11 months left in CCCS... (Providian doesn't appreciate payment - just discharge!)

I just found this website and was hoping to get some advice on whether or not to stay in my CCCS-like program. My current FICO score is 617 and I have $8500 left to pay on my credit cards (plus I think I can have this paid off in eleven months!). With being so close to finishing paying off these accounts, should I leave my CCCS and go it by myself to help my FICO score improve? I currently have only my $500 overdraft protection on my debit card that is showing up as an open account on my credit report and all other accounts have been closed.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Sorry for the late reply ...

You have to contact each creditor and ask them if they'll charge (higher) interest and if anything else changes if you start making the payments directly.

Also make sure that you don't have any credit counseling notations on any of your credit reports. While Fair Isaac's Beacon ignores those notations, some scores rate the credit counseling notations similar to bankruptcy. Mortgage underwriters also don't like those notations.

Now is the time to make sure that the accounts are reported without any derogs. "Closed by credit grantor" is another notation to get rid off, although not nearly as derogatory as the CCC notation.

Some creditors will say that they'll delete the notation once the account has been paid off.

You MUST get all agreements or promises in writing!

I don't think those customer service reps lie on purpose, but most are probably "misinformed" by their supervisors. Sometimes people called the same creditor several times and every person had a different story. Citi is famous for that.

And it sounds like you're aware that you should get some more tradelines. Try for the Target guest card at the store. Aren't you getting any promos?

Thanks for the response, Christine! It was a big help.

I pulled my credit report and sure enough....there were several notations of 'account closed by credit grantor' and notations that I am a part of that CCC program. I'll start chasing my creditors down and I'll let you know of my progress.

I had browsed through another one of the threads and had found a reference to acquiring a Target card, so I did that a few days ago. Guess what happened when I pulled my new FICO score. It went up! (From 617 to 627!) Isn't that the opposite of what is supposed to happen when you apply for new credit? Has anyone else had this experience? I had been staying away from applying for new credit because I thought the score would go down significantly. Do you think that this has anything to do with the amount of money owed vs. the credit limit of the accounts? The mystery of the FICO scoring system continues.....

Thanks again for the help!

It's really important to understand the initially you usually do lower your scores when applying for new credit.

1) The inquiry - it'll only affect the bureau that was pulled

2) the new account generally lowers scores a bit, BUT, if you haven't had any open charge accounts, it can apparently increase your scores right away.

You have to remember that to establish account history, you need to start re-establishing credit ASAP.

I.e. let's assume you open an account today and it lowers your scores for 6 months. If you wait 2 years to open the account, it'll lower your scores for 6 months THEN.

While if you open it now, in 2 years you got some great scores AND history.

Inquies only lower your scores for 12 months - the sooner you get them, the sooner they won't lower your scores.

The very best thing you can do is try to get some of the CCC creditors to REOPEN your accounts. They may not be able to reissue cards with the old account number, but it doesn't cost anything to ask.

MBNA recently agreed to delete recent 60 and 90 day lates in exchange for paying down the balance on an account that was opened to basically reaffirm the balance of a charged off account. The "new" account is still open, now paid off, and I just hope they're not going to close it now.

It seems like MBNA *IS* willing to negotiate pretty well. They're one of my creditors, so, I gave them a call and this is what it looks like would happen if I drop my Consumer Credit Counseling Company:


Q. What happens to my credit rate on this account if I
terminate my “CCC” firm?
A. MBNA will go back 24.98% if I simply accept the terms of the account as they currently are. ****HOWEVER, if I renegotiate terms with the company directly, I may still be able to retain the 16.9% rate that I’m currently at through the CCC plan or even go to a lower rate. This may require that I go on a plan with them for the period of 1-2 years. They have a separate application process for the reopening of an existing account that I can fill out and it sounded like I am a good candidate for having this account reopened. I can speak to the ‘credit analyst’ after I have removed myself from the CCC program in order to negotiate the plan mentioned above, but, because of the constraints of the contract that I’m under, I cannot speak with them until I am off my contract with them.
**In a nutshell, it sounds like I’m taking a bit of a chance to go off the CCC program, but that the rewards will be either the same or greater by negotiating directly with MBNA. What’s your feeling on this?


Q. What will happen to the 'consumer credit counseling' notation
on my credit report?
A. This will be removed upon either completion of the CCC course or upon me notifying MBNA that I took myself off the plan.


Q. I will have my balance paid off with your company by____.
Will you reopen my account when this occurs?
A.***This guy sounded like he was not in a position to make calls on credit ratings and he did remind me that I can’t do anything credit-wise until I either complete the CCC program or go off it completely. They have a separate application process for the reopening of an existing account that I can fill out and it sounded like I am a good candidate for having this account reopened. I can speak to the ‘credit analyst’ after I have removed myself from the CCC program in order to negotiate the plan mentioned above, but, because of the constraints of the contract that I’m under, I cannot speak with them until I am off my contract with the CCC company.

What do you think about all of this? Am I grasping at staws or has anyone had results from this process? I would dearly love to cut out the middle-man and get a better interest rate directly from MBNA and get rid of the $25/month fee my CCC company is charging me. I may just take this one account off the CCC program to experiment with at first rather than dropping everything all at once.

***My biggest concern is that I cannot get the promises in writing because I cannot speak with the 'credit analyst' until I am off the CCC program. Am I in a catch 22?

Thanks again for all the help!

Originally posted by rawilli

***My biggest concern is that I cannot get the promises in writing because I cannot speak with the 'credit analyst' until I am off the CCC program. Am I in a catch 22?

Thanks again for all the help!

If you can't get it in writing then I would say you are in a catch 22. No writing means no verification. No verification means maybe I'll change the report and maybe I won't.

Maybe I'll put on the "was CCCS but now current" or some other babble to keep the account in a negative status.

I don't know what to tell you. This seems to be quite a pickle you're in.

Beware though that whomever told you that may not know what they are talking about and that's why you can't get in writing.

I find it hard to believe that they will just remove the CCCS notation and report like it didn't happen.

Rhaeny, I don't remember seeing CCC notations for MBNA accounts - it might well be that they delete the notations.

I really don't understand the contractual obligation of a conumser after they signed up for CCC.

I'd take the MBNA account out of CCC - unbelievable that they can't get you anything better than 17%!

"Q. I will have my balance paid off with your company by____.
Will you reopen my account when this occurs? "

That's the WRONG question! Why should they reopen the account AFTER you PAID?????

The more you owe, the better the chances that they'll reopen it.

Insist on them reopening the account and giving you a decent rate. They probably give you a limit close to your current balance. And if you keep the account current and the rest of your credit remains ok, they should not lower the limit as you pay the balance down. Of course there are no guarantees, but that's the best you can do.

And while you won't be able to get anything in writing, I highly recommend recording those calls. You don't need to let them know that you're recording, you obviously don't want to annoy them, but I'd keep those calls in storage for a few years.

I just remembered I have a client with an MBNA account that was in CCC, he's still paying on it, there's no notation on it.

Christine and Rhaeny,

I'd take the MBNA account out of CCC - unbelievable that they can't get you anything better than 17%!

:o Wow! Okay, by this statement, I can infer that you mean that any interest rate above the 17% does not constitute a normal interest rate for these kinds of renegotiations. So, the 19.99% I'm paying on two different Providian accounts after this 'renegotiation of terms' through my CCCS company, AAA Fair Credit Foundation (http://www.aaafaircredit.org ) is NOT representative of what I could get from these companies.

It looks like I have a lot of homework to do. Can you recommend more places to look for information outside of this site? (I've pretty combed through your archives.)

Again, this site is invaluable! Thanks for all of your efforts!

Insist on them reopening the account and giving you a decent rate.

By decent rate, do you mean 12-15%? What have you had luck with with your clients in the past?

Thanks!

Most of the times interest rates are reduced to zero when people join a CCC program. After all, if you want to pay 15% or 20% interest, what's the point?

Many of these outfits promise reducing your payments significantly and paying everybody off in 3 years.

When you go back to paying on your own, 15% isn't bad. And in your case, the issue really isn't the interest rate since you want to pay them off real soon anyway. It's more important to have the account open.

And no, I don't know of any other sites with good ccc info, most are infiltrated by ccc people :)

You sure got a terrible deal.

Have a client with an MBNA account that had the limit reduced when he became delinquent. He just got his original limit back. The first person he talked to declined, he asked for a call from a supervisor who reinstated the original limit.

Don't take no for an answer on the first try.

Remember that you can always go back onto CCCS if you don't like what you are able to negotiate for yourself. MBNA is a very open-minded company and they seem very willing to work with you.

The last thing you want is CCCS notations all over your credit. Work out something that excludes them, if possible. They don't offer you anything you can't do for yourself.

I called Providian today. The guy I spoke with said that their company will not negotiate at all with me if I go off my CCCS company. They will not remove the 'credit counseling' notation, drop my interest rate, or open/reopen an account for me. I asked to speak with a manager but, they were not around today. I'm going to try again tomorrow to see if I can speak with an actual manager.

Has anyone had any luck in negotiating with Providian? What have they agreed to in the past?

All comments definitely help! Thanks!

PS-Christine, this topic seems to be veering off the subject of credit scoring. Should I start a new thread?

I have found Providian to be some of the bigger morons - they don't even mind putting their FCRA violations in writing.

Providian FCRA violations (http://forum.creditcourt.com/discus/messages/207/207.html)

Just like with Cap One, my recommendation for Providian is to find FCRA violations and sue. I know that's harsh, but that seems to be the only thing that works. Even then they sometimes refuse to delete, they rather write checks for thousands of dollars. Thing is, when you get those checks, you don't need the credit, just pay cash.

And while it doesn't apply to you, this should be a lesson for people who qualify for bankruptcy. Just DISCHARGE!

Going to move this to "The best of ... " section -- more people will read it there and DISCHARGE Providian and Cap One. Let them have what they deserve. They obviously don't appreciate people who are trying to pay their debts.

Forgot to ask, will they remove the CCC notation once it's paid?

Christine,

The underling that I spoke with said that Providian will not remove the CCCS notation from my credit report and that it will have to 'just fall off' in the seven year period of time. I'm still trying to get in touch with a manager to see if this is truly the final word on the notation on my credit report.

This is just crazy! The only reason I joined the CCCS program in the first place was to receive better interest rates on some cards I was trying to pay down. But, now it looks like I'm going to be a 'credit pariah' for the next seven years!

All right. That's it. I'm dropping my CCCS program immediately to start getting that awful notation off my credit report as soon as I can.

Thanks again for the advice!

rawilli

Slow down :)

You wrote "The underling that I spoke with said that Providian will not remove the CCCS notation from my credit report and that it will have to 'just fall off' in the seven year period of time."

So, quitting the program isn't going to help, and they COULD start reporting all kind of delinquencies and even a charge-off if you can't pay them in full.

Here's the million dollar question: The notation will drop off 7 years from WHEN????

How is that account reported anyway?

Are they reporting the timely payments?

Accurate balances?

See, if they DO, this account should stay on your credit for at least 10 years from closing. I think it should be reported as good account for 10 years from the last payment, since that IS payment history - but that's arguable.

Anyway, when I see those CCC notations, I never see a date with them. The bureaus put these accounts in the GOOD account section! That's where I see them when they didn't have lates.

Bottom line: As of WHEN is the notation aged?

Don't just quit now, you're so close. If you can, just pay off an account and be done with it.

And, I sure hope you're not making any "voluntary contributions" to that outfit that got you into this. I read their FAQ earlier, totally outrageous.

Rawilli,

We too have MBNA on the CCCS program. Our interest rate before going on CCCS was 15.9% and they were the only ones that wouldn't reduce that rate by going on CCCS because of our delinquency.

We will be able to pay off in about 3-4 months and was wondering about getting off CCCS now vs. waiting. I've only had one round of calls to creditors but I'm leaning towards just staying on and paying off. The only good thing about our situation is that none of the creditors under CCCS list that way...they are all "closed by credit grantor" and have a slew of prior lates though.

I too am going to call MBNA and see what they will do re: reopening acct, deleting lates and "closed by"...and interest etc.

Keep us posted on your results and I'll do the same!

Learnmore and Christine,

Learnmore, which CCC organization are you working under? After having read both your and Christine's reply, I will just stick with a CCC company and finish out the plan. :O Christine, those 'voluntary payments' that the company asks for are not truly voluntary. They are required of each participant. I know...I've tried to get out of them without success.

Now, here's a question: Since I am in a financially much better shape and would be able to handle the extra payments, would it be better for me to switch to another company that has a better track record with negotiations with creditors? If Learnmore is working with the company that I'm thinking they are, from what I hear, the real CCCS company does a much better job in the area of having those negative statements removed from credit reports upon completion of their program. (I promise I'm not going to do anything drastic like switching programs right now but it might be useful to gather this information for others.)

The final question of the day....if creditors look at CCC notation as if they are just as bad as a bankruptcy, does that mean that in two years I will be able to hold a mortgage like I would be able to after discharging my debts through a bankruptcy? Thanks!

We are under our local "Consumer Credit Counseling".

I have no complaints so far. Our payments are automatically debited out bi-weekly (this reduces "their" fees...by a whopping $3).

One tip I figured out early on when reading the boards etc. is too make sure you have your creditors move your "payment due date" out. Since CCCS is not dependable enough to get payment there the EXACT day every month, I chose to be very careful and have all my due dates like the 25th of each month. This way, if CCCS takes a few extra days from the beginning of the month to get payment there, it won't be late.

Rawilli, I don't know about switching companies. You could call your local CCCS org. and tell them which creditors you have and see what the set % rate is for each. I think it may be more of a pain than what it's worth because of contract with current company, having to do new one with another. If the difference in the rates isn't that much, I'd stick with what you have since you are close to payoff.

In my case, I still think I will pulse the creditors once more and ask for those supervisors and/or retention dept. to see about Christine's idea to have account reopened with remaining balance BUT have them remove derogs...that would be wonderful.

I'm no mortgage guru, but I think alot will depend on your FICO scores at the time you go for the mortgage. If your in "prime land", have debt to income ratio, and a decent downpayment, you may only have to write explanation. If your in subprime land, you may just have to pay higher interest. I'd check out the mortgage grapevine website.

http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/cgi-bin/grapevine/rendermain.pl?1034283847

It's for mortgage brokers but there is a lot of good information to read there!

Good luck!

Why does anyone use CCCS, AmeriDebt or any of those other agencies. What's the benefit?

Assuming you have the ability to pay your debts, why not just pay them? Assuming you don't have the ability to pay, why not just discharge them through bankruptcy?

In our case, we were so overloaded with debt but hubby just couldn't bear the humiliation of BK. Since we didn't think BK was the answer, we went on OC reduced pymt plans but defaulted even on those. So by the time our balances were snowballing with higher interest, late & overlimit fees we went to CCCS as a last resort. That was early '01.

I didn't know about these credit forums then....

My reasons for joing the CCCS: wanting to get a better interest rate than the average 19.99% to 24.99% than I was at when I first started and last, but not least, a lot of naievete and eternal optimism on my part. Like Learnmore, I had not even heard of websites like bayhouse and had no clue that joining one of those CCCS organizations would actually hurt me in the long run.

***I think that there are a lot of people out there that just don't know the right questions to ask when they get in financial trouble.*** I am slowly starting to see the questions that I should have asked a long time ago. Like Christine, I feel obligated to share with others in the hope that through my struggles, I can help someone else ask the right questions in their negotiations.

So, keeping these things in mind, I have decided to post as many things here as I can so that someone else can benefit from the process that I'm currently going through.

Shylock, it sounds like you've been familiar with these proceses for far longer than I have. I appreciate your insights. Boy, do I wish that I could have come in to contact with all the people here a couple of years ago!!!

After reading Christine's last response, I decided to go back to the phone and give my CCCS company (aaa fair credit foundation) a call about the 'voluntary' fee of $25 that they have been billing me for each month.

I spoke with Andy, the customer service agent. Here's how it went:

Q. Andy, can you explain to me what my $25 monthly 'voluntary' payment goes towards?
A. This covers costs of paperwork, drafting from checking account, phone calls to creditors.

Q. When was the last time that paper work had been done for this account?
A. That hasn't been happening for a while. (Hasn't happened in over 9 months.)

Q. When was the last time you made phone calls on behalf of this account.
A. That hasn't been happening for a while in regard to calling the creditors.

Q. So, the only service I'm getting from your company currently is the one monthly deduction from my checking account.
A. Yes, but the fee is how we pay for you calling us and how we cover the fee from the bank for deducting the amount from your account. The bank's fee is $10.

Q. Andy, monthly deduction of fees from my checking account is free through most of my credit card companies. I don't think that I should pay a voluntary fee for something that is otherwise free, do you?
***At this point agent Andy went to speak with his manager because I just wasn't going to give up. He then came back to the phones with the offer of 'if you send us a money order for the scheduled amount you owe each month, we'll reduce the amount of your *voluntary* contribution to $3 per month'.

Now let's dissect this offer. At first they told me that it was absolutely necessary to have the full $25 per month for their operating expenses. Then, when I queried them on 'what have you done for me lately' that drops to $10. When I still didn't give up, Andy consulted his manager and the fee drops to $3 if I *pay through money order* each month (now keep in mind the fee that companies will charge for a money order).

Like anyone else in America, I don't mind paying for services rendered. However, I do mind when I don't feel like I'm getting my money's worth. So at this point in the conversation with Andy, I acquiesced and agreed to the reduced amount of $13. (For me paying a lower fee is much better than having to redo all the paperwork again to re-setup all these account individually if I pulled myself from the CCCs program.) So, with about 10 months left in their program, I have just found another $120 I can put towards eliminating my debt by renegotiating with the CCCS program. :D

Christine, you were right when you said not to take the first answer they give you as the final word on the subject!!! I'm going to see if I can do this kind of negotiating with the credit card companies directly. I'll keep you posted.

On the "voluntary" fees:

1) Rawilli, I'm glad you got to save a few bucks.

Now I don't know how your contract reads, each company is different. But I've seen them where you COULD choose not to pay them, although they wouldn't refund. I think I posted the Genus/Amerix link earlier, they wouldn't give one penny back.

For anyone who as per their contract pays a "voluntary" fee, I'd recommend faxing that you are no longer making the "voluntary" donations and see what happens.

2) Aside from YOUR donations, the CREDITORS pay 10% (usually) of every payment received. That's contractual, and why I call credit counselors "collectors in disguise" - they get paid like collectors, a percentage of the funds collected. But on top of the creditors paying, the consumer pays them too!

So when you make a $250 payment to the ccc, they only forward $225 to the creditors. If the creditor accepted their proposal, they will give you full credit for the $250.

The reason why ccc won't provide those proposals to the consumers is obviously that they don't want them to KNOW about those payments they receive from the creditors.

And, that's of course why scum like Amerix/Genus does NOT tell consumers that creditors rejected the proposal, that 20%+ interest will CONTINUE to accrue, and that after almost 3 years your payments barely covered the interest!

If you're making EXTRA payments, you may be able to save a few bucks by paying the creditor directly if the amount of your "voluntary" contribution is a percentage of the payment you make. The creditor will also not have to pay the ccc for payments received directly from you. BUT, it may also cause accounting problems and violate your ccc agreement as well as the creditor's agreement with the ccc.

That's why it might be best to simply take one account at a time out of ccc and pay it off as per an agreement directly with the creditor. And if they don't deal as long as the account is in ccc, make sure you got the $$$ to pay the creditor in full before removing the account.

Every ccc has slightly different fee structures, but if you have a couple thousand to pay off an account it can save you $200 in "ccc donation" if it's 10%, as many are.

3) In addition to the "voluntary" consumer and mandatory creditor fees, many cccs also get funding from the finance industry to collect for them. That's why they're non profits, so the finance industry can write the funding off as donation and of course to make gullible people think that they're something like a church and there to help them.

CCC is a very lucrative business.

That's why there are so many. I hear ads on the radio urging consumers with credit card debt of over $2,000 (TWO THOUSAND) to call to have their debt cut in half and interest and fees eliminated.

The directors of the "non profits" not only get salaries, but they often set up contract services with outside companies which they or their relatives OWN. Those are NOT non profits, they charge high fees to the non profit, and that's how they can make real good money.

I really find it despicable that non profits don't have to publish their accounting - it's a huge problem in the US.

Regarding the mortgage:

I have a client who got preapproved with one CCC notation for a score driven no money down loan. It might well be that due to his high scores nobody ever looked at the credit report or it was overlooked.

OBVIOUSLY, he did not point it out to the broker, he got the lender preapproval.

I've read the FHA guidelines and it's not a problem.

Every lender has their own guidelines for conventional loans, but a CCC notation definitely tells everybody that you had serious financial problems, even if you don't have a single late.

I really don't know what the current FNMA/FHLMC guidelines are.

Shylock, why do people join?

Because collectors are rude and obnoxious, threaten and humiliate people, and if you listen to the ccc ads or look at their web sites, it sounds like the best thing since sliced cheese.

And, often creditors WILL agree to report the account as current after a few timely payments, wave over limit/late fees and reduce rates. While SOME creditors will do this for consumers directly, many won't.

And, many people don't have the time and skill it takes to negotiate themselves. I'd be VERY much in favor of a consumer credit counseling agency that works for the consumer and makes sure the credit isn't ruined in the process.

Things are becoming much clearer!

That's why it might be best to simply take one account at a time out of ccc and pay it off as per an agreement directly with the creditor. And if they don't deal as long as the account is in ccc, make sure you got the $$$ to pay the creditor in full before removing the account.


Okay. I'm ready to experiment. I've got to reestablish good credit, so, I'm taking my one MBNA accout off of the CCC program. (I took the precautionary step of calling MBNA once again to speak with a different agent to see if they all give me the same information on what will happen to me if I take this step. Everything has been confirmed three times now....I can get a reasonable interest rate and my account will be reopened.) So, here I go.....I'll keep you posted.

BTW--I talked with Citibank as well today. They were absolutely unwilling to budge. They will not open/reopen an account for me. They will not remove the CCC label from my credit report. YUCK!!

In my line of work sometimes you have to collect on debts. It's not pleasant but sometimes people forget to pay you and they need reminding. Recently I've dabbled in collecting judgements for a few people with some success.

Of course, I don't send them a letter or give them a call, I show up at their door unannounced or meet them at the local supermarket as they're putting their groceries in the car. It's rare to see that level of creditor service/debt collection nowadays and people are understandably impressed. Having a copy of the judgement in your hand also goes a long way to eliminating objections that the debt doesn't actually exist.

That being said, I really don't get it why collection agencies and/or creditors won't work with people. It should be obvious to everyone that there are only two reasons why people don't pay debts: A) No money. Nothing to be done there, really, except to collect the dimes and nickles they can be persuaded to toss your way. B) Some sort of dispute with the company that provided them the product or service.

Whatever the dispute is it can be amicably resolved. I'd vacate any judgement for green paper in my hand. Anyone who wouldn't do the same is just plain out of their mind. Some collection agencies are on ego trips ... just liking the feeling that they are ruining people's lives.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is to fix up their credit and let them refinance your debt by a balance transfer onto their new platinum credit card. Whatever it takes, just get the dough. Why is Citibank being so stupid about this thing?

Shylock,

I can *hope* that the reason that this Citibank representative was so recalcitrant was that he was just having a bad day. I know that if I'm patient and call back at a different time, I'll be speaking with a different agent that might have a different answer for me. :cool:

Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

rawilli, I'm hoping to hit the jackpot with a CSR that's having a great day and feeling generous. I've learned not to be too impatient. It may take several calls but hopefully you and I both will hit the 'reasonable' CSR/ supervisor.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for both of us!


Shylock,

I too don't understand why creditors are so non-facilitating when it comes to there customers falling on hard times. These days it happens more often than before. But I've got to tell you, the ones who are a@#holes will never be forgotten and never get my business again. We are coming out of our bad times quickly through job promotion and bonuses etc. all of course done through hard work. The OCs seem to forget the 3-4 years of perfect pay history on our ~$7k lines each. I just try to remind myself that this score will only get better. As I continue to pay them off and dispute until they are gone, I will once again be a prime customer and will relish the day I get an offer from one of these companies and can tell them NO WAY (and why)!!!!!

What you need to remember is these ccs companies work for the credit card businesses. They always fail to mention this. They are not trying to get the best rate for you- they want the highest rate possible that can sucker you into paying for their clients which are the big cc companies. There is a guy called I think jack rausch at providian. Try and get ahold of him although I cannot remember his number. He answered me though either planetfeedback.com or the bbb.

Thanks, Picantel. I'll look up Jack.

Now for some good news. This past Friday, I called my CCCS company and informed them that I will be taking my MBNA account away from them. Today (Monday) I called MBNA and got some great news!

I spoke with Jamella Holmes (use a long e sound in her first name) at 1 800 856 0738 ext. 56934. She okayed my use of her name and her direct extension on this site and said that she would welcome any and all calls! She was fantastic!!

She told me about three payment options that MBNA currently has. If you pay a certain % of your balance within 90 days, they will lower your APR accordingly for a period of 24 months. So here are the options:

a) If you pay 10% of your total balance, you will receive an APR of 14% on your account for a period of 24 months.

b) If you pay 31% of your total balance, you will receive an APR of 10% on your account for a period of 24 months.

or c) If you pay 45% of your total balance, you will receive an APR of 8% on your account for a period of 24 months.

I've signed up for option c. They're giving me a great rate AND they are taking off the CCCS notation off my credit report! Boy, is this a better way to go than through my CCC company! It's too bad that neither Citibank or Providian has a plan like this....I would have leapt on it in a hurry. So, I'm leaving those two companies on my CCCS program and when I finish that program, I will NOT do business with them ever again.

Hang in there everyone! There is light at the end of the tunnel! :D

rawilli,

Thanks for the MBNA contact info. As soon as we have enough $$ to do option C, we'll be calling too. Thanks again for following up. Keep calling the others...maybe you'll eventually find someone nice!

Good luck!

Rawilli, that is some great info!

Everybody please keep in mind that those rates and options are there TODAY and they may well have changed by the time you call. Please DO update here if you find that things have changed.

And, remember to negotiate previous late payments, the new credit line, etc. - it all depends on YOUR situation.

Yes, Christine, that is good advice. I will update when our time comes!!

After the success with MBNA, I've begun to wonder why the other two companies (Citibank and Providian) do not have a repayment policy in place like the one that MBNA has.

I wonder if a well placed letter/email/fax or two that details the offer I received from MBNA would do any good. Do you think that Citibank and Providian are unaware of what their competitor is offering people?

My next question would be, 'Who should I contact in those firms with this information?'

Any ideas?


Thanks!

Rawilli

I was thinking the same thing Rawilli! Maybe a letter detailing what you were offered by MBNA would move them off their stubborn stick...but where to mail/fax...that is a good question!

Go with Jack Rausch for Providian via Planet Feedback (PFB). Sounds like Picantel had luck with him. Do more searching for Citi contacts or just PFB them as well. Some people swear wonderful results with PFB. I have only used them once with a dept store company and was completely ignored. I think the larger credit card cos have yielded greater results.

Keep us posted!

Learnmore,

I'm going to write both Providian and Citibank a letter and send it to them via planetfeedback.com. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Rawilli

rawilli,

I did a quick search on creditnet and found someone's success with Citi using this address/ fax #

Citibank Credit Bureau Disputes
P.O. Box 6241
Sioux Falls, SD 57117
Fax : 605-330-6780

Hope it helps.

Rawilli,

Check out this thread from creditnet...it relates more to a "goodwill adjustment" but ultimately that's what you want as well to get lates off. It also has a contact name at Citi. It's from 6/02 so I hope the info is still good. You may just want to PFB in general...not sure about that one...

http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&postid=198995&highlight=Citi+PFB+contact#post198995

Thanks for the info, Learnmore. Here goes nothing....

For future reference, I've enclosed the letter that I sent via planetfeedback.com below:

Dear Mr. Weill,

I hope you are able to help me with a problem I've encountered with Citibank N A. The problem concerns the billing or payment with your credit card.

I have encountered some serious problems when trying to repay my credit card account with your company. In February of this past year, I decided to give a consumer credit counseling firm a try in order to get a better interest rate from your firm. Little did I know that participating in one of these plans has the stigma of close to what a bankruptcy does!

When I spoke with your representatives on the phone lines, I asked them what would happen to me if I voluntarily removed myself from the CCC firm in order to begin repairing the damage it caused my credit report. (From what I understand, this would be much more financially lucrative for your company....you wouldn't have to pay the firm the 10% fee on my account that they charge you.) The answer to this was that your company would penalize me in the form of a higher interest rate (it would jump from 9.99% to 24.99!!!) and the CCC notation would remain on my credit report for the next seven years!



In the future I will likely take my business to other banks, and I will probably urge others to avoid banking with you.

Here's the resolution I propose: I ask that you consider installing a repayment plan along the lines of what MBNA has offered me today. The person on the phone told me of the three payment options that MBNA currently has. If you pay a certain % of your balance within 90 days, they will lower your APR accordingly for a period of 24 months after you have made that initial payment. So here are the options:

a) If you pay 10% of your total balance, you will receive an APR of 14% on your account for a period of 24 months.

b) If you pay 31% of your total balance, you will receive an APR of 10% on your account for a period of 24 months.

or c) If you pay 45% of your total balance, you will receive an APR of 8% on your account for a period of 24 months.

The other thing that MBNA is doing for those of us that are desperately trying to repay our debts in good faith is that they will delete the CCC notation from our credit reports.

I urge you to implement these suggestions. There are many people out there just like me that need a break. I would hate to not do business with Citibank again because of an inflexible repayment policy.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter. I look forward to your prompt reply.

Woohooo!!! I just got off the phone with Mary from Citibank! There is light at the end of the tunnel! Citibank called me personally in response to my letter that I filled out via planetfeedback and addressed to the president of Citibank.

It looks like she's going to get my interest down to around 10%, reopen my account AND there won't be any notation of CCC or 'debt negotiation' on my account. PLUS, I don't have to put any of those large payments out like I do for the MBNA account. **NB-she said that she was willing to do this because of my not having missed a payment since early 2001. So, it sounds like if you do show them a good payment history they are willing to work with you. Also, from my experience with the company the first time through their automated system, it sounds like the people in the collections department may be unaware of options that Mary knew about.

Once again, Christine proves true. ...don't accept the first answer you get as law.

So, that's two companies down and one to go. I'm still hot on the trail of Providian.

That is fantastic!

It's as good as it gets. 10%, open account, no derog notations.

And NO money wasted on the collectors in disguise. Wished I could get EVERYBODY in a ccc program to read this thread.

That is wonderful news Rawilli. I'm right behind you preparing my letters! Good luck with Providian. Let us know how that turns out.

Sounds like a great start to your holiday season!!!