Barclay Sold Off My Credit Card Debt – How to Settle With the Debt Collector
I had a credit card with Barclay Bank for $2503.00 it is due to fall off my credit report in August of 2014 this account has been sold a few times to debt collectors. I just received a court date for a judgement unless I pay the debt. My question since it is due to fall off in 2 years how much should I settle for?
I have read that if the debt is less than 2 years not to bother paying since it will drop off. If it does drop off does the judgement also drop off or stays on for 7 years?
How can I deal with this Barclay credit card debt?
—Barbara
The original negative reporting from Barclay charging off the debt, and any subsequent negative items that may be reporting related to this debt (debt buyers and debt collectors reporting), have the credit reporting shelf life you refer to.
Settling a debt in order to improve credit report or score and avoid more credit damage.
I have a few questions about your debt. I will start there before offering some general feedback.
What state do you live in?
When did you last make a payment on the Barclay credit card?
I want to help you evaluate the statue of limitations (SOL) for legitimately suing you in order to collect.
If the deb is within the SOL, settling would make a whole lot of sense for the following reasons:
- Defending yourself against a debt buyer lawsuit is time consuming and stressful for the lay person in a way I cannot fully prepare you for.
- Defending against junk debt buyer claims has become increasingly successful for consumer law attorneys who specialize in this area. But hiring them costs money. With a smaller balance debt like yours, the cost to hire the attorney to defend you could be more than the cost to settle the Barclay debt with whatever debt buyer has it now.
- Your concern about allowing this to go to judgment and that hurting your credit for another 7 years is a real one. Wherever you read about considering not resolving accounts if within 2 years of if falling off of your credit report may be good for people in states with shorter statute of limitations to sue, but terrible advice for someone who still can be sued.
How much should you try to settle your Barclay credit card debt for?
Targeting the amount you can settle your Barclay credit card for is based on several pieces of information. One of them is the stage of collections you are in. The litigation stage you find yourself in is where debts typically get settled at the highest rates. But that is not always so. I can give you a better target to shoot for with your settlement offer (provided the debt is not past the SOL), if I knew:
Who is the debt buyer that now has the Barclay account and is suing you?
Who is the collection law firm they hired?
If you can answer all of my above questions in a comment reply I will be able to give some additional feedback.
Anyone dealing with unpaid Barclay credit cards, or a similar issue outlined above, is welcome to post questions and concerns below. You can also reach me for a phone consult at 800-939-8357, choose option 2 to ring me.
About Michael BoveeMichael started CRN in 2004 with a mission to provide people in need with detailed debt and credit help and education. Michael has participated as an expert panelist in federal consumer protection rule making, collaborated on state law changes governing debt consolidation, has worked as an expert witness in court matters related to the debt relief industry. He is available to speak with you about your financial struggle and helps people resolve their debt problems daily.
Hi there,
I lived and worked in PA the past 3 years. I got my wages garnished recently. The court order was in Hudson county, NJ and from the time of me knowing about it, I’ve been searching on how to go about this. I sent an objection on wage garnishment. My defense is I was improperly served because I never received it. That was back in 2019. Now they’re garnishing my wages. I have trial next Tuesday. How can I win this case? The plaintiff is Barclays. But a law firm is representing them. Did I make the right choice to object the wage execution? How can I ask for a lower amount to pay. I am already paying another loan off. Do you think that I have a good case here? What will be another good defense? NJ sol is 7 years which my last payment was on July 2018, so it is within the SOL but I live in PA. Which is the SOL is 4 years. My employer has a location in NJ. I am at my wits end. I have been super stressed about this from the start. It’s a small amount of 2k but everything is so expensive I can’t afford to spend &200 monthly for them to take it out.
I would talk with an experienced debt collection consumer law attorney in New Jersey about this. You can find some using the menus here: https://www.consumeradvocates.org/attorney-directory/
I have a Barclay card with an 18,000 balance. They are offering me a five year hardship repayment plan with 5.9% interest. However they say it will remain “delinquent” during this time. I’d rather not have that on my credit report for five years. The card is between 60 and 90 days past due. Should I try to settle it instead? I have already pushed about 22K. into 0%, 5-year repayment plans. I have two other cards totaling $3500 that I hope to pay off and keep open.
There are times I suggest settling to improve your credit faster than by staying on monthly payment terms, and typically when you are already 60 to 90 days late when you sign up for hardship plans. We can talk about it if you would like to schedule a call with me here: https://calendly.com/debtbytes/15min
Hello, In 2013 my husband passed away unexpectedly and of course, changed my entire life. I had to make some tough decisions and one was to stop paying on my Barclays card. For a time I received letters and calls but have not received anything from them since at least 2015. Today I received a call from Legal Locator Solutions asking if I want to settle my $4000 debt for $980. I think they are legit but nothing from Barclays is on my credit reports. My credit score is 765 and I have no outstanding debt. Should I ignore these guys, or make the settlement payment?
It is highly likely that your eleven year old Barclays account is passed the SOL to legitimately be sued.
This could be a debt collection scam.
I am being sued by Barclays for $9900.
I live In Pennsylvania. Last payment was May 2022 due to job loss. Many other events happened since then but I am now employed.
Prior to receiving my summons via certified letter mail, I don’t recall seeing any collection letters from agencies or Barclays. The summons says Barclays v. me, assuming that they still own it and have a lawyer rep. (There is just a male name as the individual that filed, no address or esq) That said, at this stage, can I still negotiate w/ Barclays for settlement? If Barclays still owns it, what kind of offer should I start with? I have some money put away, would like to resolve this in the least amount of payments if lump sum is too high for me. As I have 3 other smaller charged-off accounts from around the same time I would like to resolve. If I don’t I imagine they will literally follow suit.
As one would imagine, my credit score isn’t great and I know that settling isn’t great for that either. Nor is settling multiple accounts. What I’ve been learning from all of the content I’ve been reading (which I GREATLY appreciate, thank you!) is if your credit score isn’t so great—the impact will be less. Would you recommend settling the others now as well if I can? Total is ~$8000
You typically have to deal with the law firm suing at this point.
Settlements on Barclays accounts are usually much better before attorneys get involved. Now that you are in the courts you could be looking at a settlement between 50 and 80 percent.
If you have delinquent debts and want to improve your credit, settling and showing paid collections is better than not.
I am a fan of getting all the debt resolved in the quickest way possible if you are already talking the credit hit, but some balances should be kept current when possible.
Hello, I have a credit card with Barclays-Last payment made in Oct 2022 due to job loss. Original amount was 8900 with with all the fees that were accumulated I am told it was $11500 at charge off. -I live in Alabama. 1st sold to Capital Management Services then picked up by ERC on July5,2023. Several attempts were made to settle with both Barclays and CMS with no avail. They would not go any lower than $5000. I still do not have a job so this is not possible. This ERC company has gone down to $4600 and said they would have this debt until Dec 2023. What are the chances that this settlement amount will go lower as I still cannot pay that? I did tell her that we were thinking about bankruptcy and she said she could no longer contact me as I would have to contact them. I expalned that nothing had been done yet and that it was just a thought. Hoping that they will lower the settlement amount (as the others have) where I can actually afford it. She said she would send to her supervisor but I would have to call back. What should I do about this debt? Am I saying or doing the right things? She did say that it was unlikely that Barclays would allow them to settle for any less that the %42 offered. If it has been sold why would she say anything about Barclays since they no longer own the debt..correct? SHould I wait until Dec and see what the next collector offers? Will I have to opportunity to settle if it goes to court since noone has given an amount or settlement plan I can afford. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you
Barclays does sell accounts, but they do not sell all accounts. Very few actually, at least the last couple years. None of the companies you mentioned buy debt from Barclays, so they still own it.
You are going about this a little bit wrong, but still effectively. You have them three percent lower than they normally allow.
I do not see the settlement improving much for you in December, and certainly not if you are sued (could double, or close to it, from where you are at now).
I could help you settle and get a good amount of time to pay, and that could help.
So I owe Barclay $4100. It went to a collection agency years ago. This has been an ongoing issue for close to 6 years. Once it hits the collection agency, can I still try to negotiate with with Barclay? Or do I need to go through the collection agency? Also, do collection agencies typically negotiate? Or is the full amount due once it hits their law firm?
I have settled a Barclays account at every stage of the collection, including what you have going on.
Once Barclays has contracted with a collection agency, or law firm, you typically have to negotiate with that third party.
Has the account gone unpaid for this whole 6 years? What state are you in?
Yup, unpaid for 6 years. We actually completely forgot about it with life, jobs, kids, etc. It only came to light because we’re refinancing our home, and this came up with the underwriter. We had no idea, as it was so long ago, and completely forgotten about – not to mention, no one even harassed us to get this paid. We’re in FL. Didn’t realize we can negotiate in this phase. Is 50% an unheard of negotiation with a law firm representing Barclays? Or even more?
Had they sued in the past? If so, what was the date you stopped paying and what is the date the suit was filed? There is a 5 year limit for them to file, from when you went delinquent, in Florida.
Who is the law firm involved in the collection? And are they collecting for Barclays, or a debt buyer like Portfolio Recovery or Midland Credit?
How important is it to refinance the home in the next 12 months?
We got a letter to appear in court many many years ago when Barclay pushed this on to the law firm. The law firm is Hayt, Hayt & Landau out of Miami. This was around 6 years ago. We asked for a change of date for the court date, because we were going to be traveling for a conference. I don’t remember the specifics of that timeline being it was 6-7 years ago, but it got forgotten about. So now it’s all rehashed being we’re refinancing. We’re refinancing to get my ex-wife off the loan, so we need to it within the next few months. Ironically, my credit report says that this issue will fall off my credit report this summer.
Thanks. You are in a sticky situation. They have a court judgment and a lien against the home. That makes for a tough negotiation hill to climb all by itself. On top of that, your credit reports likely now show a recent mortgage credit pull, which adds to the difficulty when negotiating a lower lump sum payoff.
It may be hard to get any reduction from the collection law firm. You should still try, of course, but be real about what you may be able to get approved.
Is it uncommon that no one has ever reached out to me about this? I find it so odd that over the course of 6 or so years, that no one from the law office, court, etc has ever reached out. I’d assume that they would have been bombarding me with calls and letters to get their money. Which is why we completely forget about this. Over the course of 6-7 years, we’ve had outstanding credit, bought multiple new cars, etc – and this was never brought up, nor does my credit report even show anything in collections. Is that normal?
I agree that a judgment creditor hitting the snooze button on their collection efforts defies a bit of logic, but it can happen, and is more common with judgment creditors in my experience.
Collection law firms with judgments, that have liens on homes, are going to get paid eventually (when you sell or refi). And home lenders that are going to lend will often do a public records search as well as the credit check, and surface an unpaid judgment that an auto lender or credit card issuer might miss.
Judgments are often granted interest. When that happens, the balance is growing daily by a little. That is a bit of an incentive to sit back and wait for someone to become more collectible. Not saying that happened here, but it could be part of the logic to hit the snooze button overly much.
State court judgments like yours were removed from all of our credit reports back in July of 2017. Nobody would see it unless they went looking for it in the records, or unless they subscribe to public record aggregators like Lexisnexis.
you have been so helpful. I truly appreciate your advice to me. I also watched the video link you poster. Hopefully they’ll negotiate. I’ll let them think that I don’t NEED to refinance, so hopefully they’ll see that there is no urgency on my end.
I had a Barclay’s credit card that I stopped paying Aug 2017 due to unforeseen circumstances. They had sued me and a default judgment was awarded to Oliphant Financial on 3/29/22. I live in Texas. Two questions……#1 If they are able to levy my bank account, would that show up in the court records online that I can view? Would it show additional line items in my court information online, stating that the court has granted them a bank levy? #2, I have been married since that time and have a different last name than on the credit card. They are still using my old last name. Would they be able to levy my bank account if it is now a different last name?
Collection law firms with judgments typically try to match name and social with the bank sweeps they do. Their job may be harder with the name change and a bank levy.
I would talk to an experienced debt collection consumer law attorney in your state about what you should expect with your local court rules and levy filings.
I opened a Barclays card back in 2013 and it was closed and sent to collections in 2015. Now it is just showing as delinquent and not under collections. A job I am trying to get says I need to settle this. Can you guide me on the best steps to do this? I live in Nevada
Does your credit report show the date it is set to be deleted? The 7 year mark has to be close.
Do you recall what month you stopped sending in your payments?
What is the balance owed?
Is a debt buyer, like Midland Credit, or Portfolio Recovery showing for the debt?
Just received a renewed judgement served by sheriff on a 5k debt to Barclay’s Bank from 2011. I didn’t respond to the first judgement. Are they going to try to levy my bank account now after all this time? I’m in NC. I don’t even know how to “respond” to the judgement. It’s been bought by a law firm here in NC.
They can still levy your bank account with a renewed judgment.
do you have any updated info on barclay or choice credit cards, the info here appears to be 3 years old? 2 of mine have been turned over to a levy law firm co lpa and I can find nothing about them or know how to deal with them.
We often do Barclay credit card settlements between 25 and 40 percent.
Once a law firm is involved in the collection, settlements tend to be between 50 and 80 percent.
Good evening,
I have a Barclays account that was opened in 10/16. It had 0% interest at the time and I planned to transfer and pay off bal at 5.2k. Then life happened, had a baby and went through an extreme financial hardship (I know I should have contacted them but wasn’t in the mental state for anything). The account closed 9/17, with last pymt being 7/17. It is in c/o status still. I was contacted by a law firm with last notice 6/18 to collect, however at the time I was unemployed. Last year I received a court summons, and then judgment ( judgement doesn’t show on credit report). Also, when I check my credit report it shows only the original creditor as a trade line and that I currently have nothing in collections. I am trying to clean up my credit because before my initial hardship I had excellent credit. My question is there still a possibility to settle even after judgement and if so what would your starting base be, and also does this mean I still have an option to reach out to the original creditor as no collection agency trade line is listed?
It sounds like it was Barclays that sued and got the judgment. You can start off by calling Barclays to try to settle, but if they still have it out with the collection law firm, which is common, they will direct you to negotiate with them.
Settlements on judgments are typically best with a lump sum, and tend to land between 50 and 80 percent, as long as there is no garnishment or bank levy at the time.
Thank you so much! There are no garnishments or levies! I checked and debt is still with law firm…today I will be reaching out to try to settle. Thank you again so much!
Hi Micheal,
I have a debt with Barclays for $2700 that I haven’t paid on since last October. It is currently with a contingent debt collector. Is offering them $875 a reasonable offer?
That is on the lower side of what I see Barclays settle for right now.
Nice work!
I owe $8600 (1/3 of total is interest) to Barclays and have not made a payment since the first week of March. I have the cash to settle if they will take less. Do I need to offer an amount to settle, or simply ask them to settle? They have not sent me to collections due to covid.
I mostly see the need to make a proactive offer to settle when you call in to Barclays.
There is something to letting them bring it up, but they may not until you are more late on the account.
So I open a barclays account in March 2014 for $1300 and never made a payment… it’s been 6 years and 2 months and the account is closed the balance is at 1650, and I called the other day because I’m working with a debt consultant team and originally had barclays on the payment plan but then I thought I paid them in full and ask them on the phone and found out I never made a payment so maybe I got the account confused …. they called me today asking if I could set up a payment plan for like 20$ and at this point I feel like it’s better to just let it go it’s almost been 7 years… I told the representative from Barclays I was out of a job and called in because I thought I paid the account in full … the account says close … can they take me to court ? At this point If I start to pay won’t it hurt my CC more? Thanks for the help
What state are you in? Your Barclays credit card is likely passed the SOL to sue, and will soon age off your credit reports organically. If that is the case, monthly payments, or any payment, is not something I would do if it were me.
Hello! I’m currently saving money to settle for a charged off Barclay account with a balance of approx $4400.00. It is currently with Capital Management Services. They have said $1949 (45%) is the lowest settlement they have permission to accept and cannot present Barclay with a lower offer. I am currently making $20/month payments to buy time to save enough to settle. Is a 45% settlement typical with Barclay, or should I hold out for a better offer when it is passed to another collector?
I tend to see Barclays settlements between 30 and 50 percent. Getting the best outcomes can be situational. You may look more collectable than someone else, or the colelctor may just be holding out.
Barclays still sues just enough to keep people on their toes, and they also sell to one of the largest debt buyers in the country, who sues a ton, and whose settlements may not be this good.
I too would try to work this down some from here, but would weigh those risks as well.
Barclay by legal order, took money due to a defaulted credit card out of my joint account. The credit card was in my husbands name and we have the same last name. Will they take funds from a bank account that is just in my name and not a joint account? Thank you.
Probably not.
I received a settlement offer from barclay for 30% account is currently about 125 days past due. last payment was june 18th. first missed payment was july 18th. is it worth waiting another month to see if i can get lower?
I have an old Barclays debt that is a little less than $7,000. During 2015-2017 I apparently received a summons from Harris & Zide Law firm (collections agency). I didn’t find out about it until I returned to the U.S. in 2017, but I never saw what the result of that summons was. Fast forward to 2019 and I have a bank levy that is holding almost all of the money I had in my bank accounts which is about $2,600. I have filed a claim of exemption. But would you know what are my other options and if I would be able to negotiate a payment plan without taking a $2,600 hit out of the gate? Thanks, much appreciated.
Hi Michael,
Hoping maybe you can help me. I’ve been contacted by a group called the Dawson Webber Group I have searched for the names and numbers thru google and nothing comes up. They indicated that they were trying to collect on debt from Barclay’s Bank US Airways Master Card that i opened back in 2007. They indicated it was a line of credit from usairways, but then later said it was a mastercard that i defaulted on . August 22, 2013. I find this highly unlikely I stopped baying my Credit cards in 2011 because of Financial hardships. I admit i defaulted on my account all before 2012. . I don’t even know where to find the original information. I don’t have the money to pay an attorney to help me with this. I am wondering if you can direct me to somewhere that can help me figure this all out. I see so many things about CC trying to collect old debts wrong debts. I just want to figure this out. I tried to ask for some sort of documentation indicating that i owe the debt as i didn’t recall the Credit card but anything is possible. it’s been a rough few years. .They even insinuated that my ex husband could have opened the account added my name and then filed for bankruptcy and continued to tell me that i am responsible for the debt that they will take a settlement of 4000.today. They were bullies using scare tactics by threatening me with they were going serve me at my job and home.
Ignore them. Scammers. Tell them to stop calling you and any number associated with you. If it was legit, they would not be calling you. They would have sent you a certified letter or had it hand delivered by a law enforcement agent.
I took out a barclay credit card in 2012 credit limit was 1700, but my balance was 647 which i stopped paying. (was very young)
How can I settle? My balance is now $2532. from all the interest that was build up.
What do you recommend?
If you stopped paying your Barclays card in 2012, it should be off, or close to coming off your credit reports. What is the main motivation you have to settle now?