Settling with credit card companies for less than 20%

[Zac]

I just got the settlement letters from Bank of America acknowledging they had received my settlement payments and that these accounts were now paid off.  They will report them to the credit bureaus as "a settled account, legally paid in full for less than the full balance".  B of A was the most professional and proactive of the creditors I settled or otherwise dealt with this year.  B of A was one of only 2 creditors who settled my accounts directly rather than going through third party collection agencies.  It's clear they just want to settle everything and move on unlike some other creditors, most notably Capital One and Wells Fargo. 

Though the settlement letters are only a formality at this point, I felt some relief as I read them since B of A held about half my outstanding unsecured debt (combination of business and personal). 

[Tinfoil Hattie]

.

[golddust]

I defaulted on my credit cards in January of 2009.  Since the 120-day charge-off date passed, I have barely heard a peep from any of them.  I get calls on the cell phone that sits unused in my dresser drawer, but I haven't gotten a letter from any creditor or collection agency in about 2 months.  It's weird.  I wonder if they're so swamped with defaults that they just don't have the staff available to harass people by mail. 

I quit paying September of 2008 and ours have all gone to collections except for BOA. We heard from them last time in April. The collection agencies send out the usual paper tiger template once a month. Some don't even do it that often. Funny thing with the private student loans, I missed one payment and they went to collections. One. ONE. 

[heathenmom]

I just made arrangements to pay a dept. credit card (through GE Capital) for 33% of the balance.  They didn't even BLINK before accepting it; I wish I'd offered lower.    FYI, I quit paying it back in July.  They hounded the SHITE out of me for a couple of months, then nothing.  Then I got a very official-looking letter from them a few weeks ago stating that if we didn't bring the account current they would be turning it over to their lawyers.  They started calling me again the day after Christmas - several times a day.  I finally stopped hanging up on them this morning.  I'll be crossing THAT off my list to take care of in 2010!   

[dagrove22]

Just a question. If the economy, or more like when the economy as we know it dies. Banks/ credit card companies go under, why pay anything at all.
Seems like that banksters and other institutions have been given a lot of money to cover their losses but the people get nothing?
To me, all of the propaganda for having a good credit score only serves the financial institutions better interest and perpetuates the debt serf. I guess if the entire indebted population just said no to anymore payments, all hell would break loose.
Why fund the institutions that built the system to keep the sheeple slaves.

[golddust]

Just a question. If the economy, or more like when the economy as we know it dies. Banks/ credit card companies go under, why pay anything at all.
Seems like that banksters and other institutions have been given a lot of money to cover their losses but the people get nothing?
To me, all of the propaganda for having a good credit score only serves the financial institutions better interest and perpetuates the debt serf. I guess if the entire indebted population just said no to anymore payments, all hell would break loose.
Why fund the institutions that built the system to keep the sheeple slaves.

Some people may need to buy a doomstead or at least they don't want to have an unpaid debt hanging over their heads with the potential that it may result in a lawsuit. I have ALOT hanging over mine and it gets annoying sometimes, when I sit down and think about it.

Not annoying enough to pay anything though, not voluntarily anyway.

[dagrove22]

Not annoying enough to pay anything though, not voluntarily anyway. Thats funny.
I guess I'm just angry about all of bailout crap, the apathy of the general public and the corporate propaganda that equates money with self worth.
Personally, I am close to chapter 7, not by choice but circumstance. No work,lack of money blah blah blah. Although, after getting through the emotional/ psychological, (shame). It is feels like a weight being lifted off my shoulders.
Plus, its fashionable.

[heathenmom]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I DO feel a moral obligation to take care of my debts if at all possible.  Just because the bankers are dispicable, scum-sucking assholes doesn't cancel out the fact that I (stupidly) made agreements with them to buy things on credit.  That being said, if they agree to settle with me for less than the balance of what I owed, then the terms of the original contract have changed; once I pay the newly-agreed-upon amount, I've met my obligation to that particular company.  On to the next one!

[Tinfoil Hattie]

Some people may need to buy a doomstead or at least they don't want to have an unpaid debt hanging over their heads with the potential that it may result in a lawsuit. I have ALOT hanging over mine and it gets annoying sometimes, when I sit down and think about it.

Not annoying enough to pay anything though, not voluntarily anyway.

Have you been sued yet?  I'm being sued by Discover and my pre-trial conference is next month.  Since I have no income or assets, I'm debating whether I should file BK to avoid a judgment or just let them get one since I own basically nothing.

[dagrove22]

Some people may need to buy a doomstead or at least they don't want to have an unpaid debt hanging over their heads with the potential that it may result in a lawsuit. I have ALOT hanging over mine and it gets annoying sometimes, when I sit down and think about it.

Not annoying enough to pay anything though, not voluntarily anyway.

Have you been sued yet?  I'm being sued by Discover and my pre-trial conference is next month.  Since I have no income or assets, I'm debating whether I should file BK to avoid a judgment or just let them get one since I own basically nothing.

What I find somewhat insane is how do the credit card companies and even the .gov expect people to pay any amount of money, when they do not have any to begin with and have prospect of earning a living.
I have found that after a certain point, negative credit reporting passes the point of no return. I have done all I could possibly do to re pay my debts and hang on to my house. However, after trying to do the "right thing", ie.. paying off debt obligations, the economic conditions have made it impossible. Between the down payment (40%) and renovation expenses, a little over $100,000 of hard earned money is essentially gone. Millions of people are in the same boat. Filing Chapter 7 at least allows an individual to start over.
The way I see it, if and when I earn enough money to buy any property again, TSHTF will have happened/is already happening and it will not matter.
I do not know what a full on economic collapse will look like but, after all of the information acquired from LATOC and other sources ,I can postulate that credit scores and credit in general will not exist as it does today.
If someone survives the coming shit storm, just having the basics for survival will be the only important thing to worry about.IMHO
What was it that Scrooge said"are there no work houses are there no prisons"?
Last time I checked the unemployment numbers there were several million people jobless, factor in the recent and soon to graduate college grads and it appears to be a huge problem.Just for kicks and giggles factor in working teens or I should write non working.
Sorry about going on and on and on. But all of this credit card, consumer crap is maddening as well as discouraging.

[golddust]

Some people may need to buy a doomstead or at least they don't want to have an unpaid debt hanging over their heads with the potential that it may result in a lawsuit. I have ALOT hanging over mine and it gets annoying sometimes, when I sit down and think about it.

Not annoying enough to pay anything though, not voluntarily anyway.

Have you been sued yet?  I'm being sued by Discover and my pre-trial conference is next month.  Since I have no income or assets, I'm debating whether I should file BK to avoid a judgment or just let them get one since I own basically nothing.

Nope. Nothing yet.

[heathenmom]

Oh, I meant to say that, since we do have property that we do NOT want to lose, especially over such a piddly amount as we owe on credit cards, we are that much more motivated to come to some sort of settlement.