I live two paychecks behind, and spend a lot of time worrying over not having cash for gas or food. I’ve got a lot of credit card debt from at least three major cards and one smaller one, but I’ve long since stopped paying on any of them because -all- of my money goes to the bare necessities first. The only thing kept current is my car note and rent (barely). I was also recently evicted from another apartment complex.
However, I am getting a tax refund and I’m wondering if I could use it to talk a few of the cards into a settlement. My entire refund will not completely cover even one of the cards — but I have payed the principle on those cards twice over since I first got the debt, and for some reason they think that if I couldn’t afford the minimum payments last year, then maybe I’ll be able to afford 30% interest and a 400 minimum payment now. (Which grows by the hundreds each month, because they just stack more fees + interest on top.)
How could I approach them about this? What would be an acceptable offer? (For one card, the principle is 2,500, but the amount owed on the card is over 2800 because of their fees.) How long should I wait before approaching them with this?
A co-worker told me that threatening bankruptcy won’t work anymore because bankruptcy still makes you responsible for paying the full debt anyway. This is sadly my next step if I can’t get out and away from this, and I do not have -any- known liquidatable assets except a car — which has been kept current, stuck in a SEVERELY upside-down loan (think, 14,000 for a car worth only 2500) and is owned by another lender anyway. I do not own a home, and most of my belongings were paid for in cash.
I’m just so glad that every single answer but one thus far has just been spam. So very helpful.