Keep a journal of all calls made and include,dates, phone#s department names person’s names, their titles, etc, etc. Also, dont take the first offer you get, ask for their supervisor, and then that person’s supervisor….try to hit at least 2 higher ups. and Finally, if you are able to come up with an agreement that you feel will work for you GET IT IN WRITING!!! WORD FOR WORD WHAT THEY STATE THEY WILL ACCEPT FROM YOU AS PAYMENT IN FULL OF THE DEBT!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe this is all stuff you know….but just in case…..

You have a point there. I wasn’t really thinking about your home also being a business. But there have been changes in laws.

From what I’ve been reading here it sounds like Citi Bank doesn’t work with people. I heard that they won’t do the reduced amount either. Is that true?

When I got behind with Citibank they told me I could get on a hardship plan that lasted maybe 6 to 9 months. I can’t remember. They reduced the interest during that time and didn’t charge the fees they had been charging.

There was never any mention of a settlement for a lower amount, until they sold the debt , which was all interest and fees. I didn’t even realize that for a long time though. Paying Citi was just part of my life and I was in a real fog about my finances at that time. The debt buyer said if I paid the total amount they would reduce it, but just had I had not been able to pay the balance with Citi, I unfortunatly made an agreement with the debt buyer to make monthly payments.

Big mistake since they were charging their own interest and keeping me in the dark about it.

No they don’t want to work with people. However they will take less, They have been offering me less on 2 bills provided I pay up front. Of course its money I don’t have. They told me that they don’t usually sell there accounts. But they are quicker to try and sue you so they get their money. They did try to sue me, but it must not have worked, because its been 4 months and I haven’t heard anything and they are trying to settle with me.

I felt this way too, but in reality, we have the responsibility to look closely at our bills. I see most companies now actually ‘bold’ or capitalize the words ‘Finance Charge’ on the bills we get.

The ones that do not do this are shadier than an oak tree in your yard, and you can actually demand a rundown of their interest charges.

I had a JUNIPER (:-P) account, and they kept to their end of ‘$37.00 a month, but…. had I not looked at the actual bill rundown, I would have failed to notice their FINANCE CHARGE was in fact $39.87 so I was going deeper by $2.87 a month. When I saw that, I doubled their payment!

Same when I kicked up about the interest on a collector’s bill. They tried to say ‘tough noogies’ but I said, ‘cool. Take me to court then because I’m not paying any more without being let in on what you’re doing in this scam’.

They then applied all the payments I made to the principle and lowered the future payments. I kept the payments the same though, it put more on their (Now lowered) interests, and my balance. I got free of them in April this year, 1 year earlier than the agreement.

HELLO it is me again, originator of the post AT THE END… the thing about bankruptcy is, waht i was told by 2 lawyers, is they will SELL/AUCTION our HOME as it is ALSO our business (we had inn/tavern) and the problem is they will only probably get half of what it is worth at an auction and once the auctioneers get paid, the lawyers get paid for liquidating your assets, and the bank gets paid the balance on the mortgage, there wont be much left and if our creditors get that, well, we get ZERO… we put our life savings in this place and we worked for free for 8 years… to leave with only the clothes on our backs would not be an answer for me… the income we make here on renting lodging at least pays for the building, but does not cover the creditors that comes from our personal wages..

our best bet was to sell the place ourselves at good price and pay off everything and still at least recoup or original spendings and start with somethinng… but after several years and 2 failed sales, we give up on that the market is just not there. I figure if we stop paying out 3k or more a month on credit cards we can afford to live halfway decent and save some away… so if in the end we cant settle we can at least have something to work with if they take our place/home etc.

We have paid them more in interest than we ever borrowed so technically they should settle with us… we have paid well over a 100k in interest already and we still owe them… so I wont feel bad about it anymore. I have to start putting our basic needs first. It sucks no matter how you look at it thats for sure. THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLIES… I think I will go play a dollar on lotto now !!! I will go check the website you sent also, thanks!

I did the same thing… paying interest and fees long after I had paid the original amount of the debt . I’m not against interest, but there comes a point where you are simply in debtors prison and need to get out. My lawyer told me he has seen this time after time.

The CC Co’s are all for changing the terms of the agreement. Sometimes we need to change the agreement and simply put a stop to this robbery! Do you realize debt buyer agencies will be calling you? The credit card co’s will sell all that interest and fees on your account for pennies on the dollar and the debt agency will add their own interest.

I only had one account sold to an agency and foolishly agreed to make monthly payments. I didn’t find out until several months later the $1700.00 I had sent them over a period of months was not reducing the amount they said I owed, but they were increasing my debt. The kept me in the dark about the interest they were charging. Imagine, selling intertest and then getting more interest piled on. Compound interest gone wild!!!

Stop throwing good money after bad. Take that money you have been sending to creditors and hire a good bankruptcy attorney. There is no sense ruining your health over this and not saving any money for retirement. You need to put yourself and your family first!

There are laws to protect you! Take advantage of them. Tomorrow morning, call and interview several bankruptcy attorney’s, another option would be to ask for a referral for an attorney from someone you trust, perhaps your accountant, or talk to family and friends. DONT be embarassed, so many people are going through this!!! You are not alone!! Go with your gut. Most offer free consultations and some offer free phone consultations.

You SO deserve peace. It’s your turn. Allow yourself to receive it! DONT stress yourself out by calling those darn creditors!!!! Talk with a bankruptcy attorney first!!! I am in a similar situation, though on a much smaller scale. I’m like you…..very in control of my money, very diligent about paying bills on time. But after 2 years with a business that could not keep up with it’s bills…..I decided ENOUGH. I am still learning all about this, and am in the process of filing chapter 13. Things seem rough at first when you make the decision, but once you accept it, it honestly get’s easier. Honestly. Hang in there……

Also, just a tip…there is a wonderful web site to check out with ton’s of info, www.lifeafterbankruptcy.com.

Please, reconsider bankruptcy. Most attorneys will give you a free consultation. You could also see if there’s a law college nearby. There’s one near where I live and the professors supervise students in a clinic as they provide free or low-cost legal help. Don’t know if all law colleges have this kind of clinic but it can’t hurt to ask.

If you’re still unsure about filing for bankruptcy get a piece of paper and make two columns on it. In one, list the bad side of doing it like the effect on credit scores and in the other, list the good things such as being able to afford decent food and sleeping well at night.

About four or five years ago my brother and his fiance broke up. She’d managed to get a couple of credit cards in both of their names, which he didn’t know about until after they split. He was able to file bankruptcy, get rid of those card debts, but GOT TO KEEP HIS HOUSE. So you just might get to keep your current home.

It sounds like you are a candidate for bankruptcy. I would look into it. I know not every situation calls for BK, but 140K debt and very little income to cover even your basic utilities, you need more than settlement offers.

Also, You need to see a financial Counselor. You should be able to find one in the Yellow Pages or online search. You might find one on Dave Ramsey’s site as an ELP. (endorsed local provider)

Will try to make this short. My partner filed bankruptcy Jul ’06. I did not. We have a 2nd mortgage in both our names with HomEq. The original mortgage is in my name. In Aug ’06 I quit receiving statments from HomEq. I called them and said we wanted to continue paying this obligation. I was sent paperwork to sign, I sent it back and I have verification it was received. I received on more bill, then no more.

Since August, I have e-mailed, sent payments, of which I never received notification of payment, other than my cancelled check. I have no idea if it went on my account. They refuse to send me anything. I have called, I have sent registered letters. They say they are looking into it, but never respond back to me. It seems like an elaborate way to charge me late fees, etc., I don’t know, I don’t get statements.

I’ve kept track of all calls, e-mails and everything I’ve sent has been by registered mail. All we want to do is get statments and pay the bill. It shouldn’t be this hard to get them to agree to this. Most people get OUT of trying to pay bills. This is the only organization I’m having difficulties with. Has anyone experienced something similar? It seems just bizarre that I’m having this much trouble trying to pay an obligation. Any advice offered would be greatly appreciated.

Have you contacted the BK lawyer your partner used? Was the 2nd included in the discharge or excluded? It should list the individual debts. You would not want this debt to be included in their filing. Has the BK moved to the liquidation stage? Have you pulled your credit report to see how this debt is being reported? Most mortgages are excluded in BK. Again, the lawyer may shed some light on this.

Wife lost her job……owes her company 20K in back wages. They want paid off on or before Dec. 31, 2007. She has existing medical problems. Has a surgery scheduled for October 18th. I have a house and a house payment, 5 cars, 3 of which are paid off, 1 Harley, which I still owe a small amount on……if I go into bankruptcy Chapter 7. What do I lose? I do not mind parting with 2 cars but want to save my bike. Do I have a chance in hell to do this?!?!?! I am screwed and all I have been doing s working and staying straight in line!!! I believe I am finished!

If you got a good friend. Have him “buy” the bike and put it in his name. As long as you both believe it’s yours, no problemo.

I’ve never heard of having to pay back wages. If she had to quit because of medical conditions you may want to contact a lawyer, there may be stipulations or something that can be done.

My opinion is to sell everything you can. Hey, it’s just stuff. Being able to care for your family is much more important than a dumb bike. I can say dumb bike because I’ve owned 2 harleys, and a bike is just a bike. Remember, you can always fight back and someday buy another one. Do whatever it takes to take care of you wife and family.

Can you explain how someone ends up owing their employer back wages? I’d like to know so this never ends up happening to me?

Here is an article that sums up what is in the Consumer Reports article about credit cards.

USAA scoring highest didn’t surprise me, even though I have never had a credit card with them. I have checking and a savings account with them and customer service is superior. I have never had to wait over three minutes to speak with a rep. Most of the time it’s less than a minute wait. When I banked at BOA I wa sometimes kept on hold for 20 minutes or more!

She was advancing her paychecks and had been for sometime……this I knew nothing about! I guess this is just a bump in the road of life! I still dont wnat to lose my bike!

Another reason to hate Citi… SNEAKY!

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/10/macys_card.html

They took over Exxon Mobil CC operations too and sent me a notice about it.

I called them and told them I no longer had the Mobil account and I wanted my name and personal info out of their database.

I doubt it was removed though. Once they have you, I don’t think they ever want to let you go.

I hope they don’t go checking into my credit report and plan on sending me one of their credit cards. Every inquiry can result in a lower score. Maybe I am borrowing trouble, but I don’t trust Citi one bit!