Hi--I'm new to this board and to my current predicament so please bare with me. I am in $55,000 in credit card debt, with three creditors. Citibank, AT&T Universal, and First USA. For the past two years, while unemployed, I have been able to make the monthly payments, but of course only paying interest. My credit is excellent but that will now change because I am unable to continue to keep up with the payments. I had no luck of course lowering the interest rate with these creditors. And recently my husband and I were able to refinance to a lower rate, but the mortgage is only in his name because my debt was too high and I have no income. Lucikly, I don't have any auto loans, the car is paid for and my mortgage was always in good standing. These are my questions: I can afford to settle half of these debts with my equity line. Will they settle and under what terms? To date, I haven't missed a payment except for a day or two past the due date. I recently read that you can even negotiate with creditors to post the account paid satisfactory if you're willing to do the homework or get the right attorney to help you. Is this true, is it worth it? Where do I go to get the information to negotiate or hire the right attorney/agency? Should I go through a non-profit credit counseling agency? How long will it take to restore my good credit if I am able to negotiate a settlement with these creditors? I have paid over $12,000 in interest to these creditors in the last year alone. I am so depressed and don't know where to turn. My credit score currently is 720, and I'm not sure how low it will go once I default or negotiate a settlement with my creditors. Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated.
First of all welcome to the board sandie! There's lots of experience and knowledge here on this board and I have learned on here that virtually no situation is hopeless! That being said, I will take a stab at some of your questions. First, you can negotiate with creditors. However, this is a double edged sword. Right now they will not negotiate since you are current......in general. Whatever you do, you should not attempt contact by phone. Only in writing. In the interim, save your money for your settlements. It is true that you will be able to get TL's deleted or removed but it is not because you are agreeing to pay the account but because of the violations of the laws they commit while attempting to collect a debt. Remember that you may owe them money but it is certainly no excuse for them to break the law in the process of trying to extract it from a person who is in bad times at present. Regarding hiring an attorney, I personally would not do that until the point I absolutely felt I had to because of a lack of knowledge or if I got in over my head or something. As I said there is plenty of expertise here and on some other boards to help you get thru this by yourself without that extra expense. BUT you must be willing to work at it and at times work very hard at it. It comes down to what your tolerance for pressure is. If you have a low tolerance, the expense of an attorney might be worthwhile for you. Lastly regarding CCCS and those similar, I would personally never, ever recommend them to anyone as their type of agencies are generally fueling the problem even more and often they are in bed with the creditors anyway. Again this is something you can do for yourself without their help if you work at it. None of us that have been in financial trouble got there overnight and it will not go away overnight either. You just need to decide on a course of action and then stick with it. We will all try to help you along the way as best as we are able. Good luck!
Thank you so much for this advice. And I guess your right about the double edge sword, because it sounds like I have to wait and let them try to collect from me before I try to negoiate a settlement. How far in arrears must I go before I try? Should I send them a letter now telling them that I will be unable to make the next month's payment and if they don't negoiate will be forced to file bankruptcy? Will and can they attach a lien on my house? Can they do anything to my equity line? I've been reading other messages on the board and will continue to gleen as much information as I can, but, since I haven't actually gone into arrears yet, I'm not sure where to start? Wait or try to get the ball rolling now. Thank you again for this board, I've been so ashamed and depressed about this since I lost my job. My husband is on permanent disability due to declining eyesight so his income is limited. Thanks again for any advice.
