Posts Tagged ‘debt’

PSECU

Hello All, I applied for a savings account with PSECU, however I have yet to hear from them.  I wanted to get some opinions regarding qualifying for "lets say" a Personal line of credit and a regular visa card.  My current Experian score is 712 and my Debt Profile is as follows:  Do I have a chance? Your Debt Profile Revolving Credit to Debt Ratio Real Estate/Other $0 I nstallment Debt: $0 Revolving Debt: $517 Credit Available: $3,258 % of Credit Available*: 87% Total Credit Limit: $3,696 Total Debt: $517 Total Monthly Payment: $119   Oldest Account Age The age of your oldest account tells lenders how long you have been using and managing credit. 2.2 Years Average Account Age The older the average age of your accounts, the more favorable you are in the eyes of lenders. 1.0 Years

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HELP!! BIG DECISION IN THE WORKS!!!

So I have 695/689 FICO scores with perfect payment history with 22k in maxed out credit card debt. This debt came when a business tanked last year and I have been trying to get it down to no evail. I have knocked off 500 this year only. I also have 2 mortgages, and car loans in good standing. A friend of mine hired a consolidation company 4 years ago and let 10k worth of CC debt go to collections which they made a deal to pay half and he was done. His score dropped to around 550, but is back up to 706 4 years later. I am considering this. Although I may not hire a company, but just do it myself. In the next 4-5 years I do not plan any big purchases and I do currently work 2 jobs. I'm not getting anywhere. What are your thoughts? Advice? Thanks in advance! Billy

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Debt Validation …for a price

I'm in a mail war with Merrick Bank.  In Feb 2006, I mailed them $240 (the balance on my last statement) and requested to close my account.  In March, I moved to Europe for 3 years on Military reassignment.   Last year, I pulled my credit report ans saw that they claim I owe them $821. I requested debt validation.  They sent back a letter claiming the debt is valid, but didn't provide copies of statements that I requested (Feb - Sep 2006).  They did provide a form for me to "order" previous statements for $2 each.  Now, I also have a letter that indicates the original balance was $18.12 and the remaining $800+ is from fees and interest.  (Rediculous, right?).  I provided a copy of my miitary reassignment orders and offered to PFD, but only for $45 (original $18 plus $27 for fees and interest).  They didn't even respond to that part of my letter. I'm getting ready to send another letter restating my offer to PFD, but refusing to pay for statements that I never recieved.  I also am thinking of telling them if they refuse to provide the requested statements, I will interpret that as their failure to fully validate the legitimacy of the debt.  I mean, really!  $18 original balance and $800+ in Fees.  Get real! Advice?  

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Frustrated, tired, and ready to cry

In attempting (successfully) to carry our business through a huge road construction project, I incurred huge debt on my personal line and credit cards to the tune of about 100K.  My payments monthly equal about 4K to the various institutions, my husband carries the home, insurance etc while I pay down the debt, which never seems to get much lower.  I am bent double with making enough each month to do it, but so far have kept up.  I have closed all cards, set up repayments where possible..but the level of monthly repayment is demoralizing.  I spoke to debt counseling, who said to file bankruptcy..which i keep hearing is too bad..my husband is not on the majority of this debt as I had the best offers for interest at the time...my income is commission based..some months nothing, some months just enough to carry the payments for an extra month..I am just about maxed out,..is there any way to consolidate this mess into a monthly payment that i have not found?

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Citi Balance Transfer Offer

Hello all, I need some advice.   I just got a Citi BT offer for 0% from now through 11/2011 with a 4% BT fee. I was thinking about consolidating all of my debt onto the one card which would be about $9400 on a $11k card (about 85% util). The reason for this being that my debt is currently spread on four different cards and each one has an APR from 13.74 up to 15.99%, so for the last two months my interest charges have totalled about $200. While I do realize that I'd have to pay almost $400 in BT fees and my utilization will skyrocket, it still seems that I will come out better if I do the transfer and steadily pay down the debt from the one card since I wouldn't have to worry about interest being added on for another 18 months.   Does this sound like a good plan?

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Citi – Best thing to do for CL not to be lowered?

My credit is very bad... I don't know my score, but I have $11,000 debt with Amex (gone unpaid for a couple of years now), a $900 non-CC debt, and a 90 day late payment on another card that's in good standing.   I owe Citi $4000, which is my CL with them. The account is in good standing and being paid mostly minimum (sometimes $100, $200, etc over minimum). they've offered me the Partner Payment program, but I think I'd rather chip away at the debt without their help in exchange for the credit limit not to be lowered.   But the issue is of course... what if they lower it anyway? What can I do (in regard to the Citi card alone because I can't afford to pay the Amex at this point) to have a better chance at the CL with Citi staying the same?   Would it make a difference if I paid off a larger chunk immediately and then a few hundred monthly,...or if I just start paying a few hundred monthly without laying down a couple of K first. I know that the interest will be more if I only pay $200-300 monthly without that first larger payment. I want to try rebuilding my credit though and am more concerned about my score dropping even more because of a lower CL. If I'm thinking about this the wrong way, feel free to set me straight! :smileywink:   If someone knows how to figure these things out, my credit limits are $4000, another $600 on a different card, and $200 on a store card... my debt is $11,000 and $900. Is this $4000 CL even worth fighting for?

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CLI Advice needed

I have quite a few questions about obtaining a credit limit increase on my credit cards. I am working on improving my credit scores as I'm going to be looking for a new place to live and finiancing furniture in about 2 months, so I want to get my scores as high as possible before then. At the current moment the only way to do that is to decrease my debt:available credit ratio. I recently tried to have the credit limits increased on two of my credit cards (AmEx Blue Sky, $2k limit -> $10k), and Chase/Best Buy, $800 limit -> $5k). Even though my credit history is good, I was only given a $400 increase on my Best Buy card and denied outright on the AmEx. I use the AmEx CreditSecure to monitor all three reports, and I have all acounts in good standing (never once missed any payments, no negative information). The only problems I see are that 1)My Equifax Credit Report doesn't have a job listed (I've been with the same company now for just under 3 years) and 2) My EQ and TU reports dont have my student loan account, which is my oldest account, efectively bringing my average account down to 4 years on those reports. (As an aside, I am 26, but started building credit late because my parents were overly cautious about me getting a card early). My other cards are a USBank Platinum Visa ($4250 limit) and a Credit Union Card ($8k limit). My PLUS Scores as given by CreditSecure are EX:736, EQ:724(699FICO), and TU734. My questions are:   1: What is the likelyhood that my CLI from Chase was denied due to my not having a job listed on EQ (the one they pulled) and if I send in a dispute to have my job added, how long should I wait before asking for another increase? (I also asked the CSR when I called whether the inquiry would be hard or soft, to which she replied soft, but it ended up being hard, which I am going to dispute)   2: My AmEx request was denied on the grounds that my debt ratio was too high (46% debt:54%credit), and because of my "Payment history with AmEx". I had a balance from a balance transfer that I never missed a payment on and paid more than the minimum payment, but never fully paid off the card and peridically used it, increasing the balance. When I got my CU card in January, I transfered the balance, and since have been using the card as my main finance and have been paying in full each month. I also noticed on my credit reports that my payment history with AmEx on my EX report only shows the most recent month, but has no data for previous months, and past reports also only show the most current month, while the other reports have a complete history. Could this be affecting my request and should I see about getting it fixed before requesting another increase, and how long should I wait to ask? I'm fairly certain they used my EX report since it is the one that sponsors their CreditSecure program. I saw another forum on here that had "backdoor numbers" for talking to account specialists, so I was considering that option to explain my situation and try to obtain a CLI.   3: I've received several increases on my USBank card (500-> 1250-> 2000-> 4250) without ever asking for an increase, usually about 8-9 months apart, but during that period, I had always carried a balance. I transfered this balance to my CU card at the same time as the AmEx balance, and since have only used the card a few times for random small purchases. I read somewhere the best thing to do with USBank is call and ask if I'm eligible for a CLI without a hard pull. What I want to know is, should I wait to see if they automatically increase my limit (last increase was about 8 months ago), or call and ask? If they gave me increases because I carried a balance, I don't think they'll do it automatically if I'm not.   4: Should I try to add my student loan account to my EQ and TU reports, and if I succeed, how will it effect my score over time? I think that if I get the account added, it will increase my score quite a bit (older account with a high original principle and perfect payment), but If they aren't already reporting to those bureaus I fear that they will not update the accounts, so the balance will always stay the same and effect my score negatively.   If anybody made it this far through my thesis, I appreciate the time to read and will appreciate any and all help offered.   Thank you,   ~T    

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unauthorized individual

Hi. :smileyhappy:   I have what may be a bit of an unusual problem. I've been in a "domestic" situation for several years. My husband is very unreasonable and forces his way. He has had debt before me which he has written off (he didn't make payments on purpose so that he could eventually do this). Knowing his bad credit and money habits, I didn't want to let him use my credit. But he pressured me into it over the years.   He applied for cards online without me being present, and when I would find out it was just something I had to deal with. I did call the companies occasionally after the fact and used the cards for household expenses as needed, so I had involvment and knowledge of the cards which can be proven. This all may be, I'm not trying to argue my part of the debt but to explain the situation.   My issue is that he added a relative of his onto my Amex account without my consent. It was my understanding that you had to call Amex personally to add another person (or he would have done it online himself to begin with). He was trying to pressure me into addind this person, but I never did it. Some time later, I found out that she had in fact been added and spent $6,000 on the card. She refused to pay her part, and eventually the account went to collections with $11,000 debt on it. While I had knowledge of the debt, I never authorized the part that she spent. I never authorized her to have a card.   I assume that he gave her my information and had her call in pretending to be me. This has got to be illegal. I don't know what to do about it though. It's been a few years since it happened... I never called the police or Amex about it, hoping to somehow resolve it within the family at some point and also because my husband is very difficult and abusive toward me (I of course have no police report record against him...). He isn't asking her to pay her part and is letting her off the hook completely.   We are on the verge of a divorce now, and it may in fact be only days until it happens. But I can't move on with all this debt hanging over me. I would at least lke to see what can be done about the charges his relative racked up. Is there anything I can do? Needless to say, the cost of a lawyer is a major concern or I would have dealt with this a long time ago. I've thought about finding a pro bono, though someone told me they don't deal with criminal cases. Unless this could be a civil case they probably wouldn't help me.   The reason I'm posting on the credit card forum is that I'm wondering if I could get her part taken off if I contact Amex and ask for proof that I authorized her. If she called it in, all they could come up with is her voice on the phone (she has a distinct accent). Any advice on the situation would be greatly appreciated though.   Thank you. :smileyhappy:

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Need advice on paying down CC’s

Hello, I am trying to figure out what to do with my CC situation. Everyone’s situation seems different so I am looking for some relevant opinions on mine. I have had people give me varying advice from filing bankruptcy, debt negotiation, debt management program and credit card counseling. Ok, here is my sob story. I acquired approx $20k in credit card debt from a divorce proceeding about 3 years ago. I am still kinda bitter since most of this CC debt is not mine, I had the higher income so I am stuck with the bill. The balance is carried on 4 separate CC’s with varying interest rates. Until recently I haven’t been ready to make a commitment to tackling this debt and have just been paying the minimum due each month. It seemed easier to usually pay the minimum and put it out of mind with everything else I had going on and wanted to do being FREE to roam as I wanted! I am current on everything never missing payments on car, mortgage but have been a few days late on CC but not because I couldn’t pay, I simply forgot to send the payment. Things have calmed down, so now I am ready to concentrate on making this debt go away and stop paying interest! I struggle with the fact that I have this debt, since I did not make many of the purchases nor do I have anything to show for it. Sometimes I feel I would rather declare bankruptcy or do debt settlement so I wouldn’t have to pay it. But after researching, I know it would wreck my credit for a long time, right? Looks like I wouldn’t even qualify. I don’t feel I need credit counseling because I know how to make a budget and stick to it. I haven’t used a CC in over 18mo.  That leaves me with a DMP. What is the benefit of using a DMP? From what I see is they help you get back on track with making regular payments and can help to eliminate late fees and reduce interest rates. But this comes with a setup fee and a monthly service charge. The part that I could use is the ability to usually reduce interest rates. Does that happen right away or does it usually take approx 6 months? I feel like I am on track making regular on time payments but what are my chances of getting a lower rate on my own? Don’t really feel like paying someone to make my payments. Current stats: Card 1 $5800 14.24% Card 2 $3480 13.24% (late on this acct twice last 6mo, so they are raising rate unless I reject, but they will then close the acct) Card 3 $4810 15.24% (acct is closed) Card 4 $3040 19.24%   So my CC debt is now approx $17K and my utl on the ones that are open is about 89%. I have been able to build up to about $12,500 in savings over the past 2 years. I bought a house last year and my car is decent so I have no big purchases planned in the immediate future. I struggle coming to the conclusion that I need to part with some savings to make some headway since I am paying more interest on CC than earning in savings. Will someone please just give me a swift kick of reassurance that this is the right thing?   Overall Questions: Should I do a DMP or handle it myself? Recommendations on how much savings I should use? Can I call the CCC and ask for a rate reduction if I pay $XXXX amount? Does that help? Does it help that all four cards are from same CCC? One account is closed, I should probably pay that one off first? One account is threatening a rate increase due to two late payments in last 6 months, should I accept or close the account to keep the lower rate?   Hopefully that all makes sense and wasn’t too whiny. Thanks in advance!

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How likely is it that a Credit Card company will sue you for unpaid debt?

OK, here's my situation. I was laid off almost 4 years ago. I have a small business, but it's barely keeping me afloat. In fact if it wasn't for family, I WOULDN'T be afloat. Job's in my area are scarce. To date, I have yet to find a job that would make me more money than my business, even though my business isn't doing well.   I've tried on several occasions to get out of Credit Card debt, but somehow in never works. My savings are drained. My 401K is gone. I've often had to make the choice between groceries and a Credit Card payment. In the end I often had to pay the Credit Card, then use the Credit Card to buy the groceries. Haven't done that in while, but it wasn't helping when I had to do it.   I have 2 CC's, totaling about $18,000 in debt. One is $13,500, the other is around $5000. A significant portion of that debt is interest. My interest rates are at 20%.  I haven't used either in at least 6 months.   Bottom line, I can't live this way.   The money going to the CC's could instead be going to growing my business. Instead my stock just keeps getting drained because all the money I make goes to debt rather than new stock.   This last month I decided to do something about it. I sought out the help of a Debt Settlement company. I didn't just throw a dart, I really looked into them. Talked to about 10 different companies before choosing the one I was most comfortable with. The plan is to settle my debt for 40% of the total, over the next 3 years.   However, both CC's insist that THEY DO NOT DEAL WITH DEBT SETTLEMENT COMPANIES!   So, 2 questions. 1) What's the truth? Do CC's deal with Debt Settlement companies or not? Or is it just a matter of semantics, and the Debt Settlement companies really deal with the Collection Agencies that the Debt is turned over to? 2) in the mean time, the CC's are not getting their money. How likely are they to sue me vs using a Collection Agency? Is there a Dollar Amount tipping point? Like at $10,000 they use a Collection Agency, but at $10,001 they sue?   I'm right at the cross roads of a major decision here, and I really need to know the answers.   Roger

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