Here is a great opportunity for you to ask any debt relief or credit related question and receive input from an experienced expert! Ask a question about settling credit card and other types of debt with your bank, a debt collector, or a debt collection attorney. Are you dealing with a debt buyer? Not sure what you are dealing with? Submit your question and CRN will help you with detailed and useful feedback.

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You can ask just about any debt and credit related question here and get a dedicated reply by email. This is not published anywhere on the site. Sometimes I reply with questions of my own before I can offer actionable feedback.
Thank you for thoughtful comments on the proposed settlement letter with Weltman. Do you think 70% is a reasonable settlement percent given that they have already gotten a default judgement? They are working for Discover/Capital One. Would it make sense to make a call directly to the creditor to try and reach a 60% settlement.
As I previously indicated, the other settlements we have negotiated are in the range of 45-60%.
There is one more negotiation we have not started. It involves a debt that was sold to a 3rd party collection company, Credit Corp Solutions. We do you think expectations should be on a settlement % with them?
Thak you
Settling a Discover court judgment at 70 percent may be as good as it gets. There would have been better opportunities before it got to this point, but now that it is there, you may want to consider this deal.
It does not make sense to call the creditor. They will just refer you to the Weltman law firm.
I generally target settlements with Credit Corp between 40 and 60%. There are a host of reasons why people end up on the lower and higher ends of that spread.
I’m sitting on around $80k in debt. I already settled a large loan for less than half, and I’m starting to see ~60% settlement offers from other creditors. Right now I’m about 120 days past due on an Amex personal loan (~$12k) and a card (~$3k). I’m not as worried about my other accounts – even an $18k Chase balance feels more straightforward, lenient with settlement, etc – but Amex has me concerned.
My fear is that Amex simply won’t offer me any settlement at all. What are the chances they don’t offer anything?
I would not wait for a creditor to offer a settlement. If the timing for that account is right, and you have the resources to pay a settlement (many can be paid over a year or 2 even), you typically want to make thinks happen. That said, AMEX is often different than dealing with other major banks.
When did you miss your first AMEX car payments?
Have you heard from anyone other than AMEX at this point?
How prepared are you to pay a settlement?