Credit Card debt....Settlement Question....?

Send letters. Don't use the phone, email, or fax. Make a settlement offer of about 25% to 30%. The older the debt, the more likely they will settle for a lower amount. Lump sum gets the best deals. Payment plans have to be short term. Ask for written acceptance of the settlement. Do not give them access to your bank account. You can ask for delete of the item on your credit report for payment -- some will, some won't.

Paying old debt does not restat the reporting period. The reporting period is 7-1/2 years from the first deficiency. Nothing restarts the clock. This is governned by the FCRA.

People often confuse and merge the reporting period with the Statute of Limitations (SOL), the timeframe to bring lawsuit. This varies from state to state and is based on the last activity or paymement. Payment does restart the SOL.

Forgiven debts of $600 or more may generate a 1099. The amount would have to be claimed as income for tax purposes. However, the taxes on the forgiven amount are much less that paying the full amount.

First, figure out what you can pay each of them so that you have a very specific dollar amount when you call the collection agencies. If you have $1k to spread out over 4 agencies, you can give each of them no more than $250. Call each one, and let them know that you are unable to work, but would like to take care of your debts the best you can. Offer them $200 dollars at first, of course they will tell you NO WAY!!! But stick to your course, and don't let them bully you. Just let them know that that is all you have, and at the most you can pay them $250 but that is positively as high as you can go. They still may not go for it, but usually they WILL settle for about half of what you owe them. The best you can do is try, you never know. I've had really great luck doing this...My husband and I have both been through a divorce and we had several of these I had to work on, and now they are all paid off! Try to stay away from those agencies that say they can get rid of all your debt blah blah blah...they can be a huge rip off!!!! Good Luck!

You need to be very careful. You need to deal with each Company fairly. If you pay off one Company the others will chase you. Contact each Company offering the same percentage as a settlement figure as compared to the debt you owe each Company - i.e. if you owe 1 Company 50% you must offer 50% of the monies you have to them.

It is then up to each company to decide whether to accept this as a final offer.

Call each one but be prepared to pay the full settlement amount within 30 days of the agreement. Get the agreement in writing from them before you send anything! Do not give them you bank account info. Once you have paid make sure they mark your credit bureau settled in full.

Settle the first one off. Consider a place like Consumer Credit Counseling who might be able to help. You want this all resolved ASAP because the settlement will show on your credit for years to come and if you don't do things now if you start negotiating later the clock resets on how long that will show on your reports.

Hi,

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call them and offer them a lump sum, stating this is all you have. if they dont accept, ask to set up a low payment schedual, as you arent working, but would like to get started on paying it back.as for the lump sum, offer 1/2 of what you owe.

Before you settle with any of them ask how your payments will be reported to credit bureaus. Will they remove your late payments accounts?