. I forgot... if you're validating with an Amex collection agency, and the collection agency trade line is on your report... and they've received your validation request (I hope you sent it cert rr)... pull the affected credit reports. the collection agency is supposed to tell the cras that the trade line is in dispute... if they don't have your accounts marked as in dispute (directly with the ca...) it's a fcra violation. don't be too surprised when Amex pulls out all your docs... they have good records... but the ca will likely make mistakes and when you catch them on those you can use them to negotiate trade line removal (Amex can also be held accountable for ca violations).
I agree with what's been said so far. I didn't know it was borrowed money. Always have an emergency out as I like to put it. That way if something happens you have some money available. MBNA is a bear to deal with, I know. But! As Marie said to play with them you have to make the situation sound worse than it already is. This way they know your serious. If the house isn't in your name exclusivly, you're judgement proof unless you divorce. I'm not positive but I don't believe that they can take a lien out on a property that you own joint with someone. I could be wrong on this one though, but you CAN put the house in someone elses's name temporarily or just have your name taken off the loan. That makes you judgement proof for now. The Statue of Limitations applies on both credit reporting time and judgements. In my state it's 4 years to get a judgement on an account with a contract and 2 years without. If they don't get one by the 4 year mark, it's a dead deal and they can try as hard as they want to collect but they can't sue you. Alot of the stuff on my CR was that way and most of it was deleted because the CA knew that there was no point because they can't do anything anymore. Keep money for yourself, or as other people put it, pay yourself first and then pay others. AMEX does keep VERY good records and will have everything you ever signed/did in regards to them. MBNA will only pull recent stuff out of the closet. Time heals credit. If you settle with MBNA for the 120-150 day mark then you're still doing okay. I know Lizardking says not to settle for deletion, but there's no reason that you can't atleast try right? Settled is better than a charge-off and a Charge-off means that if they do get a judgement against you, they will be able to enforce it to the full penny + court costs. The question is weather you want to risk a judgement later or pay them something now and deal with the negative remark on the credit?
Col. has a 3 year SOL for being sued. The date starts the FIRST month you were "late". From your previous posts, I would guess you are past the time you can be sued. In addition Col has some VERY strict collection agency laws. Where are the ca's located on your accounts? Give me a list of their names and the State they are contacting you from and you may find out they can do NOTHING.You can e-mail me.
Marie, Thank you again for all this advice. You, darkdoj and why chat are godsends...I will go ahead and validate with Sprint's CA. They have not reported anything to the CRA's....if I settle, will they then report I wonder? AMEX reported the chargeoff -- no notation from any CA. I am on the third CA now...the other two gave up. For the last CA before Coldata, I kept saying, "my attorney is handling this matter" and hung up on them...Theymost likely thought a BK was being filed. Experian is now reporting the debt in dispute as of Friday. I probably made a mistake in disputing the debt online with them and not waiting for the CA to do it (so I could get them on a violation). I read another post that said AMEX only keeps records for 2 years...and the poster was able to dispute it off the CR. As for MBNA, if I let the account go to chargeoff, does that hurt my credit more than if I settled with a 150-day late?They will not delete. They are holding a hardline on it and are offering 50%. If I have 2 chargeoffs, does that mean 7 years with low FICO scores? Thanks, again...Susanna
