Posted on June 9, 2009 at 11:16 pm Ok so I owe mastercard $4562.34 for a credit card I had with them, things went downhill when I lost my job and couldnt find a new one, I am willing to make a settlement so this doesnt go to court but currently I make $650 a month (as a student, used to make $1400 a month as a chef hence my spending habits), what could I possibly bring this down to so they would settle? I really want to avoid any legal action. Should I contact the barrister or the company that passed this debt to the lawyer?

Posted on June 10, 2009 at 1:39 am Go straight to your original creditor (Mastercard) and explain your situation, but then again the usual practice is that a Mastercard representative would contact you first to collect, and when they call it puts you in a good position to explain your situation and negotiate the amount of your debt, the payment terms (if you want to extend it),  the interest rates (either they freeze it or lower it), etc.I saw your other post and you said that a lawyer contacted you instead, and threatened to take legal action against you in 10 days. Sounds dodgy to me. Beware of debt collection scammers. Like citizenoftheplanet said, have that lawyer verify your debt first, and never make any payments or do not even acknowledge that debt if there's no proof that it is yours.

Posted on June 10, 2009 at 5:45 am Ok I think Im getting the run around, I got a call from this supposed agent who was referred by the lawyers firm saying that hes willing to work with me etc and that he could offer me 75 cents on the dollar for a lump sum within a month. The thing is when I asked where he was calling from he said 'CollectCorp' which indicated to me that theyre the collection agency thats dealing with my case. What can I do with this? I told him I could manage $400-600 a month and he said sure but he cant lower my debt or freeze interest if I did a monthly plan, is there any way I can contact someone else for help on this matter? Im going to be calling the lawyers firm to confirm my debt and see if my case is really with them or if this collections agency just put their name on this letter to try and scare me.

Posted on June 10, 2009 at 8:14 am Collectcorp is in fact a debt collection agency. Your situation is a little confusing though so I am trying to clarify what is actually going on. From what I understand- it sounds like your account went from the orginal creditor to a law firm, and then from the law firm to Collectcorp? If that is the case Collectcorp is the collector you will have to work with, and the original creditor and/or the law firm, if you contact them, will simply refer you to Collectcorp and let you know that they are no longer handling the account and as a result they can no longer discuss the account with you. In terms of a lawsuit, if the debt is with Collectcorp, I would not be too worried as they are not a law firm, and typically creditors will refer accounts to law firms licensed in your state to file a suit (not always the case, but this is the standard method). If you want to try and set up a payment plan, they will most likely demand the full balance as it is very hard to spread out a settlement past 3-5 months regardless of who the collector is. If you have any money saved up or can get help from a family member or friend that may be your best bet to offer a settlement. In terms of percentages, 75% is not good considering the fact that your account is now with a third party collector. You should be able to get that percentage down between 35-50% at a later date, but this certainly depends on who the original creditor was. Can you let me know who the original creditor was? If I have that information I could help you out a bit more.  

Posted on June 10, 2009 at 11:40 am original creditor was mastercard

Posted on June 10, 2009 at 11:57 am What I mean is, what financial institution issued you your mastercard? For example, was it a Capital One mastercard? Mastercard as its own entity is a corporation that processes payments to and from the banks of the actual merchants and the banks of the people who use the card to make purchases.

Posted on June 10, 2009 at 1:20 pm Oh sorry, it was bank of montreal that issued me the mastercard

Posted on June 10, 2009 at 2:26 pm Oh no problem at all. Unfortunately I am here in the states and am not familiar with Bank of Montreal's internal policy towards debt settlement. However, if it is with a collection agency, I think you could expect that they would be willing to settle close to 50% at some point down the line, perhaps even lower. Remember, the further past due the account is the less of an asset it is to the creditor's (or collector's) books, and they longer they are going without seeing any interest from the account. So, if they are offering you 75% now, that figure may gradually go down as more time passes.