Need help giving advice

[Anonymous]

Hello all-

One if DW's friends is in a sticky situation. I won't get into the nitty gritty of it, but her credit has suffered. 

She has about 900 in collections with 6 different collection agencies. Some are in the 60 dollar range, others closer to 200. 

On top of this, the one card she had was through Wells Fargo and it was closed and charged off (sum of just over 1200). 

I looked through her reports, her FAKO scores are 550 range but her FICO according to Discover is 505. 

I've told her to tackle the smaller balances first and to ask for a PFD. On the larger balances I've suggested for her to call and ask to settle on a lower amount. 

Is there anything else she can do to turn her situation around?

Thanks

[collics]

Have you seen her reports?

Who are the collection agencies? There is a long thread listing the ones that PFD. 

[Anonymous]

---

@collics wrote:

Have you seen her reports?

Who are the collection agencies? There is a long thread listing the ones that PFD. 

---

I have seen them.

Here are the agencies, I'll look for the thread

I C System 

Capstone credit

Waypoint

Credit protection (x2)

Credit systems inc

Americollect inc

[Remedios]

@Anonymous 

If that WF CO remains unpaid, they should start there. CO is a double whammy because it's probably reporting at regular intervals, and because it's negatively affecting their utilization. 

Collection accounts, they should definitely call and ask if CA will PFD.

If they dont do PFD, they will still need to be paid. They can try negotiating a settlement whether they do PFD or not.

If these are medical collections, Gdale has some great suggestions, I can look for them if they are medical. 

Some accounts continue accruing fees and interest (based on original terms), so they shouldn't postpone dealing with them for too long. 

[Anonymous]

---

@Remedios wrote:

@Anonymous 

If that WF CO remains unpaid, they should start there. CO is a double whammy because it's probably reporting at regular intervals, and because it's negatively affecting their utilization. 

Collection accounts, they should definitely call and ask if CA will PFD.

If they dont do PFD, they will still need to be paid. They can try negotiating a settlement whether they do PFD or not.

If these are medical collections, Gdale has some great suggestions, I can look for them if they are medical. 

Some accounts continue accruing fees and interest (based on original terms), so they shouldn't postpone dealing with them for too long. 

---

I know the CO is unpaid. What doesn't add up is how it happened. She said she was making regular payments and WF closed the account. Upon looking at the reports, 1222 is the charge off amount and the limit was 800. I told her it looked like she over charged her card or wasn't making high enough payments to cover the interest and they closed it because of the amount on the card. 

I'll make these suggestions to her and see what she can make of it. Unfortunately she's not in a position to pay them off quickly and I think even $50/month is too much for her at the moment 

[Remedios]

It doesn't have to be quick. 

She should reach out to WF and start some sort of payment arrangement 

That has a potential to stop it from being forwarded to collections, effectively getting two derogs for the price of one. 

Collection amounts should definitely be negotiated. They pay very little for those accounts, so typically some sort of deal is usually on the table. 

She just needs to make sure that amounts are not increasing. 

If they are, she will have to find a way to tackle those. They add up very quickly. 

There are always some lifestyle adjustments that can be made to free up smaller dollar amounts. We tend to think that there aren't, because we want to hang on our coffee, eating out etc. 

That's normal and to be expected, but it has to change if person wants to tackle debt.

If she doesnt start there,  this may get worse before it gets better.