Citi Settlement Offer - Debt Prioritiazation

[medo]

BACKGROUND:

Since January/February, I have stopped paying all my CC's from advise from my lawyer which at the time, was part of a strategy for bankruptcy.  This also delt with the fact that I couldn't meet my obligations on my income at the time.

This started because of pay changes at my former company along with some personal life changes that required a drastic increase in expenses that prevented me from meeting my obligations.

I now have a new job, paying 40% more and have a lot more money to the point that I am no longer considering BK and will just do settlements.  My attorney also does this at $385/hr and anticipates an hour per lendor (worse case).  I am thinking however of just working with my lenders directly to acheive a good settlement.  

ON TO CITI....

I received a settlement offer from Citi on $5700 in debt - settlement for $2200.  This is a no-brainer to me, but I wonder the impact this will have with my other lendors.  For example, Chase, my biggest creditor at around a combined $50k, may see the settlement and may a) take more aggressive action or b) knows that I have money now to pay debt and may give me a not so significant settlement offer (lets say 50%).  

MY QUESTIONS:

1. Should I take the offer Citi is proposing?

2. Will this have any impact with Chase?

2a. Does anyone have any experience with Chase settlements?

3. Should I go at this myself or should I go ahead and use the attorney?  By receiving offers like Citi, this gives me hope that perhaps I can just do it myself and for the ones I cannot settle within a certain percentage, I just have the attorney work on those only?

Whew - that was a lot!  For those who read it - thank you and I am hopeful for some positive responses.

[FireMedic1]

Glad you decided to tackle this debt w/o BK. There are many CIti/Chase folks around here. I noticed you had no responces yet. Personally. I'd save the $345 an hr and use that to pay the debts. You'll be blackisted from them both for a long time. I take it by now they are in charged off status. Either way PIF or settled for less there are going to hurt BK or not. Least it will only last 7 yrs and not 10yrs for BK. Hope some folks chime in. Best of Luck!

[medo]

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, hopefully more people respond. This particular section seems to not have as much traffic.

[Remedios]

---

@medo wrote:

BACKGROUND:

Since January/February, I have stopped paying all my CC's from advise from my lawyer which at the time, was part of a strategy for bankruptcy.  This also delt with the fact that I couldn't meet my obligations on my income at the time.

This started because of pay changes at my former company along with some personal life changes that required a drastic increase in expenses that prevented me from meeting my obligations.

I now have a new job, paying 40% more and have a lot more money to the point that I am no longer considering BK and will just do settlements.  My attorney also does this at $385/hr and anticipates an hour per lendor (worse case).  I am thinking however of just working with my lenders directly to acheive a good settlement.  

ON TO CITI....

I received a settlement offer from Citi on $5700 in debt - settlement for $2200.  This is a no-brainer to me, but I wonder the impact this will have with my other lendors.  For example, Chase, my biggest creditor at around a combined $50k, may see the settlement and may a) take more aggressive action or b) knows that I have money now to pay debt and may give me a not so significant settlement offer (lets say 50%).  

MY QUESTIONS:

1. Should I take the offer Citi is proposing?

2. Will this have any impact with Chase?

2a. Does anyone have any experience with Chase settlements?

3. Should I go at this myself or should I go ahead and use the attorney?  By receiving offers like Citi, this gives me hope that perhaps I can just do it myself and for the ones I cannot settle within a certain percentage, I just have the attorney work on those only?

Whew - that was a lot!  For those who read it - thank you and I am hopeful for some positive responses.

---

Depending on the age of debt, most lenders will take a settlements. Age of debt usually determines how much they are willing to settle for, whenever debt is still in SOL etc. 

Citi settlement wont affect anything that Chase does, but $50k is a lot of money and I am frankly surprised they haven't initiated legal action already. 

If you're still in SOL, I'd let attorney handle it as you already have one. While you may have to pay attorney's fee, it's still better than wage garnishment, bank account levy, saying wrong things while negotiating etc. 

You're dealing with giant corporation and you owe them a lot of money. I'd stay out of it and let professional handle it. 

If you're out of SOL, you can try negotiating on your own, but proceed with caution and familiarize yourself with laws and regulations 

Good luck 

[medo]

Thank you. Also what is SOL? I know the more urban meaning but it sounds like this is specific to banks.

[Anonymous]

I just started to work on my credit myself and I also had the hard decision, to do it myself or get help. I decided to go at it myself and i'm glad I did ...one of my debts was actually in legal status and I was served paperwork for court. I ended up calling them and working out payment arrangments. I decided to do the same for all my bad debt ...I would get on the phone and make sure I was with the right collection office first as some of my original creditors had sold off or transferred to other collection companies. I reccomend you start with the original creditor and they can provide you with the current location of your debt. Some companies will still take your money and not have your account ...that means you lose all the money you paid them and still owe the debt. Also, I had one of the worst creditors to deal with ...the goverment (student loans) I called and ended up working out an arrangment based on my income. My payments were $5.00 ??? I do have to send them proof of my tax return but i felt so releaved I fixed one of the biggest credit issues I have. 

After I called and got payment arrangments for all my bad debt I started to see my full balance due on each. i prioritized them and paid them in full, if I could. This process gives you time to get back in line and as life gets better you can start to pay them off in full instead of making payments. This process takes time and we all need to be patient. Think of this as a fun project, which could have major benifits in the future. Always start the project with the end in mind ....for me the goal of having a credit card, buying another car, another home, etc. kept me going! 

In the end the feeling I get from fixing my own credit is worth it! Not only do I have full control of how I negotiate I dont have to wait on anyone to update me or call me to let me know how it's going and trust me as soon as any attorny gets your money or even credit repair companies, they will put you on the back burner for at least 3 months. I really suggest you go at it yourself and give it a go! you have nothing to lose. Worst case you can always look at hiring a lawyer later in the process if needed. 

[Remedios]

SOL is abbreviation for statute of limitations, the time period during which legal action can be taken. 

Legal action can be taken even after it expires, but statute of limitations expiration can be used as a defense, as in " You're suing me for time-barred debt" 

If you were unfamiliar with that term, I'd let attorney handle it from here. 

[medo]

Very helpful feedback. Much appreciated!

[medo]

I understand statue of limitations of course. SOL however can mean a lot. I've not seen it abbreviated and my debt isn't years old to even think about statues of limitations at this point since the last action for all the debt is less than a year ago, and I plan to have all my debt settled within 3 years.