Karentut

I have not posted on this thread for over three years. Since someone bumped it, I decided to do an update. We are just over three years into the program. Have paid over 60% of the amount due (total was $57,000). They have kept their promise and started reporting it as "paid as agreed" after three months. No lates reported since then so the credit report is looking pretty good. Only problem is the utilization because it shows $0 available and almost $20,000 outstanding balance. But, even with that, all my credit scores are over 620. It should take a large jump when these are finally paid off. They will only let you set up payments for 12 months in advance. You must call after each 12 payments are made to set up payments for the next year. They will not call or write to you about this. If you fail to set up the next 12 payments, you are in default and they will cancel the program. They require these to be preapproved checks from your checking account. You cannot just agree to send them a check each month by the due date. They have to have control over it so you better have the money in your account when they make the withdrawal. They gave me a set date for each paymnent to come out of my checking account, but for the first two years they were not real good about hitting the date. They could be as much as five days early or five days late. The past year has been pretty much as agreed. If they don't take the money out of your account as agreed, it is your fault for missing the payment. They never make mistakes (or at least will not admit to it). So if it does not come out within 2 days of the scheduled date, you need to be on the phone with them. Overall, I am very pleased with the program. They are good people to work with. I tried to set up repayment plans with MBNA, Chase (three cards), and Citi (on another card) and was refused. None of those has received a penny from me. I cannot afford the 30% default rate plus the over the limit fee and late fee each month. Three of those cards have gone past the SOL (all Chase cards for over $40,000); one is close to hitting the SOL (over $23,000), and the last is still within the SOL but they have not contacted me for a couple years (Citi for $27,000). Maybe some of these companies will learn that if I cannot make the minimum payment for the month, then that means that I cannot make a payment of the entire principal, interest and late fees either. That sounds like common sense to me. I did intend to pay everyone off eventually, but if they won't work with me, I can't. For the person who asked, CSR stands for customer service representative. You do need to call the hardship program directly. Regular CSR's will swear to you that there is no hardship program.

Hey gizmocruz: I already know their reputation for sewer service. It is well known. I send everything CMRRR so I am sure that they got it and so I can prove they have my address. I go to the courthouse every week and check both clerks offices for suits. We don't have on line access in these parts. I have to actually go in to the clerks office. And the lower court system is not connected to the upper court system, so I have to check two systems. But it only takes a few minutes. In my state, once they get a court judgement from another jurisdiction, or an arbitration award, they have to file locally in court before they can seize assets. So I think I am protected. So, back to the original question. Has anyone gotten a settlement from Portfolio or E&A, and if so, what did you settle for? What is their bottom line?

I have a $20,000+ chargeoff that was sold to Portfolio. I sent them a DV and they responded with minimum info. They then sent it to their attorney Eskanos and Adler. I sent them a DV and they never answered. I know that Portfolio owns it because the OC told me they do. It is two years old, but neither Portfolio nor E&A is pushing collection on the debt. Over a year ago Portfolio offered to settle for 50% and said they may go lower if I made an offer. I had no money so did not follow up on it. I may consider settling if I can get a good enough deal from them. It is well within the SOL and I am pretty sure they can get the backup material from the OC. I would rather have the certainty of a deal than the uncertainty of going to trial sometime in the future. But, only if I can get a good deal. Does anyone know that the bottom line is for Portfolio or E&A? I know that Portfolio does issue 1099's. I know what to put in a settlement agreement and in a settlement offer. I just need to get a bottom line on how low they will go. Much thanks

Let me see if I can do this right. This case was just published and is dated last week. It involves an individual who got an MBNA card, charged $18,000, and then defaulted. MBNA filed for arbitration with the NAF and won. The debtor represented himself and did defend the NAF case. He lost. MBNA took the NAF decision to the local court who affirmed the NAF decision. He lost and appealed. The appellate court upheld the NAF arbitration award and told the debtor to pay. Almost $5,000 got added to the initial debt after all costs were added in. First, the link: http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2008/mbna_021908.pdf I hope that works. The case is too long to post in its entirety. The reason this case interests me is that I have heard that Tennessee courts will always affirm arbitration awards without much thought and this seems to confirm it. Second, this guy tried some of the stuff we read about, and it did not work for him. I will try discussing what is interesting to me. 1. He represented himself from the start to the finish and he did not have any success. I think he was in over his head. A lot of his problems were caused by his lack of knowledge of the system. 2. He tried a trick that did not work. Sometime before the arbitration being filed, he sent a $20 money order to MBNA and noted on the front of it that if they cashed it, then they were accepting it as full payment of the debt and that he would not owe anything else. He called it a novation agreement and said it modified the original agreement. MBNA did cash the check. The NAF and the court did not accept that argument. 3. It appeared that his defense to the case was the "payment in full" and he really did not have any real legitimate defense. 4. He did not appeal the arbitration decision with the NAF within 90 days. The court basically said that since he did not exhaust his remedies in the NAF, he could not ask the court to overturn the NAF. 5. After the arbitration award, MBNA took it to the trial court and filed a suit asking the trial court to affirm the award and reduce it to a judgement. The court did so on a summary judgement. The debtor wanted a jury trial. But the court held that based on the Uniform arbitration act, it could not overturn the award, saying “As long as the arbitrator is, arguably, construing or applying the contract and acting within the scope of his authority, the fact that a court is convinced he committed serious error does not suffice to overturn his decision.†(my emphasis). 6. The debtor appealed the case and the appellate court found in favor of MBNA, basically dismissing all of the claims of the debtor. 7. Footnote 2 is a real shocker to me. It says that even if MBNA had previously sold the debt to someone else, they could still take it to arbitration and eventually get a judgement. "We also note that, even if the point asserted in Mr. Hendricks’ affidavit–that MBNA’s debt had been sold to another entity–is assumed to be true, it appears to be irrelevant. The credit card agreement specifically provides that the arbitration provisions shall survive a number of eventualities, including “sale of the debt by us [MBNA].†Some lessons: 1. You really need to know what you are doing if you represent yourself. The system seems to be very lawyer orientated. I wold go so far as to say that you probably need a lawyer well versed in NAF arbitration. 2. These cases take forever to resolve. 3. The system is rigged against the debtor. 4. someone needs to get some reform in the system here.

Anything to do with orangutans. Posters, stuffed ones, signs, pictures, and anything else that has to do with them. And my favorite show is Orangutan Island on Animal Planet (Friday nights).

Are you saying that NCIP has only one score? If so, which one? Does it have all three reports?

They are a nightmare to work with. No matter what they screw up, it is always your fault. And they never fix anything. It stays screwed up. I read that they are ranked either #1 or #2 as having the worst customer service in the country. The bottom line is to work it out now and get something in writing. Otherwise you will be dealing with a collection agency in a couple years. And, in some areas, they have collectors actually go out to your home. If you don't answer the door, they stand outside yelling, trying to get you to respond.

Below is a quote form a Liz Pulliam Weston article I saw on MSN Money some time ago. They have a tendency to recycle old articles and it was posted again today. It is on point to what flacorps is saying. The point of the article is that there are eight scores other than the normal FICO score that creditors and CAs can access and which are not available to consumers. It helps to explain somewhat why some people get sued on debts and others don't. Collection score: You've failed to pay for long enough that your card has been turned over to a collection agency. These agencies use collection scores to assess the likelihood that you'll be able to pay them and sort their list of debtors accordingly. Collection agencies watch for all kinds of evidence that your financial situation may be improving, Ulzheimer said, from better credit scores to another collector's account suddenly being reset to 0, indicating it's been paid off. If, on the other hand, your credit is in the dumps or the amount involved is small, the collection agency may make minimal effort. Why spend time and effort to track you down if you're not likely to pay?" Ulzheimer said. "Probably the most cost-effective (tactic) is to write you a letter, put it on your credit report and wait for you to call them."

First of all, you need to determine if the CO is still be handled by Citi or by a CA. It is my impression that they always send them to collections agencies. And, at first, Citi still owns the debt. At some point, they will sell the debt to a CA. Then, if it is with a CA, determine if Citi still owns the debt or if the CA owns it. On my Citi chargeoff, Cit still owns the debt. Look at your credit reports. If Citi lists the debt as $0 balance or "sold to another lender" (or something similar0, then Citi probably doesn't own it. If they don't own it, then my understanding is you have to deal with the CA. If Citi does still own it, then some here have said you can call Citi and they will sometimes take it back. As far as changing your credit report, such as a PFD, I have not had any success with them. Maybe some others have. I keep notes on what others posted that they settled debts for with Citi. Based on my notes, they will frequently go for 50%, and some report them going as low as 40%. I think a lot of it depends on how old the debt is. But if you have to deal with a CA, how much they will settle for depends on them. They do have a program that in a small way will improve your credit. We got some of our Citi cards on the program, but all of those were done just before chargeoff. I have not tried yet to get my Citi chargeoff on this program. On the hardship program, they will let you pay your debt off over 60 months with no interest charged, and no late fees or other fees. Each payment is 1/60th of the principal so that the debt is paid in full after 5 years. After you make three on time payments, they change their reporting to paid on time/ was previously late. So it is a little help. But, like I said, I have not heard of this being tried on a charged off account. There are a number of posts here on the hardship program. Do a search for it and you can find some good info.

How much does a MT or MLT make per year for full time work? Thanks for the input

He does have a psychological problem with dealing with people which has really gotten bad in the last year or so. He is taking two medications for it and seeing a therapist once a week and a psychiatrist every three weeks. I realize he has to get control of this problem before he can move on. He has been diagnosed as OCD, anxiety disorder and depression. Part of the reason I am getting this info is to get him thinking about what life can be like when he gets his problems under control. Something to look forward to and to plan for. He did the research on the nuclear tech and got excited so I decided to give him some other options to explore.

What does a radiology tech do? Is that the person who gives you radiation treatment when you have cancer? Or is it something else? cljohnr mentions a radiography tech program What is that? I appreciate all the help. This will give him lots to research.

So pathology is what I thought it was. I will mention it to him. The part about examining tissue sounds better than the part with the dead bodies. But not working much with live humans will appeal to him. Over thirty years ago I had to go interview a doctor at the hospital. They told me where to go and said to just walk in and he would be in a certain room. I opened the door, saw him and walked over to introduce myself. Only then did I realize it was the autopsy room and there were a number of bodies there. It gave me nightmares. I have always had problems being in the same room with dead bodies. Last week I went to a viewing at the funeral home and could not bring myself to go over to the casket. Not sure why I got so off topic. What is the starting and potential salary for a radiologist?

Radiology sounds like a possibility. The college where he is going offers what they call a 3 and 1. You spend three years there getting the basics and then one year at a college that offers the last year of the program. That way he can live at home for the first three years. My DIL did that with the pharmacy program and it worked well. But of course she had to spend four years in pharmacy school. The point is that they get their BS at the original school after finishing their fourth year somewhere else. It really helps to keep the cost down. I will tell him to research pathology. If it is what I think, I'm not sure he will like it. Nursing is out. It requires too much personal contact and he is not good with that. I had not even thought about management/administration. He does have an interest in business. My middle son was a business major and has done well in it. I know that it would help to have more than a BS, but that is all he is willing to do. He sees how much his SIL makes as a pharmacist, but is not willing to do the time necessary. Maybe he will change his mind after he gets a couple years of college. Neither my wife nor me entered college thinking of anything other than a BA, but we both eventually got advanced degress once we saw the potential.

Thanks again for the detailed response. I do have the recorder for my cell phone and the Radio Shack connector. But MB has not called on either of my debts. They have left me alone. Nor have they tried to track me down through anyone else. My problem is that they have my current address and always send their correspondence to my last address. So far, there are no violations by them. I keep everything on them in a black notebook. I keep up to date on my filing. If they do sue on either one, I will hire an attorney.