I received a call on my local CitiFinancial account $6K+ that they had sent my account to the "head office" and they can offer me a new contract at 5-6% interest. This cuts my payments down to a 1/3, given the contractual rate was at 29%.
I have heard horror stories about Citi, but I have to say when the "fat hit the fire" they finally came to grips with what i could afford in these economic credit condidtions. I'm beginning to think that the major players (Citi, BOFA, Chase, etc) are beginning to see that when folks tell them they absolutely cannot pay a dime, but the debtor has reasonable income, they can offer a reasonable settlement, without taking the large charge-off and write-down of unpaid debt.
For me, CitiFinancial has been one of my last creditors to realize I am in a debt crisis and either they work with me or they get nothing (or what they can get through selling the debt for perhaps pennies on the dollar.)
The only player I have left to "deal" with is CapitalOne. The best they have offered is their strange tactic called "hardship." I'm thinking that in the next few months even CapitalOne will have to offer reasonable payment and payoff plans or risk the loss of revenue from selling/charging off debt that could have belonged to them, if they would have worked with the debtor.
As mentioned elsewhere in the threads here, I would have been on close to a 100% chapter 13 payment plan a 15-18 months ago. As of today, (with the exception of the hard-to-deal-with CapitalOne) my personal negotiations with creditors are a far better deal than what I would have received through a BK 13 ($3500 to attorney, Oregon Trustee gets 10% of overall payment plan, and student loans are forced into deferrment.) Granted, i have no assets or home to protect, but I have found that nearly all creditors are willing ot work with me. I do have to endure my credit being trashed temporarily. I have endured many phone calls from creditors "demanding" money I did not have at the time.
I doubt that such negotiations with creditors or CA's would have been possible six months ago, but I think the current credit crisis works in the favor of both debtor and creditor. The big national creditors cannot continue to write down the large amounts of debt that they can't collect on. They appear to be more willing to work with debtors than they were 6 months ago. This does make sense since many of these companies were bailed out with loans from foreign banks and investors. These companies also have to pay the interest and debt accrued from the bailout loans from offshore sources. It is in everyone's best interest to work with "those who can pay under new agreements."
i have stomached a lot these past 12 months, and there is still the possibility that a BK 13 is in my future, but for now, the deals I am getting from creditors far exceed the "deals" I would have received in a BK 13.
if you are unsure of whether you will gain by BK, my personal advice is: "answer" the phone calls and speak with your creditors or collection agencies, record whatever conversations you have, get familiar with your state laws, etc.
While experiences will differ among debtors, my experience suggests that speaking with creditors and attempting to negotiaite a new contract is very well within a consumer's ability. If it all goes to hell, there is still a BK 13 as a fall-back. And, th einformation that in the right circumstnaces, one can stall for a very long time and not get suede. In the meantime, I'm finally feeling a bit of relief.
Stay tuned...
I have heard horror stories about Citi, but I have to say when the "fat hit the fire" they finally came to grips with what i could afford in these economic credit condidtions. I'm beginning to think that the major players (Citi, BOFA, Chase, etc) are beginning to see that when folks tell them they absolutely cannot pay a dime, but the debtor has reasonable income, they can offer a reasonable settlement, without taking the large charge-off and write-down of unpaid debt.
For me, CitiFinancial has been one of my last creditors to realize I am in a debt crisis and either they work with me or they get nothing (or what they can get through selling the debt for perhaps pennies on the dollar.)
The only player I have left to "deal" with is CapitalOne. The best they have offered is their strange tactic called "hardship." I'm thinking that in the next few months even CapitalOne will have to offer reasonable payment and payoff plans or risk the loss of revenue from selling/charging off debt that could have belonged to them, if they would have worked with the debtor.
As mentioned elsewhere in the threads here, I would have been on close to a 100% chapter 13 payment plan a 15-18 months ago. As of today, (with the exception of the hard-to-deal-with CapitalOne) my personal negotiations with creditors are a far better deal than what I would have received through a BK 13 ($3500 to attorney, Oregon Trustee gets 10% of overall payment plan, and student loans are forced into deferrment.) Granted, i have no assets or home to protect, but I have found that nearly all creditors are willing ot work with me. I do have to endure my credit being trashed temporarily. I have endured many phone calls from creditors "demanding" money I did not have at the time.
I doubt that such negotiations with creditors or CA's would have been possible six months ago, but I think the current credit crisis works in the favor of both debtor and creditor. The big national creditors cannot continue to write down the large amounts of debt that they can't collect on. They appear to be more willing to work with debtors than they were 6 months ago. This does make sense since many of these companies were bailed out with loans from foreign banks and investors. These companies also have to pay the interest and debt accrued from the bailout loans from offshore sources. It is in everyone's best interest to work with "those who can pay under new agreements."
i have stomached a lot these past 12 months, and there is still the possibility that a BK 13 is in my future, but for now, the deals I am getting from creditors far exceed the "deals" I would have received in a BK 13.
if you are unsure of whether you will gain by BK, my personal advice is: "answer" the phone calls and speak with your creditors or collection agencies, record whatever conversations you have, get familiar with your state laws, etc.
While experiences will differ among debtors, my experience suggests that speaking with creditors and attempting to negotiaite a new contract is very well within a consumer's ability. If it all goes to hell, there is still a BK 13 as a fall-back. And, th einformation that in the right circumstnaces, one can stall for a very long time and not get suede. In the meantime, I'm finally feeling a bit of relief.
Stay tuned...
Converted to asset case 5/26/2008 [X]
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