Maybe Small Debt But Need Help

[Douglas72]

I've got a debt problem that I need help with on how to negotiate the amount to a lower amount. It is a large enough amount that I don't have the money to pay right now, but I want to get it taken care of and hopefully reduce the amount.

Help??!!??

[irmanator]

you will need to give more info =numbers so people can help

[disneysteve]

I agree with irmanator. In order to be able to help you, we need to know the details of your situation. If you post your income, expenses and debt, we can suggest things for you to do. With the debt, post the total owed, the interest rate, and the minimum monthly payment.

[Douglas72]

I owe a CC company $900 for a card that I haven't used in over a year and honestly forgot that I had. And I mean that honestly, I've not gotten any statements or emails until a month ago and since I had put the card in a drawer so I wouldn't use it, it was one of those out of sight out of mind deals. Now it's in collection and I've got to contact the collection company by the end of the month to make arrangements. I want to know if there's some way to negotiate the amount to a lower amount or make payments. I work as a salesperson right now, straight commission, and it hasn't been going well lately, to say the least and that's been the situation for the last six months. I'd appreciate any advice

[jIM_Ohio]

Yes there are ways

call the company
tell them you did not know there was a balance on the card
ask them to remove all fees and interest if you pay the balance off in full right now

they will usually take a deal like that
I did that once with American express

[Slandgie]

I know exactly how you feel. My wife had a couple of cards that I didn't pay enough attention to and before I knew it, they both totaled $2500. That was two years ago, now those two are almost paid off!

Beings that your income varies from month to month, try to work out a payment arrangement with this account. If you have enough, they might even settle for 75% if paid in full (technically, it is called a settled in full). But considering your situation, you might be able to get on a payment plan of say $90 a month for 10 months. Believe me, I worked in collections for years and whatever they can get out of you, they will take!

Greg

[Snodog]

Here is a site with some stratagies. Debt settlement advice | Settling your debts

[minnie1928]

You don't even have to pay the balance in full at this point. It's gone to collections and what collection agents do is negotiate. Call the collection agent who sent the letter. Tell them you want to negotiate a settlement that will pay off the entire account. Start the negotiation at 20% ($200). They'll say no and say they want you to start making payments on the full amount. Tell them no. Either on that call or the next call, they'll say they'll take a settlement of maybe $500-700. At that time, tell them because they are negotiating in good faith, you will to, and offer $350. In the end, you'll probably settle around $400-500 (lower settlements are possible on large dollar amounts, but for such a low balance, 40-50% is about right). In fact, by settling, your credit score may even rebound a little bit from where it has dropped to in missing your payments for a year.

Do not talk to the collectors! Do EVERYTHING in writing. Do not send them a personal check if you do get them to settle, send them a money order. Do not give them your checking account information over the phone! Do not send them any funds until you get something from them completely outlining what they expect from you ($) and what you expect from them. Collection agents are not to be trusted.

I highly recommend CreditBoards.com - Credit Help, Credit Repair Tips, News, Forums. They have chat boards dedicated to this type of thing and are a wealth of knowledge. They probably have some information about the particular collection agent that you are dealing with that might be of some value.