Your oppinion please .. sent off to creditors

[DebtHeadache]

Well I just spent all evening writing letters to all my creditors saying I could not afford to pay them at their current interest rate and told them to cancel all late fees, over limits fees, penalties and to reduce my interest rates to below 2% and put me on a 5 year pay-off plan.

I also told them to not call mu home and work numbers and that I would only accept communications in writting.

We'll see what I get back....I am hoping that they will see the writing on the wall and work with me.

I have a chase card with 11K in debt and they are charging me 29.9% interest. What an absolute money making scheme.

If anybody has done the same could you let me know your results.

I am trying to avoid filing BK...

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

Well it doesn't hurt to ask. I would expect to get letters from them that are computer generated to remind of you debt.

[treehugger1]

There are many variables at play here. Most cc companies won't even discuss alternate arragnements until you are 60 -90 days overdue (I guess they want to add on as many fees as possible.)

Read some of my other posts. I made reasonable progress with several big CC companies. I had several setbacks this past month (comprehensive deductible for hitting a deer, looking at $3K - $5K) in dental work over the next 3 months. I had some agreements that I had to break, but now several creditors are calling back asking if we can get back on track in the next 30- 90 days. I negotiatied several 5-year payment plans at 1.75% - 2% interest on some very large cc debt. It is possible to do. The number one thing you need is solid income. If negotiating, don't tell them any information related to references, family members, etc. If they are willing to play, they don't need any info that they can haunt you with in the future (or send to collection agencies.) I had approximately $72 - $75k in unsecured debt a year ago. I have pared this down to $55k. I'm a ahigh wage earner and would have been on a 100% payback chapter 13. So far, I have not filed but unexpected costs have stalled my plan of working with "everyone." I also have $75K in student loans. This sucks as they would be put on interest-bearing deferment for 5 years. Ay 8.25% you can figure out why the only benefit for me after five years, would be the autpomatic stay.

I don't think the letters hurt anything. Keep writing them or calling them.

i have had zero luck with CapitalOne! Allied Interstate (workingwith CapitalOne to collect on $10K of cc debt) sends me letters now and then. My Cap! accounts will be in default for 90 days at the end of October. I'm hoping they will come to their senses.

Don't know what else to say. I spoke with some consumer credit counseling companies. Their plans would have left me nothing each month. Whatever someone can do for you, you stand a good chance of doing yourself.

As i said, read some of my posts by searching my online name for more info.

Cheers!

[Cassiopeia]

DebtHeadache, very interesting! Please let us know how this works out for you. Good luck!

[DebtHeadache]

I will certainly let you all know what happens...I will be going on 60 days late with some of my creditors.

The funny thing is I just went to look at my credit scores on Identity guard and they are 632...658 and 658...I guess it won't take long for them to take a nose dive. I have tried so hard to keep the bills paid at the expense of my family.

Well no more, I am tired of putting money in their pockets and having to skrimp by paycheck to paycheck.

On the bright side I did get my car loan refinanced and it funded today....Here's looking forward to next week when the credit union I bank at will no longer have it on their books.

Makes filing Chapter 13 easier if that's the way it works out.

Later aligator!

[6ftladycop]

Before I started using debt consolidation services, I tried this approach. Needless to say I failed miserably at it. The creditors were nasty, some told me a flat out NO and others refused to discuss it with me at all. As soon as I made contact with the debt consolidation service I used for a year, all that changed. My interest rates were almost too great to believe. The payment each month for all of these credit cards and loans were so resonable that I could not understand why they were able to get those wonderful rates and such and I never could.

[DebtHeadache]

Hey 6ftladycop, I needed to start somewhere...I will keep at them as long as I can, and it they are smart they will see that they are driving me into a situation where they stand to lose alot.

We'll see what comes...I can be just as hard as they are.

I DO NOT take their calls and will never take their calls.

Life is just to short to be spoken to rudely and make you feel about an inch tall. Enough is enough, they play or pay, or so they say.

[treehugger1]

If you take this path attempting to work with creditors and/or collectors, where youa re communicating with them, i found it helps to take the high-road sometimes: be extremely nice, respectful, and incredibly humble. If they get to a point where they are out of control, then you might sleep easier telling them to p*ss off.

While i am ever thankful for this board and the help they have indirectly and directly given to me, bankruptcy is not always for everyone. I just finished reading several studies that suggest, based on the number of judgments filed in state courts, there should be many, many more BK's filed. For whatever reason, many folks opt to take a more informal approach. This is not the case where folks need to protect their homes, autos, etc. But, if you make a decent wage and have little to protect, you can play the game for a time. Be warned that if you live in a wage garnishment state, you will probably eventually suffer the garnishment. Plan ahead for all possible outcomes. If you are going to go the route of an informal bankruptcy, cover all your bases, including being prepared to close bank accounts and open new ones on a moments notice. While you can't be arrested for failing to pay your debts or paying one creditor over another, there are plenty of folks out there who can make your life miserable. That being the case, make their "job" as hard as possible.

Cheers.

[DebtHeadache]

Thanks for you input TreeHugger...I will only push them into the New Year... lets me save enough $$ to pay a BK attorney and all their fees expect of course whats put into CH13. Also enables me to pay my real estate taxes, auto insurance policy and my home owners policy.

All in all we have a house that is worth around 90K and we owe 75K...and have two auto loans...the rest is credit card debt, and seller financed debt. A grand total of 177K in debt and my husband and I make around 90K a year combined.

We are a family of 4, and my husband will be retiring in 5 years and we will have 1 kid almost heading off to college and another right behind the 1st.

We are heavily considering CH13, but I just wanted to give it a shot and see if the creditors would work with us.

I do appreciate all advise provided...it makes me feel like I am not all alone in this situation.

[treehugger1]

debtheadache,

I hear you. I'm in a situation where I could retire in 4 years. The thought has occurred to me that if I don't file a chapter 13 within the next year or two, I could save enough money to survive 6 - 9 months without actually drawing a pension or touching my exempt tax deferred accounts, and file a chapter 7 when I'm 56 or 57. The difference for me is that I literally have no assets other than a high wage. Protecting your home presents a different scenario. Tread carefully in this area.

The BK laws present a real problem for those of us close to retirement. But the possibility of baby-boomers BK'ing debt on a chapter 7 while not drawing on exempt pension/TDI funds has yet to play out. I would think many educated boomers with loads of unsecured debt and few assets are studying their options at this time. It is an irony that my parents were raised in the depression, talked about it all the time, yet wanted their children to have "more than they had." Many of us did come to have more than our parents had but financed it on borrowed money. I'm guilty of stupid finanical situations. I don't put the blame anywhere other than on myself. On the other hand it is hard to ignore the fact that our national "debt," trade balance(not), and value of the dollar is any different philosophy than "not paying one's personal debt." It is a strange world.

[gotguts]

Six years ago I decided to avoid BK and instead called AmeriDebt. Well, you can guess how that went. AmeriDebt just made everything a whole lot worse. Thankfully, the government shut them down.
At that point I was several months behind on all my credit cards. I contacted each one of them and explained my financial situation. Every one of them made payment arrangements with me, which stopped the late fees and over the limit fees.
Maybe I was just lucky, but I recommend you try contacting your creditors first.
Good Luck
Daniel

[WantToBeDebtFre]

I tried contacting my creditors in one last attempt before filing bankruptcy and they wouldn't do anything. I explained I was going to file for bankruptcy if I couldn't get something worked out and they said they that was fine with them. I only contact B of A because they were the biggest one.