Discover Card in debt settlement

Discover card has adapted new policies of sending their accounts for collection as soon as a client asks about debt settlement. You should be able to settle your account with On Core, simply negotiate a settlemetn directly with them.

Discover usually sends their unpaid accounts to Zwicker and Associates who have a couple of lawyers names on their letterhead, my experience with zwicker is they never settle for anything less than 70 cents on the dollar, if you can settle for less with On Core consider yourself a winner.

Best case scenario is to deal directly with On Core, or try working a paymen plan with them to pay the entire amount back, negotiate for them to lower the interest rate down as much as possible this should help you pay your debt back.

Thank you for your help! On Core said they would have my debt for 6 months. They were really nice. I will try to negotiate with them! Thanks!

Hi Mcdadesan, Please post what the percentage if you get a settlement with On Core

Thanks

I am not sure how much cash advance you had. But, sometimes when you take cash advance or do a Balance transfer of a huge amount and then within a few (dont know how much is few) months stop paying then it cna be considered a fraud!

On Core is likely Encore Receiveables.

I hired an attorney to settle my debts about 14 months ago. I got 39 cents on the dollar for my Discover account. Maybe you should consider hiring an attorney. The do-it-yourself method hardly works from what I'm hearing. Zwicker and Associates are lawyers.. you'd better get your own.

I owe Discover card as well. My account is two years past due and is with Wright, Scott & Associates. Anyone ever hear of this firm?

Hello. I have 2 Discover accounts. When I started my debt settlement process back in September 2008, I fully expected to settle with Discover along with many other creditors. After reading A LOT about creditors on this site I learned that Discover is a very aggressive company that does not hesitate to take legal action. That being said, I decided to accept a hardship program for one year. It reduced my normal minimum payments in half and lowered the interest rate to about 5%. Basically I just needed a payment that I could work with and still save for my other settlements, in order to buy some time. That is the key...juggling the savings and settlement payments. Taking a good hardship payment plan can sometimes give you the breathing room you need in order to be able to save for settling other accounts.

Anyway in the meantime my American Express account was sent to Zwicker and Associates. They actually have attorneys in almost every state. They are not afraid to sue, that I know. I was able to settle with them for 55%. I was pretty much okay with that, especially since the legal rep from Zwicker told me that she would only have my account for 10 days...and then it would be off to the litigation department. My guess is that you should be able to get a 50% settlement or better with On Core. If you have the money, I would try to settle asap. I would not assume that they will really have your debt for the full 6 months they are telling you. If you need to buy some time in order to come up with the money, then that is another story.....keep in contact with them as much as possible. Even if it means every week! If you stay in contact with them they will assume you really want to take care of this debt and will try to hang on to it in hopes of settling. Tell them you are trying to borrow money from friends, family, waiting for income tax refund....whatever you can think of that sounds realistic.

You absolutely can do this yourself. Don't listen to those who tell you credit card companies give better offers to debt settlement companies vs. individuals. Actually I have found the opposite to be true. Last week I settled my own BofA account of almost $40K for $6500.....completely on my own. AmEx was on my own, and I will be hopefully closing a settlement deal with Chase in the next week, again ON MY OWN. I decided after mistakenly spending a few thousand dollars with a debt settlement company that no one is going to work as hard as me for my accounts. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I will be out of this debt mess by the end of the year!

Good luck to you!

Oops that was my post above....I forgot to type in my name! :)

I owed on a Discover card and when I stopped making payments, it went immediately to Zwicker. From that point, Discover would not even take my phone calls. I did not settle with Zwicker. I just wanted to get it paid off and out of my life. The only good thing about it going to collections is that I know longer was paying late fees or interest. Discover does not keep bad debt on their books for long and sends them to collections.

Good luck and keep us posted as to how you are doing.

Hey...any experience with negiotating APR's with Discover...I am current but just noticed the change in my APR...killing me with fees

I just put them on a debt management plan because they would not lower my 24.99% APR after having the card for years and no late payments. They would only lower it on the dmp to 15.99%. All of my other accounts on the program are at 9%.

when i joined the settlement company discover was one of them that called and said they dont work with settlement companies. and they was very harrassing to me. They actually told other family members about my debt. If i would have known better at the time i would have sued them.

But anyhow, the fact is they were my best settlement. the origional debt was around 5,000 they added all sorts of fees (made the total over 6,000)and my settlement company would only negotiate on the origional balance of 5,000 and i got a settlement of just a little above a thousand dollars.

As for negiotiating aprs, you mise well forget it. as long as your paying it, they are gonna keep charging it.

Sunnymay...

I am interested on how you are settling your debt. Please respond to email removed for your protection per forum rules---mobile
thanks

Sunnymay,

I am also interested in kowing how you are settling your debt. Can you please post it? I am so confused on how to do it my self even with the "do it yourself" instructions. For example can I settle with the cc company after my accounts have been charged off and gone to collections? Or am I stuck with te CA?

It may take a few calls but keep asking for the person who can settle your account thru customer service. Try and do this before you get behind - tell them your "hardship", tell them you would like to avoid bankruptcy, tell them how much you can pay - stick with the agreement. I've paid off BOA and Chase this way.

i great hardship letter i hear is key. make it as sad and sobby as possible. i know some may be uncomfortable with telling strangers your personal struggles, but in honesty when it come to settlement, they are more willing to work with you the better the story. to settle your debts you will get the better settlement as time goes on without payment, but you wont want to wait too long or you risk the chance of getting sued. most people get the best settlements through the ca.

When an account is charged-off the interest rate stops??? or does it keep adding up after that...i was told it stops and the debt amount is what you would owe right? Then you can negotiate it down from the original owed amount...anybody know?

I was able to settle 25%. I took about 4 monthes of negotiations. But here is the thing i did. I answered everytime they called me and told them i just have enough savings to settle for 25% right now but i am willing to pay more if they give me more time but there is no guarantee.
They keep calling and i keep telling them the same, very politely. I made them understand that I should be responsible for 100% payment but I just don't have the money. When they tell me my credit will be badly effected, I tell them it is already as bad as it can be.
At the end, they politely agreed to accept my settlement offer of 25%.
My total bill was $4000.00 . I ended up paying $1000.00.
Keep in mind, they will keep telling you that they don't settle but eventually they will settle through a third party.

You will be the winner but it takes patience. You don't need to hire any attorny/agency.
I have also settled $55,000.00 with Bank of america. I ended up paying them $10000.00 for 55 thousand dollar debt. I followed the same policy.

Regards!
Khan

they always say they wont settle, but they will. Look if someone owed you that kind of money for a long time would you take what you could get? i know i have its happened to me. just happy to get some of it back. hang in there they will most likely get pretty nasty and mean. but toughen up your skin a little and brush it off they will say anything i have learned but dont let it get to ya!

Yep, Discover is hard to deal with even tho they got our TARP money by switching to a Bank and raised interest rates to 28.99% when the fed fund rates that they can now borrow at is 0. Bunch of crooks imho....someone should file a class action law suit....I'm in!!!

count me in! i will never own another discover, lets not even get started on the gov money i dont feel like being agervated today! LOL! it boils my blood!

yes you can and you should

I just settled with Discover for 30%. I was only 30 days past due and the Discover rep was a real jerk, I had a big argument with him. Anyways, eventually, even after 30 days past due they sent me to a collection agency called Capital Management Services. It's been over 90 days past due and I spoke with Capital Management yesterday and settled for 30% of my $13,750 balance. What I'm having a difficult time with is BOA. Because of the cash advances and balance transfers on the accts they said my account does not qualify for settlement, I'm going into 120 days past due on one of my two accts with them now. I've settled all 3 of my Chase accounts already. 2 went to Pre-Litigation dept before I settled.

The first step in debt settlement is you have to be behind on your payments and not making them at all. Once you get 90-180 days late you can talk to directly to CC companies and start making offers. Remember this only if you really can't pay them, the last option before BK, not because you are a habitual credit offender. I think those who get the best settlements are those who show a good credit history up to a point where it's obvious on the their credit report that something has happened to cause a hardship. If you've always had bad credit, you might not have good luck because they are going to assume you are lying about your situation. Once I was past 120 days all the companies really started to talk settlement. I simply called each one, retold my story over and over and told them what I could pay, start low like 20 percent and just hold there, if they don't do it this month, they might do it next month. At 180 days, they will usually charge off and go to a collection company. Be nice to these people, sell yourself, and offer just like you would the CC company. Once they are with the collection company, you don't deal with the CC company anymore on the account. Remember, if you are close to bankruptcy they all get nothing, so make sure they know how in debt you are. Keep good records of all phone conversations and keep all records of payments, mailing, bills, correspondance, KEEP EVERYTHING, and keep it for the next 7 years minimum.

By the way, I've settled over 12,000 with BOA for 25 %, Citifinancial $7000 for 30%, Chase 28-30% on $5800, $16,000, and $10,000. I'm currently working on 1St Natl of Omaha, they've offered 45%, but I have not accepted. I have 2 Chase to go and Discover. Discover so far has told me that they won't settle, but I don't believe it. I've always had great credit in the past, thus why I ended with over $90,000 in credit card debt, but each month I'm getting closer and God willing, I'll be out of this mess soon. You can do it on your own, no one will work harder for you, than you!

I am working with american debt settlement. they settled one account out of my 10 for 50%. I settled another on for 30% on my own.. I am thinking of dropping them any suggestions...

I had my first call with Zwicker and Associates today regarding my Discover Card Debt of 5366.00. They offered 80 cents on the dollar paid over 6 months, and said it would never go lower. They said they would spread full amount over 36 months at 0 percent. They threatened to sue and do wage garnishments if allowed. That is fine by me, I am planning on calling their bluff, I offered 45 cents on the dollar. I have 3 other accounts I am settling and have been informed by my attorney that I must attempt to treat all creditors equally. I cannot afford 80 cents on all the debt, so I will stick to what I can afford, or see them in court. I will bring my bankruptcy filing with me and tell them they can have this 2000 dollars, or I will pay it to my attorney and go down the hall to file Chapter 13. Thoughts, anyone? I am only 35 days delinquent after 18 years of perfect payment history with these guys.

I’m a bit confused. If you so deep in debt that you are one step from BK where are you coming up with a lump sum payment? Doesn’t the fact that you have a lump sum suggest that you could make the monthly payment?

Some people cannot continue the monthly payment and turn to settlement. They borrow from their relatives, IRAs, pension funds, etc. to get this "lump sum" to settle.

I myself will borrow $5,000 for a pension loan to settle with 2 credit cards. So the fact that someone has a lump sum does not mean they can afford to keep making monthly payment, especially when the interest rates have gone up to 30%.

Settlement is a way to get a "fresh" start. Too bad the federal government doesn't give money to citizens to get out of debt like they did to the banks.

i know wouldnt that have been great??? were they actually gave the people 1 bailout or 1 redo. but then again the gov dont do anything that could benefit us only what benefits them and soon there wont be any middle class i feel the squeeze more and more each day. your either gonna be poor on welfare or rich. either way benefits them. sadly i know were im gonna end up falling because no matter how much money we make, howmuch harder we work, or how much we reduce our costs, they come out with a new tax or something new we have to pay for, or the price of absolutely everything going up, im honestly getting tired of keeping my head above water. It always seems to be such a struggle. sometimes i just wanna throw in the towel and give in already.

Now im done with my gov rant for the day LOL:p

Tell the attorneys what you can afford and try to work it out. If you can not handle it I suggest an attorney.

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I just called discover about my APR and in five minutes got it lowered by 5%. That's not much, but it certainly helps and they were immediately responsibe. I tried to bring it down another 5 but they wouldn't budge, but they did say that if I make payments for six months and stay current they will cut my itnerest rate in HALF again.

A small gesture, but appreciated, and they were nice.

Discover offered me to pay 8300.00 on a 11,500 balance. I have no income, disabled etc..they said we do not do settlements, 3 other major CC companys took 50% and called it even..why is Discover not setteling?

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I am making the minimum payments on my discover credit card but I have stopped making the Discover Personal Loan payments because I don't have a job and cannot afford the high monthly payment.
I spoke with them on the phone and I was honest about my situation. I am going through a divorce, no job, no income, two kids, and loosing my home. Which pretty much sums up everything in a nut shell. Now they have a account manager calling me once a week. I give him updates on my job search and situation, they then extend it out another week. I am not sure how long they will continue doing this, but at least they are being nice about it.
Unfortunately, I am probably going to have to file for bankruptcy since child support and alimony are so high. Since, those dont every go away and the student loan I have is also glued to me, my credit card, personal loans, etc will be hard pressed to get a dime.
The really sad part is that I love Discover Card :-(

I stop making payments on my card in December 2000. I told them my hardship (loss of income). I told them I wanted to settle the account with some of my income tax return. They would not settle or offer me a program to help pay off the account. The manager conts to call. I think the only thing they heard was income tax return. I can't afford this payment. I think i will cont to try to get a settle if not I will prefer to work with a thrid party (collection). Before I give Discover another dime. They're not friendly.

So, when you settle with a CC company for percent on dollar, how does that show up on your credit report?

I received a pre-litigation letter Friday from Smith Debnam Attorneys out of Raleigh, NC. I called them today and we negotiated $4395.49 down to $2650.00 which was manageable for me. But I had to send a certified check today since they gave me only until Friday to get it in. Thank the lord for an understanding boss, he gave me a huge advance so that I could pay them. I don't care that it wasn't a huge amount off. I owed the money (though a big part was fees and interest and that's probably the amount that was reduced) and wanted to get this debt off of me. I'd worried about this thing for 2 1/2 years since I haven't been able to make the payments. I was paying only interest the last year that I kept the account up to date because of one payment being one day late and my interest was raised (due to the weekend or a holiday, can't remember which but I was working very long hours and simply forgot it had to be sent early that month).
Be that as it may, the impression I got from researching this law firm online is that they are fairly tough to deal with. I did not find this to be true. This lady (Melissa) was very helpful and I was not uncomfortable dealing with her.

Has discover card got any easier to settle credit card debt with. I have always had excellent credit for over 30 years. I have suffered a significant financial hardship and they are the only credit card company that won't settle. Anyone have any advise. I'm 6 months behind on my payments and I take their call every week.

The one and only way to settle is to hire a reputable firm to represent you . NOT one of these firms that are advertised every 10 minutes on the radio that take a huge chunk of your money first before even paying a CC company. The ONLY way settlement works is if you have a lump sum amount of cash FIRST. Trust me - I could write a book on this subject after all the research I have done. You need to accumulate 50% -60% lump sum cash BEFORE settlement. Get this by selling stuff, or asking relatives for help. That is what I did. Yes - it was embarrassing :oops: to say I ran into trouble but trust me this was the typical snowball effect. Failed business, medical bills etc. Once you have the money accumulated you stash it in a CD for 180 days so you can't touch it. Then you simply STOP paying the CC companies. Don't answer the phone. Don't respond. They will try to scare the bejesus out of you - don't worry - you have the upper hand. THEN when the accounts are past 180 days you call them and offer to settle. Do NOT give them any up front payments (that resets the clock) and Do NOT settle until you have it in WRITING (BOA were total butts and were refusing to give me a letter until I sent payment. I stood my ground and they caved). I settled for 35 cents on the dollar with BOA, GE Money and Chase.
The WORST ones are Discover and Capital One. They will NOT go any lower than 50% and WILL sue you if you don't conform. Here's the kicker that most people don't know about. 95% of people who are sued by the CC company never show up in court and the CC company gets a default. The remaining 5% fight like hell and 98% of the time WIN (IF YOU HIRE A GOOD LAWYER - many are very affordable). The CC company MUST prove that you owe the original debt and many times they do not have the records (ie: The original CC agreement that you signed) because the debt has been sold off. Go down swinging. It's high time we fight back against Mobster Rule interest rates and penalties. NEVER AGAIN will I own a credit card. You don't need one. I've lived without them for almost two years and I have never been better off financially.:D

Great post beentheredonethat,I'm currently 120 days behind and holden for better offers.

Hello, Could you please give me some advice for B of A? I have an account with them that is over 150 days late and they are barely offering me 50%. I have explained my hardship etc. Could you advise?

Thank you



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I owe discover card $5,600, and haven't made payment in over 180 days. Is it possible for me to call them and ask to settle for 50% of what i owe?

Has anyone dealt with Weltman, Weinberg & Reis CO., L.P.A.? They have been hired, by Discover, to collect my debt. I tried working with Discover but was told my debt was not eligible for settlement; the person I spoke with was extremely rude so I moved on to settle with other creditors. I'm trying to get all my ducks-in-a-row before I respond to WW&R and was looking to see if anyone has dealt with them, personally.

WW & R is an aggressive Zwicker type firm and if they have a local office they will file suit. They have just called regarding our Discover account last Friday. Will they settle, Maybe? Doesn't hurt to try to work a settlement, as long as it's in writing. In our case, we have already sent a letter to Discover CMRRR giving them notice of our election of Arbitration to resolve their claim. The contract states that upon election of Arb, neither you nor we shall have the right to pursue the claim in court. Thus, by electing arbitration, their not supposed to sue because they have been waived outta court. Discover has had a recent trend to just disregard their own contract and file suit anyway...I'll update later...

I talked to a live debt counselor at www.ameridebtsettle.com. I had a lot of questions, they informed me about new credit card policies toward debt settlement companies and how it is better to enroll with a law firm.

Discover just enrolled me in a repayment plan which includes a big part of the principle being refunded back!In my case I owed them 4987.52 they set me up for 60 months at 54.00 each and will refund my account back about 40% (1986.94) also there will be no 1099 on the 1986.94 since this is set up as a refund.In a few months they will update with the credit bureaus with paid as agreed.

I just received an ???ATTORNEY PLACEMENT PENDING??? letter from discover. I???m at about 180 days on 3,800. Letter states, ???if we do not hear from you by June 30th, your account will be forwarded to an Attorney to obtain a judgement against you.??? I???m pretty sure June 30th is 220 days, which is charge off!!I speak to Discover occasionally and they state there is no settlement for this account. They???ve stuck to their guns. This is actually my Mom???s account. Health issues, no income, living off Social Security with no means to pay. I have POA on account and have been trying to settle seeing that I???m taking care of the account.Just not sure what the next step is. Anyone receive this letter from Discover??