I have a $20k debt on my Chase credit card. Been making payments for 1.5 years, digging me & family deeper into debt. Did not make payment last month. Next one is due in a few days. I've seen all the good stories here. But I'm guess people under-report the bad outcomes. So I'm a little scared now.
Anyone have a more recent -- year 2012 -- experience settling debt with Chase?
First Do not be scared!.. We could not afford our home & CC payments(Chase included) I owed more then 20000. In my case ,they will call & try to collect ,then It will go to debt collectors. Its an unsecured debt, They cannnot force you to pay. I unplugged my phone,Im not happy about that but debt collectors can be brutal. After 2 yrs.. We finally were in a positon to file Chap 13. They will get pennies on the dollar. I am not proud of it , but I had no choice. The only thing they can do is call & send letters trying to collect. I cant tell you what to do, but an unsecured debt is just that, Its not secured by anything. They will tell you anything to get you to pay. At some point the debt collector will offer a settlement,usually about 40%;; less then you owe. Your credit is already shot so , what you do from there is your choice. It is very stressful but the bottom line is you decide whats best for you. Good Luck!
ditto completely -- I have three cards with chase -- 30k total -- stopped paying them last summer -- they are all with collections agencies now -- get a note from them once a month -- that's about it so far -- if they go to an in state attorney's office then you have to worry about getting sued -- but pretty much in same boat -- prob will have to file ch 7 or 13 myself --
we'll see --
but -- take care of your family first --- the economy had a lot to do with all this
How did Chase treat you once you stopped paying them? Did they start calling often? Daily? Weekly?Originally Posted by LynnAnn
Did Chase make you a settlement offer before they handed it off to a collection agency?
Thanks.
Chase was fine, But be advised, They want money & will try everything to get you to hand over your banking info & make payments. I stopped talking to them for that reason we were getting no where. It went to collections in about 8 mo. Chase hardly called, sent letters , They have one goal , get money, If you need that money to live then that comes first. If I could pay I would have, I could have easily filed Chap 7 but I really do want to pay my debts. Do NOT give anyone your banking info, no matter what they tell you! Get on your feet, your unsecured debt comes last. I sought advise from a lawyer(consults are free)Debt collectors will call everyday, several times.. By then Chase has already written off the debt, Only you can decide what to do then, No one can take anything from you..
That doesn't sound like Chase is "fine." Is that even legal (asking for your bank info)?
They will attempt to have you make a payment by phone(via debt card or checking info) Or set up reaccuring payments.
Are you aware of what Chase is doing with their collection?
Chase stops suits against credit-card holdersByAlain Sherter
COMMENTARY Revelations last year that many of the nation's biggest banks were illegally evicting homeowners by "robo-signing" foreclosure documents triggered a flurry of federal and state investigations. Now, as American Banker reports, the scandal may be widening to another common type of consumer debt -- credit cards:
JPMorgan Chase & Co. has quietly ceased filing lawsuits to collect consumer debts around the nation, dismissing in-house attorneys and virtually shutting down a collections machine that as recently as nine months ago was racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly judgments....
Robo-signing, or the high-volume production of signed legal documents, has been a key element of the governmental and media foreclosure reviews. Chase's current pullback raises at least the possibility that at least some banks may have documentation problems in other business lines.JPMorgan Chase (JPM) isn't only abandoning efforts to hunt down outstanding credit-card payments -- it's also firing bank employees involved in recovering the debt. American Banker, a daily trade publication that follows the financial industry, says the Chase last year dismissed "numerous regional collections teams."
It's not clear why JPMorgan is withdrawing suits against credit-card users. The banking giant won't say. But the move follows several legal rulings in state courts that cast doubt on the validity of banks' credit-card claims. And in a federal whistle-blower complaint filed last year, a former vice president at JPMorgan, who worked on sales of overdue credit-card loans, alleged that bank employees robo-signed paperwork used to seek legal judgments against card users.
The executive, Linda Almonte, also said that many JPMorgan account holders owed less on their cards than the company claimed, and that some customers facing legal action had paid their card obligations in full. JPMorgan settled the suit, in which the executive claimed she was fired after alerting the bank that it was missing key legal documents required to sell credit-card debt, last spring after a court refused to dismiss the case. Former exec accuses JPMorgan of illegal credit-card debt collections
Bad robot: Big banks are still faking home-loan documents
Say on pay: Complaints about debt collectors surge
JPMorgan recently has backed off efforts to recover credit-card debt in at least six states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Washington, according to American Banker's Jeff Horwitz. As The Wall Street Journal reported last year, the company dropped more than 1,000 lawsuits nationwide aimed at collecting on delinquent loans. One reason -- sloppy or fraudulent documents used to prove that JPMorgan had the right to proceed with the cases. One New York state judge told the WSJ that such practices are more common than in foreclosure cases, describing it as a "significant problem... that's widespread and yet given virtually no attention."While it's not known exactly why JPMorgan is abandoning many credit-card claims, this much seems clear: the bank wouldn't leave money on the table willingly. Tracking down credit-card debt is big business for banks. Chase last year recovered $1.4 billion on defaulted credit-card loans, American Banker notes. Going to court to collect the debt is also an excellent bet for banks, with lenders winning more than nine of 10 suits filed against account holders.
I just settled my Chase CC debt ($38,000) for about $6000. I stopped paying Sept. '11. Settled it Feb '12. Here's what you should do...
1. Expect to get calls many times a day from chase. Do not answer these calls. Do not return these call. There's a good thread on this forum that gives advice on how to avoid phone calls. You should not have any contact with chase until you settle.
2. Save your money for 5 months, then call their settlement department directly (866-339-8391) and tell them you're interested in settling. Don't make an offer. Let them make an offer. This offer will be too high. No matter what their offer is, counter with an offer that is lower than the amount you can pay. Do not give them any financial information about yourself. Just tell them you're unemployed and think you may be able to borrow some money from relatives. If they turn it down, thank them and hang up.
3. Continue ignoring their calls for another month. Call back again and try again. If they accept, then arrange a 3 month payment schedule. Get their offer in writing. If they turn it down, thank them, hang up and go back to ignoring them.
4. Call back every month until they accept your offer. From what I've read about chase, they'll accept between 10 and 20 percent for cc debt. If you go past 6 or 7 months without making a deal, you might have to start dealing with collection agents. However, this does not change your strategy. Ignoring them is the best strategy. You can settle directly with the collection agent, but they'll probably try harder to scare you first. Don't let them scare you. All they can do is sue you and then you can still settle before going to court.
All that said, part of me wishes that I hadn't settled. I've read that Chase has not been suing for cc debt and some suspect it has to do with them not wanting to open themselves up to revealing all the robo calling dirt they're hiding. I suspect they wouldn't have sued and I could have waited out the statute of limitations on the debt. But I ended up settling because I had the money and wanted to move on. Everyone has a different threshold for this stuff.
As for bankruptcy... you don't have to consider bankruptcy until after you've been sued (which will likely not happen). Even if you're sued, you'll still have plenty of opportunity to settle. Even in the unlikely event that you go to court, they'd have to win a judgement and then take you back to court to force you to pay the judgement (garnish wages, bank account, etc.). This is years away (if at all) and Chase does not want to be paying lawyers thousands to dollars to work on this for years.
And one last thing... once you settle, you may be required to pay taxes on the settlement as income. There are ways around this, but it's complicated and you should consult with an accountant to prepare for this.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Tnado
Yes, it is scary to be in this situation.
Everyone has their own thinking on settlements and I agree with Tnado, with an exception.
My wifes 2 Chase cards were our first to settle for 35% after 4 missed payments, they were our first so we may have done better if we waited but we were excited.
I gave then my hardship over the phone after about a month of not answering. After that I would answer their calls about once a month and just say, sorry, my situation remains the same and do not have the capacity to pay. If they persisted to continuing the conversation, I would tell them Ive already explained my situation previously and politely end the conversation. After 3 missed payments we decided to test the waters and inquire about a settlement, the first settlement was too much so we waited.
I then did 2 additional Chase cards for myself in Dec 11 for 30% after 5 missed payments using the same strategy above.
Yes, we could have probably done better if we waited a bit, but Chase was one a part of our enormous problems.
Just remember, as scary as it seems, you need to be confident on the phone, don't show you are worried, they will play on that fear. Remember, they are on a need to know basis, the only need to know that you have no money and they should be scared of not getting anything unless they can give you a reasonable settlement. Have an "is what it is" attitude, if the settlement they offer is not what your looking for, tell them sorry, just cant do it, perhaps next time.
When you do reach an acceptable settlement, they setup the payments via a checking account and then send a letter confirming the settlement. Some (posters) seem weary of doing it that way, but you should set the payments up at least 10 days out so you have time to receive the settlement letter. I have done this with Chase, Citi, Boa, and even CRAP ONE without an issue. As an additional safety measure I also set up a new checking account for this purpose and would not fund the account until the settlement was received. I would NOT do this with a collection agency, for the most part they are scum and you need everything in writing to your satisfaction PRIOR to sending them a dime, and even then, you are better off sending them a money order.
Hello, first off, beginning the settlement process can be a very scary thing. We found ourselves with over $14,000 on our Chase card and unable to pay the minimums, much less seeing any sort of light at the end of the tunnel.
I did tons of research on how to reach a successful settlement and it worked out very nicely. They of course started calling the day after our first payment was late and we ignored them - at first. After the first month, we would politely tell them that we were unable to pay and to please only call us once a day. Luckily this worked for us but most times, you have to send that sort of request via certified mail.
We slowly built up $3500 because we had decided that 25% was the most we would pay. After about 4 months, we told them we were wanting to work out a settlement and they came back with like 75 cents on the dollar. My husband said "We have $3500, take it or leave it." The guy laughed at him and said "We NEVER settle for that little!"
Our reply "It's $3500 more than your about to get and I bet Bank of America will take it!" (We didn't have any more open accounts with BofA). So we waited. About 20 minutes go by and they call back...surprise! Now he's willing to take 50%. We told them that until they were ready to take our $3500 that we had - ready and available - not to call back. Within 2 days we had the agreement in hand for a settlement of 25% of the balance....$3500. This was through Chase, not a collection agency. The key is to catch them right before they sell it to a third party for pennies on the dollar.
They WILL settle for that little because they would rather have anything than nothing. You just have to be willing to be firm and tell them "That's not acceptable" and hang up. But be ready with the money in hand for when they do agree on an amount. The guy thought he would call our bluff I think because he said "Well this offer is a first for me and it's only good for 3 days." We told him that we would have a cashier's check overnighted the next day which shut them up for good.
*Please remember to have something IN WRITING before sending anything to them and always send a cashier's check...they will take it no matter what they say. Believe me, after they said they could only take it over the phone with our bank account number, we hung up and they called right back. They want money, plain and simple. Tell them it's what your offering or $0 when you file bankruptcy. They'll play the game and you will WIN.
We also received a 1099 on this as well as 2 other big cards we settled but after filling out Form 982 on our taxes, we were considered insolvent on paper at the time that we settled so we didn't pay taxes on one dime of the discharged debt.
Good luck!!!
I've missed 3 payments with Chase. They have not yet called. I checked my online profile on the Chase website, and the correct phone number is there. Weird.
They did send a letter to my house, saying I am 75 days behind, and that there are new options available to resolve the debt (I don't remember the exact language.) I'm thinking it's probably still too early to try to settle with them.
In contrast, US Bank started calling me almost immediately after I missed my payment with them, and calls about 5 times a day. I've been hearing positive outcomes about settling with Chase, but nothing about USBank -- they make me nervous.
I look forward to hearing updates on your progress, loansafe. I am in a very similar situation as you are (stop payment date, balance, etc.) I hope that both of us will be able to settle for pennies, like 7 pennies, on the dollar!
walkin
Dont take this the wrong way but you are sleep walking if you thing anyone will settle with you for 7 cents on the dollar.
I began this settlement crap in Feb of 11, there was so much info on this and other sites as far as settlements go, now the talk has dramatically slowed.
My last settlement with BOA, I had a candid conversation with the rep (this was an inside rep who only delt with BOA employees, and no im not an employee), she said the monthly defaults have been falling for months so they are constantly updating their settlements. Had the same experience with Amex, settle a few in mid 11, could'nt for the life of me settle one last month. CA said Amex no longer settles before CO.
Good Luck
loansafe,
A friend stopped Chase about 7 months ago, they have been and are still sending him settlement offers, latest was 15%. He has NEVER spoken to them, and obviously it has charged off.
Myself, settled most b4 CO, anywhere from 25-37 percent, I try not to count Crap1's 65 percent one.
LOL, no harm done my friend. "sleep walkin", I'm diggin it. I'm not new to internet forums, therefore I have thick skin.
I normally participate in forums where I have a lot of experience in, and can contribute great information. Here, however, isn't the case. I'm still a noob, and am learning every day. This is all brand new to me. My whole life, I have paid what I owed. Now that it is my turn to get in line with many other Americans, who have been affected by this economy and can't pay what we owe, I'm here to learn.
With that said, sure, the 7percent; settlement would be sweet, but yeah, maybe unrealistic. I'm not ready to post what I would really consider settling for. Whatever I can save by not paying the payments would be a good start, but over 6 months, that is more like 10%. I will see how it goes. If a settlement to my satisfaction can't be worked out, I'm willing to roll the dice that no lawsuit will come, and if it does, I'll go from there. I'm truly jumping off a cliff. 800+ credit scores were cool while they lasted, but now I'm in the trenches like everyone else, and really, I feel like I have nothing to lose. I'm ready to get it done, so I can start the 2nd half of my life with a clean slate.....
When you say "updating their settlements," do you mean that they are settling for lower percentages? (Since there are fewer defaults and therefore less to lose?)
I'm interested in hearing a reply too, but I would guess that if there are less people defaulting, they are being more aggressive with settlements, i.e., NOT accepting lower percentages? Seems like if there is less on the plate to deal with, they have plenty of resources to go after it, by way of lawsuits? dunno, just thinking out loud....k
In other words, I think it is possible that people like me, who waited until 4 years after the bubble popped to jump on the train, might get hosed....(hope not)
Walkin is right, it seems they are being more aggressive. My goal was to settle before charge off, there are many who wait till after charge off and get better deals, perhaps 15-25%.
Speaking of getting hosed, the unfortunate people who are now getting laid off, they only get 26 weeks unemployment. When I went out it was 79 weeks, and we all now about the 99ers.
Any questions, just ask, Im no pro but did settle more than 100k
Why did you want to settle before charge off? What difference does it make to your credit score?
BTW, I wish someone would fix this problem with the percent sign on this website!
I agree with you about the percent sign! And, I wish we could use emoticons too!
From what I've read, it seems that if you can settle with the original creditor before charge-off, you may be able to negotiate with them on how they will ultimately report your account to the credit bureaus. If they charge it off, and sell it to a collection agency, I'm not sure if you would be able to accomplish the same. I could be wrong, just seems like that might be the case. Hopefully IOAlot will chime in.
If the above is true, I personally could care less how the OC reports the account. My credit is going to be hosed for a very long time, and I'm not sure if it will be worth spending 10-40 percent more to settle, for such a negligible difference in how the account is reported on my credit.
..........
I wonder what really matters in obtaining a favorable settlement amount. Does it really matter what you say? Does it matter what hardship story you give? How often you answer the phone and try to talk to them? Whether you're likable on the phone or not. I suspect that the negotiator on the other side doesn't really care about any of the details. They just look at all the numbers -- how much you owe, your past payment habits, their internal goals, his/her own goals for the day/wk/month -- and throw out a number. What do you think about this theory?
A few reasons I wanted to settle before CO, most importantly, I luckily have a good chunk off equity in my home, but a lack of income brought me to this point. I wanted to prevent lawsuits that would turn a non secured cc debt into one secured by a judgement lien on my home.
Second was the credit report, a charge off takes 7.5 years to come off, lates do too, however your credit rebounds quicker with lates.
Charge offs are viewed more negatively than lates, even paid charge offs. We still ended up with 3-4 account charging off, but cant say we didnt try.
(Not to nitpick, just trying to understand but ...) technically, whether or not a debt has been charged-off doesn't affect whether the lender can sue you, right?
It does seem that a lender is highly unlike to sue until (well-past) after charge-off.
Good to know....
By the way, I've heard of some people who offer ways to "repair" your credit history, i.e., erase certain damaging items on it. Costs money. Do you think that kind of thing really works?
Keep it simple and consistent. They dont need to know details, just your hardship and your inability to pay. If they continue to pry, let them know you are not interested in discussing details. I always sounded like my world was caving in. Some collectors are sympathetic(not really), some were not. Bottom line, this is business, your job is to get the best settlement available. They may try to get to you, before blowing up, hang up, tell them your kid/mother/whatever just fell down the stairs.
I answered the phone about every three weeks, no more.
This is what I did, others take a different position and never answer the phone till pre charge off, and give a take it or leave it attitude, whatever gets you the results you need.
Lenders can sue at anytime. Depends on the creditor, for example, I have a friend who is being sued now by Amex after 7 missed payments, others are going on a year with no lawsuit.
Original poster here. I called Chase settlement dept for the first time today, thinking the charge off date was 10 days away. The rep asked about what hardship I had, then said I'm approved for $6k settlement, 30% of my balance. I said that's too much, and she said call back w/ a counter offer. A few minutes later I called back with $3k (15%), and the rep (a different one, this one a bit pushier) said that's too little, but if I can do 20%, she will try to obtain permission. She said she has to submit a form to another department and it's 50-50 they'll approve. She then said my charge-off date is actually 9/30, so... I'm debating whether to wait or try the 20% settlement. The story about the rep needing approval from another department sounds like fiction to me.
Any thoughts on this?
Not fiction. The representatives are there to try to get money from you. It's my understanding that "on their screen", they have an approved amount that they can settle with you for. There is a separate group of bean counters who determine what they will approve, then they publish that amount so that any representative can see it (whenever you call in).
If I was to guess, they have already decided to accept 30% from you, and that is what pops up on "your screen" when you speak to a representative, because the suits have already approved the 30%. Maybe your rep was "trying to help you", and offered to submit your new offer to the bean counters. Sounds like you have a full month to go, and it looks like you may be able to get it done for 20-30%, which doesn't sound too bad to me. Good luck!
..........
Thanks.
Does anyone have experience on what credit report notation you were able to get Chase to agree to?
It looks like the options are (best to worst):
1) get them to agree to delete all notations
2) "Paid"
3) "Settled"
4) "Paid Charged off"
5) "Unpaid"
I wonder if Chase would agree to delete...?
Last edited by loansafe91745; 08-24-2012 at 10:44 AM.
Just settled for 19% w/ Chase. Phew!!!!!! What a huge load off my back.
Nice rep, but she was really adamant about having the payment come out from my checking account -- she wanted my checking account information. I didn't like that. I told her I'd walk it into a Chase branch. That seemed to confuse her. I now have 10 days to get the money to Chase.
Last edited by loansafe91745; 09-05-2012 at 09:23 AM.
I just settled with Chase for 17 percent on a 26K balance. I had to push it - I answered the phone every 2 weeks, and offered them 10% because that is all I had to work with. I let the phone just ring the rest of the time. Their first counter offer was 90%. Every time they made a counter offer to my 10%, they sent a follow up letter in the mail. After a while, I had a bit more available and increased my offer to 12%. At 184 days late, they were going to charge-off at 190 days. I called the number on their latest offer of 60% and offered them a flat amount, which was all I had to work with at the time. The person on the phone was awesome. They countered at 25% and I said I could not do that. She processed what she called a special exception, based in part, I think, on the fact that I am current on another much smaller account with them. They accepted my flat amount offer, which was 17% and change, and actually allowed me to make 3 payments. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE AMOUNT OF DEBT THAT THEY FORGIVE MAY BE TAXABLE AS REGULAR INCOME FOR BOTH FEDERAL AND STATE. For us, it was worth it to be out from under not only the debt, but the usury rate of 29%.
19 and 17%, nice job folks.
I am currently about 60 days behind on my Chase card. I am hoping to settle for 20% or less in January. I sent C&D letter, so I have had no contact with them at all. I would be thrilled with 17 or 19%. My balance is 26,565, but I am factoring what my balance would be at the time of proposed settlement after interest and late fees. I think next month my rate will go to the 29% interest.
I don't think the balance will be all that much higher, when you're trying to settle. Several hundred dollars.
I didn't send a C&D letter. They never called me, and only sent me letters once every couple of months. If they did call me, I was going to have the calls go straight to voicemail (using Google Voice).
I have to say, the whole process w/ Chase was very pleasant, given how stressful the whole issue is. The reps I spoke w/ on the phone were all quite nice, although some were firmer than others.
Good luck! I think some of their decision (to accept a particular settlement percentage) depends on what kind of charges you have (cash advance vs. merchandise), and your credit report -- other debts that show up on your profile.
Loansafe91745,
You never received any calls that is amazing! I am just a month behind with Chase and they started the calls a week after my due date.
I hope my settlement goes as well as yours but my experience with them hasn't been all that great for quite some time.
Five years ago out of the blue they raised my interest rate to 24%. When I called in to find out the reason, a very snippy/*****y rep. told me it was due to my debt to income ratio. When I asked to be transferred to a manager to discuss it she refused. Such a rude woman! Now this was after 10 yrs with their CC never defaulting or making a payment a late. I had even paid off high balances twice during that time. So my reward for being a good customer was jacking up my int. rate and increasing my monthly payment.
After paying them off I swore I would never use their card again but financial issues got me back into debt with them. Now my balance is 6K not so terrible but with the high interest rate the monthly payment is about $300. I just can't afford that payment anymore. It has come down to paying for health insurance or Chase.
I will update here as to how it goes.
candace
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