Negotiate a Debt Settlement
Credit Card debt settlement, best way??
I recently suffered an illness, lost my job, have several credit card balances, could not keep the payments up, tried to work an arrangement with the credit card companies, but that did not work out either. Now they are all in collections, my credit score is trashed, and short of filing bankruptcy (I do not want to do), I am getting offers to settle for half of the balance. I do not own real estate, but have recently came into some money, not a lot, but if I settle with the collection agencies, I was told that I should request they send me a paid in full as agreed letter first for the negotiated amount, and will help my credit score. Is there proper way to do this that will eventually help my credit report??
Public Comments
- pay em
- Definetly take the offer to pay half the balance, request a written statement that it is payed off, i dont know about helping your credit score, but what you need to worry about is getting them payed off.
- The card companies will all send you something that says the account is paid. They will also inform you that the difference between what you owed them and what you paid must be counted as income when you file your 2007 taxes. Example: You owe 12,000 to a company and they settle for a payoff of 6,000. You will be required to count the 6,000 that didn't get paid as income. It's certainly better to pay the tax on 6K than it is to pay 6K but don't forget about that come tax time.
- Yes, if you decide to negotiate a settlement with the creditors then you must insist on a settlement agreement letter stating the exact amount. Once settled, you should also make sure that the creditor reports the debt as "Paid in full". If you have a few credit cards then you can try to settle yourself, if you have many then it is wise to take help of professional firms. Make sure to research well about the firm that you want to work with, mainly their BBB rating. Once good company is Freedom Debt Relief, you can ask for a free consultation by filling your information at http://www.freedomdebtrelief.com/
- yes!!!
