Collections, End of the year?

Question

I have 8000 in collections and have avoided the collectors for almost a year. My dad told me to hold off until december and try to make a deal with them bc he said they give better deals at the end of the year. (They wont even send me a written balance statement, let alone settle for less than paid- currently) I was planning on entering a governmental consumer credit counseling program. My dad said not to. What should I do?

Answer 1

Waiting till December won't necessarily make the collectors any more willing to accept your offer.

Either get to credit counseling or start negotiating settlement with those debts yourself. Your father is giving you some pretty bad advice. Your bad credit affects not only your ability to buy a house or car, but the cost of car insurance and limits job opportunities.

By the way, if you plan on negotiating settlement for less than full, they are going to want lump sum payments, not small strung out payment plans.

Answer 2

I am getting tired of seeing young people doing this to themselves. I had two bankruptcies. Both were due to my ex. She had a mental illness, and also decided that she was a better parent than I was. $50,000 later I won the war on the child custody, but in order to survive and give my kids a decent start, I needed to do a chapter 7. Here I am 8 years later.

You on the other hand have no one to rely on you. Your dad says to renege on your responsibilities.

Pay what you owe, as I assume you just ran up the bills, and never planned to pay them off. You don't say that you lost a job, or were working your way through school.

I don't feel sorry for you.

Be a man and face your responsibilities.

Answer 3

You could hire a 3rd party debt arbitrator to get you a better discount; somethings are best left to the professionals to get the best deal. I used www.totaldebtsolutionsllc.com and their free evaluation form to save money. I would avoid credit counselling at all costs.

Answer 4

junk debt collectors seem to buy and sell at 6mo. intervals. yeah sure your dad may be right. a collector might be willing to make a deal to put more money in his pocket knowing your debt will be soon sold to a different comp.