Hello, I have been looking through this forum for a few hours now looking for some guidance and I was wondering if anyone would be able to offer me some assistance: Background: When I was 18 my first, no co-signer credit card was a Capital One card with a $600.00 limit (2005). I was very good at paying my balances and by 19/20 I had a $2,000 limit. Between college expenditures (art school), graduating college, moving home, having to buy actual work attire (art school), I was near my limit on my credit card. I was able to maintain my monthly payments with the first job I got out of college, but not really pay down the debt. Between the transition of my first job out of college, and my next job after that first job, I had to wait an extended period of time for my first pay check (It takes one payment period before you are in the system). I fell behind on my payments. I was able to catch back up to my payments, but not the actual debt itself. Unfortunately, do to life I have missed payments here and there due to insufficient funds, the debt started spiraling. It ballooned into over $2,500. I was now not only getting my monthly payments plus interest, but also over draft fees. This past half-year has been hard. I am getting married in a few months to my girlfriend of six years. I make good money doing web development, but she works in theater which pays with 'stipends'. That is in quotes because it seems like slave labor since it comes out she makes around $2.00 on the hour. Regardless, I have been paying all of my student loans, all of my debts/credit lines, all of her student loans, all of her credit lines, her car payments (luckily her parents still pay for her insurance), her gas since she commutes everywhere, our rent and our utilities. It is quite a stressor on my paycheck. Unfortunately we had some poor financial luck earlier this year, and I fell behind on my payments. Current Scenario My debt has now turned into a little less than $3,500 and I owe around $700 in back payments. Since the amount of missed payments, plus the huge over-percentage in my credit limit, this has hurt my credit score. This debt has been my 'albatross' for the last few years, just barely being able to make the payments but having this huge $2,000 29.99% debt hanging over my head. I have a friend who is a 'credit expert' tell me I just need to do this and that, send this letter, etc.. He is also the one who tipped me off to 'pay for deletion'. I was all psyched about this, until I did some research on it before sending that letter. It is not as 'angelical' as it sounds: There are a lot of problems with this, some being that the companies will file lawsuits, some companies will reject the paid for deletions and just go for a settlement, some companies will go for a pay for deletion and report it as settled. I don't want to risk going to a CA (which I am sure is going to happen soon), I don't want to risk a law suit (a possibility), I just want to get this taken care of. I know I owe the money, I am not trying to get out of the debt. I recently got my tax return which is four-figures, and allows me some negotiating capability. I want to get rid of this debt. I just don't know the best way to go about doing it. I don't have enough to cover the whole debt (otherwise I would just pay it off). I just want to make this go away. I am working over sixty-five hours a week to make our ends meet, and the ends aren't meeting. Can anyone please provide any help on what I should do?
Welcome to Creditnet Dako, and I'm sorry to hear about this situation you've found yourself in. Now, I just want to make sure I'm clear on a few things first. The debt is still with Capital One and the only negatives on your credit reparts are late payments, correct? And the account hasn't been closed, charged-off, or sent to collections, right? Also, how much of the debt could you pay off if you simply applied your tax refund to the outstanding balance?
The debt is still with Capital One and all that is on the credit report are late/missed payments. I just missed my third payment in a row. I can put $1,900 towards the debt if I use my tax return. I am just looking for advice as to what is the best way to move forward on this debt. Putting my tax return towards this still leaves a significant amount left, and the monthly payments are very high so I fear that after applying my tax return to the debt the high monthly payments will end up with me in the same position down the road. I should also add this about my fear of being taken to court: Alone, I would not have a problem paying my debt/accounts, but since I am supporting myself and my fiance I am very tight on money. I am afraid that they will not take into account that I am supporting two people, since technically her student loans etc. are her problem/her debt and not mine, and attempt to garnish my wages for payments. Thanks for getting back to me. I appreciate any help/advice you can provide.
OK, so you have 3 missed payments which means you've now got some 90-day lates on your credit reports. You're getting close to the point where your account could be handed over to a CA too, so I think it's definitely wise to handle this now before it gets worse. Have you figured out what your payments would be if you applied the $1,900 to the $3,500 balance? That would leave you with a $1,600 balance at 29.99% (is this still the interest rate?). If that's the case, it would take you about 12 months to pay that balance off by making $156 payments each month? I'm not sure what your budget is like, but would that be possible? You may even be able to convince them to remove the late pays when you make the $1,900 payment and bring your account current again. Can you share more about your actual budget too? Perhaps we can help you find more ways to free up some cash for the time being so you can get this paid off once and for all. What about approaching your girlfriend about picking up another part-time job to help out with expenses until you get this debt paid off? Do you have some stuff around the house you could sell on Craigslist for extra cash? You get where I'm going here...
you could try pay for delete, but maybe that is not the best thing for you overall. it seems like you have had this card for a while, so I am guessing it is your oldest card. If you settle, the account will be closed, your overall account age will go down, and your credit score will go down, even if they do not report negatives. If I were you, I would call them, explain your circumstances, and ask to have the lates removed from your credit report as a gesture of goodwill. If they seem willing, I would be inclined to just pay them the tax money, stop charging on this card, and then try to pay it down. is there anything else you can do to raise some cash? second job, craigslist? ebay?
