You really have to take this step by step, and decide the best course of action to take each time they respond to what you do. That is why I said rest up and eat right. ;)

Once the accounts are past 180 days late, the card company has to write them off to P&L. Then they will sell them. Don't make any payments!! You will be shooting yourself in the foot. If you cannot pay a lump sum, there is no point in discussing a settlement with them.

When these accounts are sold to collection agencies, they will start trying to collect. The best thing to do is be a "good deadbeat." Disappear, turn into a ghost. Have no assetts that they can find. Don't return their calls, don't talk to them. Keep your employment a secret (if you can).

the one exception to that is that you want to send a validation letter within the first 30 days after they contact you in writing. If you don't answer the phone, they will send a letter. Never call them, do everything by mail, certified, return receipt. Get a P.O. box and use that for all your correspondence with them. Never give them any information. When people call them, they capture the phone number!!

Once you send the validation letter, they cannot attempt to collect until they prove the debt is yours. They often do not have any proof other than a computer printout. Well, I can make a computer printout. ;) You want proof, real proof that it is your debt. The best way is to insist on seeing your signature on the application. Along those lines, do not sign your letters or give them the account number or your SSN. Most of the time they don't have all of the information they need (they will have some). A standard response of a collection agency is to send you a letter requesting your SSN and your signature. At that point your repsonse should be "WHAT? If you don't have those, then you don't know who it is you're looking for. You have the wrong person. You didn't prove this debt is mine. Get it off my credit reports and don't contact me again."

Most of the time, at that point, they will sell it to another collection agency, because you have become too much trouble for them to keep bothering with.

This scenario repeats itself over and over, and every time, their chances of proving anything diminish.

Keep in mind their only real weapon is your own fear and guilt. The only way they can use those against you is if they can get you on the phone. If you have an answering machine, remove all identifying info from your outgoing message. Then they cannot leave a threatening message for you to hear. If one of them does, immediately take that tape out and keep it to use against them in court if it comes to that.

Templates for the letters are on my yahoo site (I'm sure you have it by now) and there are good letters all over the net. Just keep the precautions in mind about what NOT to do. Don't do those things no matter what they tell you. They will tell lies. Don't believe anything they say.

Do you get it now? You have to outlast them, and outwit them. They still think we are all stupid, and that we don't know the laws. They will make mistakes. When they do, you want to document it some way so you can use it against them later if you need to.

In the event you get an ethical, law-abiding collection agency, who actually does produce proof (your signature and info on a copy of the account agreement), the games plan changes, but actually, those kinds of agencies hardly ever turn up, so don't sweat it unless it happens. Those guys are not only ethical, they are human and you can deal with them; however, you don't want to screw up, so check with us first if you think that's what is happening.

Hope this helps.

BTW, ignore the disruptive poster who responded to your post. Apparently he is now changing his name to "Linda" ;)

Email him, if he responds, expand the headers, and post them here, hahahahaha!! If he does not respond, don't trust him.

And you can email me, I will respond. We're with you. Don't be scared. It's a long haul, but many others have made it. You can too.

Linda

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