is stopping payments helpful?

[krisbick]

I have about 40k in debt, and can't keep up with payments. I've called the creditors and they don't offer much help since my payments are on time. So if I stop paying, will they offer me a better deal? If so, how long will it take - 1 months late, 2 months late, longer? I'm not looking for debt settlement, too stressful, just help lowering interest & monthly payments. I know this hurts my credit, but I don't care. Has stopped paying worked well for anyone in getting a better deal?

[Petunia 100]

How is your credit rating now? If it is good, you can do balance transfers to keep the interest charges low. For example, right now Chase Slate is offering 0% for 15 months with no balance transfer fees.

[krisbick]

Balance transfers aren't an option for me, but thanks for the suggestion.

[bjl584]

I have about 40k in debt, and can't keep up with payments. I've called the creditors and they don't offer much help since my payments are on time. So if I stop paying, will they offer me a better deal? If so, how long will it take - 1 months late, 2 months late, longer? I'm not looking for debt settlement, too stressful, just help lowering interest & monthly payments. I know this hurts my credit, but I don't care. Has stopped paying worked well for anyone in getting a better deal?

You may not need to stop payments. You could call them and threaten that you are prepared to file bankruptcy. Sometimes that is enough for them to open up the door to negotiation. If you actually file the creditors will get nothing. They'd much rather negotiate something with you than get nothing at all. Even if it's 10 cents on the dollar.

[hobo2]

Don't know if this info will help...

Call the creditor and talk with the collections dept. Tell them what you told us. I did this w/one of my credit cards and the woman told me that I had to let 2 payments pass before they could do anything. She informed me that after those 2 months, I could contact them again and they'd be able to give me a much lower min. required (interest wasn't my problem). Of course, I got the proverbial "you have to contact the credit ratings bureaus to see how this will effect your score" answer.

I defaulted on 2 payments and contacted them again. I actually did this via on-line account. My min. was greatly reduced (tho I still couldn't pay it) and it was based on a short survey I had to fill in about my situation (all computerized). I rejected the "offer" the website gave me which was actually a good thing because it then gave me a second "offer" which was lower (tho I still couldn't pay it). I guess if your creditors are credit cards, this is what will happen. If it's other companies, don't know. But I'd call up their collections dept.

[farjana]

If a stop payment doesn’t work and your cheque is cashed, you are still responsible for the cheque. To get the money back, you will have to contact the person or organization to whom you wrote the cheque.