miyahsmom

Thank you so much for this thread. I got 2x increases on my Limited card and only one for AnnTaylor but Jcrew went from $750 to $4,050!

I'm clueless when it comes to BK so any BK-related questions should be posted in that forum. As far as qualifying for hardship I don't think it hurts to call and ask. I find they are more flexible now because of the economy.

@medsport I wouldn't BK for 16k of debt but that's just me. I don't think your debt is high enough at this point for anyone to sue you except Capital One. Your debt is low enough that you should be able to get on a hardship program without much of an issue. First things is make sure you have some cash put aside for emergencies. Day to day living is more important than cc payments and credit scores. Some companies may ask you to document your hardship. Citi asked me to fax 2 pay stubs showing income reduction then they deferred my payments for 3 months and ten put me on 0% for 12 months. My credit took a hit because they marked my CR "making partial or modified payments." I would call Chase and see what they could do. The hardship # is posted in one of these threads. Alot of people have had success with getting 0% interest until the balance is paid off. I'm not sure if the cards would remain open. FIA (BofA) doesn't offer hardship until you are at least 30 days behind. Things may have changed though. Their hardship program is based on your income and they tend to put you on a 60 month payment plan at around 6-8% interest. I would push for 0% in your case because of the low balance. Pay off Discover as soon as you can. No matter what happens you'd still have one positive tradeline. Not sure about Capital One or PNC hardship but Capital One is known to sue if you have a balance over $500 and you haven't made payments in over 6 months. The other alternative is to pay off any issuer of your choice and stop making payments on other cards until you have a nice piece of change saved up for a settlement. EarnIt has great posts in the BK forum on this method. http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=383818

Citi offered me a one time 3 month payment deferral but during that period they ended reporting "paying partial or modified payments" on my credit reports. This is Citi's hardship number - 866-444-4986. Try calling them and see what they say. Sometimes they require you to be about a week or two late before they can do anything. Good luck!

@hindsight - I put both my Citi cards at 0% for 12 months with the option of reopening the original credit line upon completion of the program. This wasn't offered to me until I had 4 months of payments though. @medsport - it would be easier to advise as to BK or DMP if you list all of your CC balances, minimum payments and budget. Don't forget to list the issuer as well. Some issuers are more flexible than others

breeze - NCI is servicing the account but Amex still owns the account. katwoman - that's the lowest I've seen Amex offer. Are you considering BK at all? I only ask because you said you had a foreclosure. If you are, I wouldn't pay anything obviously. If you agree to make the settlement offer make sure they fax or mail the agreement to you first and make sure they agree to not resell any portion of the debt. You should also ask if you are going to receive a 1099-C if you settle. Just for clarification, you haven't made a payment since 2007 and there are no negatives on your CR? My Amex account started with NCO then went to NCI then to MRS and now back to NCO. Each time the settlement offers got lower and lower. NCI was calling me up to 30 times a day but they stopped immediately upon receiving a limited C&D.

I work in finance in NYC and deal with FINRA more than I would care too so I'm fairly well versed in the background/credit check aspect of this industry. I ran into some trouble last year due to reduced hours/reduced income (about 40%) and possible downsizing and did everything I could to avoid a BK because I know this would trigger a termination. A recent BK (5 years or less) is killer in this industry simply because most of these decisions are made by third-parties and are imposed by the numerous regulatory agencies. The typical look-back period now is about 48 months. You will get some slack cut if you have a missed payment or two or even a home in foreclosure but if you have any charge-offs and non-medical collections it will be a problem. The only fix that I know of is to pay off or settle all the debts and be prepared to show proof when you get the letter saying you were turned down due to AA. Most places do not penalize you for having medical debt. Although I fully agree that credit checks need to be curtailed the reality is that it is unavoidable in finance. I think the best solution would be to designate a timeframe where you cannot be penalized such as 36 months. I really feel the OP's pain because I'm out there interviewing myself and am always nervous when the credit check comes up. I always disclose up front and have yet to hear a callback so what does that tell you? I should add that I currently have ChoicePoint in court for having some bogus information on my report that couldn't possibly be me. They refused to fix it, I sued them, now they want to settle but I'm irritated so I'm going after them.

my story is simialr to tomsey's. I had hours reduced at work and thus income reduced and could no longer afford the minimum. I thought I signed up for a DMP but didn't confirm the amounts and when I realized that I forgot they told me it was too late and referred me to outside collections. I was getting about 20 calls a day, half at my job. It was crazy! send off a letter in writing to the agencies telling them to only contact you at XYZ number or by mail. I had to do this because they kept calling my job even after I told them not to because it wasn't allowed. I can pretty much guarantee you will be doing this regularly for a little while because they will pass the debt on to other agencies as soon as they receive your letter. I think it's worth it just for them to not call you at work. Secondly, they will settle especially if you haven't made payments in a while. I was able to settle my debt for about 50% spread out over 6 months. It's not the best scenario but at least I will be able to focus on other things.

all the info they have about me is wrong. I'm going to a request a deletion anyway. http://www.spokeo.com/privacy also you can check http://www.webmii.com/Default.aspx to see what else is floating around on the web that concerns you.

cool The CARD Act requires that all consumer credit issuers post how what's required to pay the balance in three years and how long it will take you if you just pay the minimum payment: http://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerinfo...itcardrules.htm

AES may remove one or two lates as long as you have a successful payment history. I know someone who had 2 30 day lates on an otherwise perfect 5 year payment history and they deleted them for her. THe loans were almost paid off when they deleted though.

Barclays/Juniper does have a hardship program but you have to be at least two weeks late to qualify. There is short term assistance which is 6 months and then long term assistance which is 12 months. I don't remember the interest rate for either one but it is around 8% maybe less. I don't think you can get on long term assistance unless you can complete the short-term program first. Can anyone confirm? In any event, I think when dealing with these fools you may be better off trying to set up a payment plan through CCCS or something because they are so unwilling to work with consumers.

BofA offered me 60 mos. repayment at 8% interest. I couldn't get on the repayment program until I was able to show that I could afford to make payments.