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Has there been much success sending a letter to a cc company re: lowering interest rate and/or settlement options?
"I've reached the point where I simply can not pay on this account any longer. I see the situation as having 3 options.
1) Lower interest rate
2) Settle the account for less than what is owed
3) Stop paying on account
Is a credit card company willing to settle if the account is not yet delinquent?
Are there any sample letters that available that have been effective?
How successful have people been in getting the card company to report to credit bureaus "as agreed" or whatever the proper term may be?
Normally, the credit card companies does not settle a debt if it is not delinquent, because if you are current with your payments the company does not consider it as a bad debt. Now, if you are not able to continue with the huge payments on the credit cards, you can simply ask your cc company for a repayment plan and pay off the debt.
However, if it becomes impossible for you to continue with the payments, you can stop making payments and the creditors may charge off the debt. Now, the creditor will sell the charged off debt to a collection agency and you can come to a settlement agreement with the CA and settle the debt to 40 to 50% of the outstanding amount. But if your account is reported as delinquent and as charge off in your credit report, your credit score will fall by as much as 100 points.
If you have a good credit score, I would suggest you to go for zero APR balance transfer credit cards and pay off the debt. Most of the credit card companies allow zero APR for an introductory period of 6 to 12 months.
However, if you do not have a good credit score and you are not able to make any payment towards the debt, you can stop making payment towards the debt and when the account becomes delinquent, try to settle the debt for less.
That would be correct at trying to transfer the balance to another card cause if you have not been late they will not even think about settling the debt for less.