I was also told I was not qualified for settlement at 150 days late. Chase told me to deal with the CA after charge off. My 18k account was charged off last month and I managed to settle for 30% with the CA.
Perhaps your account is similar to mine. If so, then you can deal with the CA later on. You can do better than 30% though. I was a little rush into closing the deal!
runningfromdebtOriginally Posted by runningfromdebt
Welcome to Loansafe and thanks for your post.
Since Chase is being non-responsive, you'll need to stop chasing (no pun intended) them for a settlement. Break off all communications, don't answer their calls or return any calls.
Let the account charge off and bide your time. Eventually Chase will likely become more accommodative with a settlement deal. But let them come to you with an offer. In the near future you will receive only collection calls from them. Don't ever answer or return those calls.
Wait until you get a message via voicemail stating that a settlement offer is available. Or, it could come in a letter.
This process could take many months. But since you won't be doing anything, who cares? Good luck.
On the contrary, I have never done a cash advance on this account & no transactions have been made since early 2010 (other than they're mounting fees). This account has also been closed since June 2010 (per my request), so I don't what's going on. I've been telling them I am getting a loan from a relative (since I am unemployed) to settle the account but they're just not giving in or helping. I've mentioned the BK thing (and there's little to no response to it),and informed them that my home is in foreclosure & Im living with relatives. I really would like to settle this account prior to any collection or legal actions, so I am remaining optimistic and holding out until the day before it's set to charge off.
That sounds unusual for Chase. They were my first at 33% 0f a $6400 bal.
It was actually my wifes card which has been closed by her for a yr or 2, and yes there was a cash advance before she closed it, told them I became unemployed, wife went back to work part time, not enough money for nessessities, no capacity to keep paying, offered $1800, rep said thats a little low, can you do better, I paused and said $2k (It was my first-I caved), they put me on hold and came back with $2200 over 4 payments, I accepted. This was at 115 days late.
Yeah, they're being really, really difficult. Well Im not caving because I know its a great offer & that a settlement can be done. Chase is being real anal because just this year in April, I settled a $15000 BofA account for 5k- and that was only 4mos behind. So Im going to stand firm & hope they allow a settlement prior to it's charge off date.
Haven't paid on the chase cc in 5 months calls letters emails no settlement offers yet I'll just wait it out. Also can you post the details of Your BofA settlement in th BofA cc settlement thread. That would be great. Thanks in advance
I recently settled my chase CC debt at 17%. I found that it was easier to negotiate with them when they contacted me, once the account was ready to charge-off. I gave them my hardship story (divorce, loss of income, trying to avoid bk, etc) each time I spoke with them. The initial offers were 60%, but after a few months they finally offered 25%, I kept with the same story that I could borrow $xx dollars from my parents to help get this settled (calculated my balance x 17%). My story never changed and they finally agreed in writting by faxing the offer. I was able to pay it in 4 installments over a 90 day plan.
I was worried that i couldn't settle for such a low amount as the original debt was from cash advance many years ago. My balance was about $25k. Good luck and keep hammering them
ls92037 ,
I have to say that you did a great job of summarizing the key points of settling with CCs. As to your questions, settling with CCs will not do anything to improve your credit right after you settle, but over time, your credit will improve. And if you were to apply for another loan, from what I understand it is better to have the accounts reported as settled rather then not...not sure though how much difference it really makes.
If it goes to CA, CA has the same power to collect as the original lender. IF CA buys your debt it has complete power as to how much it is willing to settle for and/or if they will file a lawsuit. IF debt is assigned to CA by an original lender, I would think that original lender still have as say as to how much they are willing to settle for and/or if they will file a lawsuit or not.
And, no experience with U.S. Bank, sorry.
It appears that one can expect his/her credit score to drop between 45 and 215 points for debt settlement. The higher your original credit score, the more it will drop. (Source: search the web for "FICO reveals how common credit mistakes affect scores").
Does it really matter whether the debt is from a cash advance (or convenience checks) or from direct charges for merchandise? If you believe it really does matter, could you please explain why and/or tell me where you heard/read about this? Thanks.
loansafe91745
Thanks for your posts. From my experience a cash advance on a credit card would only matter to a BK court. If a consumer took a CC cash advance within 180 days immediately preceding a BK filing, the BK judge might pronounce the action a "fraudulent transfer", and order that amount to be repaid to the court.
I'm considering debt settlement with Chase and US Bank.
More than a year ago I lent my Chase credit card and two US Bank convenience checks to a sibling who was had some financial difficulties, with the understanding that they'd be used for a limited amount for a limited time. The sibling ran up the charges to $23k on Chase and $8k on US Bank, and has stopped making payments. I've been making the minimum payments. I've filed a lawsuit to get the money from the sibling, but if that fails, I will have to try to settle the debt or declare bankruptcy.
US Bank just sent me a set of convenience checks with a 2.99% rate for the life of the balance. I'm tempted to use the check to move $9k from the Chase account. The rate on Chase is ~10%, so there would be significant savings. I'm also afraid that there might be negative consequences to this. For example, as TomEason pointed out, if I declare bankruptcy within 180 days of the use of the checks, I could be on the hook for it. Or, if it could turn out that US Bank is harder to settle debt with, than Chase.
I don't know.... For the first time in my life I'm (slightly) tempted to go buy a lottery ticket. (Which I see as a tax on the poor.)
loansafe91745,
If you're trying to settle with this 2 CCs in the near future I wouldn't start moving things around between them, I don't see the point and it might complicate things with CC settlement or BK down the road.
What if "the near future" is 1 yr away?
I agree with this. If you think you would be able to settle, then moving things around might make them refuse. And if you think you might be doing BK in the future, then moving things around could complicate that big time.
Things with family can be so complicated.
It's surreal. I can't believe it actually happened. I constantly have to stop myself from daydreaming about how I should have done things differently.
Still wouldn't do it, is there is reason that you would need to wait for year?
HopingtoFind, Cathy34, and others: thank you. I think you are right that it's probably imprudent to move the money around.
I have several reasons to postpone debt settlement for several months:
I appreciate the feedback from all of you.
- I'm trying suing my sibling to resolve the matter. It will be a few months before it becomes clear whether that will work or not.
- I'm trying to get a new job, which might require a credit check. It'll be 2-3 months before I know whether I'm hired. I hear that bad credit won't automatically disqualify you from jobs, but it's not a risk I want to take.
- I will need to relocate to another state and rent a home there, which will require a credit check.
If you have more than one credit card, and intend to settle the debt on one of them, does it make sense to go ahead settle the debt on ALL the cards? I mean, if your credit score is going to be damaged, should you go ahead and take that opportunity to settle the debts on all your cards? Put another way, let's say your credit score drops by 100 points for settling the debt on one CC. If you settle another one (more or less simultaneously), will your credit score drop by an additional 100 points?
You guys are great! Question: I have three Chase CC equaling $20K which are 120 past due. I've not answered any of the calls, and finally got a settlement in the mail today for 70% off the debt (taking off $6K). Is this the best I can do? Should I hold out for a better deal? Offer them a counter-offer? Add to the scenario, I AM still paying two other cards, since they are business related (my biz), so I wonder if I have less chance of playing hard ball with them because of that. Thoughts?
LivingSlim
Thanks for your post. To clarify, is the settlement offer for 30 percent of the account balance (you state 70 percent off)? If so, that is a decent offer for a CC. However, if it were me, I'd still make a counter (to test the water). It would be quite unusual if Chase's first offer is their best and final offer. In essence, I'd hold out for a better deal.
As far as your business card accounts, if your agreement is like most banks', you were required to personally guarantee the payment on those accounts. So, I recommend you avoid being too brutal with them.
I just settled for 35% (65% debt forgiveness) with Chase's CA on 18k balance. Chase refused to settle because they said my account was not qualified (no real reason given). I waited till the account got charged off and settled with their CA. It wasn't bad at all to work with CA ( They don't bite!). I think I could have done better than 35% if I waited longer but I wanted to get rid of the debt and move on with life!
I also settled with CA on 2 BOA cards at 17k each for 25%. One more, WF, to go and they are tough to work with. They refused my offer for 50% at 150 late and requested for 75% because of some cash advance that I took last year. The account was recently charged off and they threatened to sue me. Will see what will happen next when the account is now with their recovery dept.
SFBay
Thanks for posting your CC settlement experiences. I can relate to your observation about WF. I attempted to negotiate with them on multiple CCs and open lines. Although I attempted in good faith to reach a reasonable settlement, I was met with unreasonable and unyielding resistance. So, I decided to completely stiff them on all my accounts, using what I call my "scorched earth policy."
Good luck!
Thank you TomEason and SFBay ~
The offer was for 30% off the debt, so $6K off of $21K roughly (they now want $14.5K). So the question is, should I COUNTER OR IGNORE til I get something more generous. How will I know when they take it to a CA if I'm not taking any calls. The new Chase collectors don't leave messages. And yes, I realize I cannot play this with my biz CCs and have therefore been keeping these current. Won't Chase see that as a reason not to be more generous with me though?
LivingSlim
Thanks for your update. I recommend you counter their offer. If it were me, I wouldn't even consider settling for that amount.
However, based on my poor CC settlement experience, I may not be the best person to give you credible advice, LOL.
Livingslim,
If it were me, I would ignore their offer and wait for a better one. They will become much more flexible when the account reaches the 150-180 days.
For your case, I would think 30% settlement (70% debt forgiveness) would be the ideal case. I have seen some members settled for much less (17-25%)!
Good luck!
TomEason,
WF counteroffered with 75% settlement and I let the account charged off thinking I may be able to settle for much lower with the CA. Or they really really sue me, I could still work out a settlement so I think it's worthy to play the mind game with them!
BTW, they said I have assets. LOL. The 2 investment homes and my primary resident are all underwater!!!
Chase is pretty easy to work with in my experience. I had two credit cards with them equaling almost 37k.
I made it a point to contact them a couple of times prior to see what they offered as far as a settlement.
Each time it was less than the previous. I purposely contacted them before the end of their quarter for my offer which was accepted at a little over 16% of the balance due. All in house. No CA.
analysisparalysis
Thanks for posting your success story, and congratulations on your settlement. You executed a shrewd strategy in contacting them just before the end of the quarter. I like it!
Could you tell me how your credit score was impacted by these successive (and successful) debt settlements? Did the score go down by the same amount each time? Or did it go down a lot from the first settlement, then much less with the second settlement?
I'm wondering ... if you're going to settle one CC, should you just go ahead and try to settle all of them, since the impact on your credit score will be nearly the same whether you settle 1 or multiple CC debts.
Thanks.
i actually have 3 cards to settle with chase -- I called this weekend and they offered 35 percent on one -- bal is around 10k -- I charge off 10/31 -- how close to charge off should I call for around 20 percent -- I want to try to keep all 3 at the lowest settlement -- they said If I can settle one at a certain percentage I should be able to do all 3 at that number --
thank you
I've read that people have gotten 20% from Chase, and, as far as I can tell there is no specific system that works. The longer you hold off -- even after it gets charged off and goes to a collection agency -- the (probably) better the chance of getting a lower settlement percentage. But meanwhile you (might) keep getting phone calls and your credit score could be impacted. So it's just a matter of how much of that you're willing to tolerate. You might go get a free Transunion credit score from CreditKarma.com to see where your score is, to help you contemplate how much impact you're willing to tolerate.
I'm curious though: has Chase asked you why you're not able to pay? Have they pressed you for any evidence of starting to file a bankruptcy?
I do let them know due to high mortgage expenses I am unable to pay the cards. I am not too worried about my credit score, it has taken a dive since there were high balances before and I have settled 6 cards already. It is starting to actually move up a little since the balances are coming off. they check your credit regularly to see if you are paying other cards on time, if you are the settlements dont happen -- that's how they know your status
I've done some research on this and have found posts in myFico.com -- plus I've played w/ a free credit score simulator at CreditKarma.com -- that suggest that:
a) it's the NUMBER and TYPES of negative marks on your credit history that impact your score, not the dollar amount. So if you have "Settled for Less than Owed" (or whatever the official phrase is) in your history, it doesn't matter whether that was for $10,000 or $1000.
b) there number of negative marks do not have an additive impact on your score. In other words, let's say you settle one card and you get a "settled" notation and your history that drops your score by 100 points. If you settle another card with another bank, your score is not going to drop by another 100 points. It'll drop by much, much less than 100 points.
Conclusion: it's probably a good idea to settle all the debts you have and take the hit on the credit score. I guess one reason not to is, if you need to keep using a credit card and have no means to get on w/o it.
Comments, anyone?
Would you care to share what it used to be, and how much it dropped?
I'm curious what would happen to my score...
That's useful to know! Thanks.
sure -- my credit score at a good time was around 700 - 750 -- when my balances were going up before settlement it was 660 -- now its anywhere from 580 to 620 -- lowest was around 570 -- seems to be around 600- 620 right now -- I am thinking that next year might be in high six's after all done and all balances off -- might not be in the 700 for a while -- but I will be cc free -- and doing it without bankruptcy --
Thanks. This gives me hope.
Thinking aloud here... I have to settle 3 cards... and if I settle one at 20-50%, I will have to run up the other cards for a few months in order to be able to pay the settlement amount and still pay rent and put food on the table. Is that what most people are doing? I can't imagine that most people have a rich uncle they can rely on. I guess this is one very important reason to settle for a low percentage.
I actually did that for a while -- I started to stop paying certain cards while I still had bal avail on others -- but after a while they will shut down all of them --- which is why also they go through your credit report -- but--- if you have a certain amt avail to settle with it is better to go in stages so you dont have to settle them all at once --
Makes sense. You default on payments -> that shows up on your credit history -> other banks lower your limit and jack up your interest rate -> and then you have no choice but to default on those as well. Lovely.
Hello ALL! It's been a long time. Just dropping by to let you all know the outcome with my Chase CC Settlement. So after months of being told the account did not qualify for a settlement- today, I was told it did qualify. Ironically, this was told to me after I informed them that I got a job. All in all, I guess unemployment does play a factor in their decision. I settled for 45 percent of the balance- they forgave 55 percent. Im sure I could have settled for a lower percentage but its OK, just glad some of it was forgiven.
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