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Collection agency refusing to negotiate settlement

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Luke_2413

Junior Member
Pennsylvania

My ex had opened a Best Buy account with me as a cosigner. Not even a month later we split and I've never heard from her again. When I closed all the accounts we had jointly this one somehow slipped through the cracks. Three years later I get a call from a collections agency that she had stopped paying her bill four months earlier and that I was now responsible for the debt. I don't want this ruining my credit obviously so I am willing to pay it off if we could come to a reasonable settlement. Unfortunately we have not. The initial time they contacted me they said they would settle for 1398 of the 1740 debt. I told them I'd be willing to settle if we could get that number down some. They called back in a few days and said they had talked with the bank and they would now be willing to settle for 1392. I tried to negotiate in good faith and they come back only willing to drop 6 bucks. Reading online I've seen that I should be able to get something closer to a 60% settlement and they are refusing to drop below 80%. I don't want this to ruin my credit but I don't have the money to pay what they're demanding. What should I do?
 


Ladynred

Senior Member
Ok. How long as it been since the account was paid ?? If its only been 4 months, then they haven't charged it off yet, and they are NOT going to settle for much less than 80%. Household Bank is a BITCH to deal with. If its been delinquent 4 months already, it's already affecting YOUR credit. The closer it gets to charge-off (usually 180 days of non-payment), the lower they may be willing to go. Since you don't want a charge-off on your reports, you'll have to do something before that happens.

You might ask them about a hardship program - they will usually ask for a lump sum payment to bring the account current - they'll 're-age' it and you make regular payments at reduced interest for 6 months to a year. That my buy you the time you need, and salvage your reports.

Stop talking on the phone. If you're going to negotiate DO IT IN WRITING, othewise any 'agreement' you come to is worthless.
 

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