Capital One - negotiotions / settlement

[Anonymous]

We are looking to settle various accounts and I've found the PFD letter here.  I think I might have fallen into a collector trick.  She said they wouldn't accept negotiations 'til I set up payments..... So I did.  I made two payments and now I want to send them a settlement letter.  I made a HUGE mistake didn't I?  Do I cancel all the payments?  They are scheduled for the next 22 months.  Do I just send them the PFD letter as normal?  We owe $5400 and are hoping to settle for half, but I wonder if they'll settle with two years of payments scheduled?  What would you do?

[Anonymous]

Thinking about this I think I should explain further.

We owe some debts - total almost $2,000 to various loans

Then we have:

Medical in Collections - about $1,500

K's Capital One #1 - $600

K's Capital One #2 - $850

Dell - $2400 approximately

The Capital One in M's name listed above.

Merrick - $1200

With our tax return the loans will be completely wiped out.  If the others were willing to settle for about 70% we could also completely pay them off as well.  We have payment arrangements made on M's card as stated above.

After reading the Archives a bit more, here is what I'm wondering.

Should I leave well enough alone with M's Capital One and just send a GoodWill letter, hoping they'll remove negative remarks, but know that I'll have to pay them in full?

Then we are SEVERAL months behind on these others.  Rather than attempt to settle with everyone, contact the ones above with PFD letters and pay all of them off with settlements, knowing that I'll pay more and get the PFD and will have to pay off the amount to the Capital One over time?

This seems to me the most logical way to go.

Then again, our credit is blown due to these medical issues.  So, do I just try to settle with everyone and get out from under the debt?

We already have our house, though we'd like to sell it and move in two years.  We have our cars and aren't going to be looking to replace them for several years.  Won't need a loan, a credit card, etc.  DH's employment is very stable.    What is our best route here?  

[Anonymous]

Depends on how you look at the situation. Capital One has been difficult for me, they can't even find my account yet EQ keeps coming back verified.

But if you want to settle that's not paying it off. Unless you get them to agree to that. I settled with Macy's and Bloomingdales year ago and they're set to come off my reports this year. They're off TU and EX but for some reason have 9 months on EQ so I called them and they said if I wanted to be considered for an early delete I'd have to pay the accounts in full.

So word your responses to the others in a way to get the delete but try for less than 70%. Some companies will take 40-50% just to get some type of money on the debt instead of possibly getting nothing.

But are these accounts charged off? If you're still in the 30-90 days late phase then you should still be making payments. If they're charged off then PFD and whatever you can.

Hopefully some part of that makes sense and someone else will come along to poke holes in it if needed

[SmartCookie]

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kpmama wrote:

We are looking to settle various accounts and I've found the PFD letter here.  I think I might have fallen into a collector trick.  She said they wouldn't accept negotiations 'til I set up payments..... So I did.  I made two payments and now I want to send them a settlement letter.  I made a HUGE mistake didn't I?  Do I cancel all the payments?  They are scheduled for the next 22 months.  Do I just send them the PFD letter as normal?  We owe $5400 and are hoping to settle for half, but I wonder if they'll settle with two years of payments scheduled?  What would you do?

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hi kpmama and welcome!

Umm yes, wee mistake... but these things happen.

I don't know what kind of agreement you made, legal or otherwise... but I will give you my opinion on what I would do if it were me in the same situation.

I would send that CA a DV CMRRR.

I would cancel all the payments... where are they getting them from?  I hope they do not have access to any of your financial accounts.  If so, I would zero out the account and close it in person as well as cancelling payments.  If it was to a credit card, I would also cancel the card and make sure the ccc followed the same procedures as if it was lost or stolen, so that new charges did not follow onto a new card.

I would check with the OC for this debt to see if they still own it.  If so, I would PFD with them.  If they do not still own it, I would PFD with the CA once they have validated with the DV.

Do not speak with any CA on the phone.  They will accept a negotiation if they understand that you know that it is you who is holding the ball. 

I'm concerned about these payment arrangements... explain how they are set up and if they are automatic.

[SmartCookie]

kpmama do more research before you decide how you want to handle these.  If you can edit your post to show what accounts, if any, are closed that will help.

Right now, make sure that your priority is keeping your open accounts current and GWing those open accounts once you've gotten them current and then kept up with PIF new charges for at least a few months.

Regarding the medical issues, please search these boards and also search google for HIPAA, and whychat HIPAA letter.  Medical debt is particular easy to clean up if you can at least offer a settlement.  As with all debt, deal with the OC if they still own it... regardless if they are having a CA collect.

Know your state's debt collecting SOLs.  As well, know that making partial payments can re-set it.

[Anonymous]

Wow. A lot of information to process.   And as soon as I translate all the acronyms I'll be able to answer accurately.

I'm on hold as far as what to do with the big Capital One. The small ones I sent PDF letters to. I'll be honest, I'm not in the least interested in improving my score as that would mean I'm interested in getting more credit cards and/or loans.  I really believe we'll be in a place soon where we'll be able to pay cash for our vehicles and we already have our house........ so... temptation best avoided. So, my goal?   Get out of debt.  But, obviously if we are looking at buying a different house in 2-3 years, we need to not completely cremate it.

They DO have access to my checking........ sigh.  Duh.  This is called naive apparently.  I spent hours researching CA tactics last night. Had no idea this was going to be a problem.  We have two checking accounts, but I REALLY don't want to close the one they have as it's all online and so much better for my record keeping.  The other is a long-term account, dh has had it for over 20 years, but they are a very small credit union and nothing online, including bill pay, et cetera.

Medical bills - currently we are working with the hospital to have them resolved,  Due to our family size (8) we could make well over 100K and still be eligible for some type of relief/assistance from the hospital.  That shocked me, but fine!  Unfortunately some of that has gone to collections and there is little they can do about that.  I'm assuming the collections will settle with us.

The accounts, to my knowledge, have not been charged off.  Merrick is the only real possibility since they sent us a settlement letter three months ago for half the difference. I sent them a PDF letter today.  Capital One (for my two little accounts) were SHOCKINGLY difficult to deal with this morning.  I asked them for a settlement and was told $781.  Then I was derided for finding that amusing.  Then when I asked for an address to send a settlement offer it was not so nicely explained to me that *I* don't make the offer.  THEY make the offer and I have to pay immediately.  Since I know that not to be true, I wished them a nice day and hung up.  I'm so grateful I don't have that job.

Onto read more archives. 

[Anonymous]

Also, the large Capital One - we closed per request

Merrick - closed per our request.

The two small Capital Ones - closed per our request.

Dell - open.