Debt Relief Success Stories
At The Debt Settlement Lawyer we find solutions for your debt problems. Read about our clients that we have helped with debt settlement and other debt relief options to live a life free of debt. We offer a free debt consultation to go over your debt relief options based on your your unique situation.
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We’ve given our clients debt relief from major banks, credit and loan companies. Clients have reduced debt from Citibank, Chase, American Express, Discover Card, Navient, Best Buy and more!
Client Testimonials
“Navient has finally updated my online account to reflect the settlement! My private loans are gone. Thank You again for your hard work and all your effort on this for me!”
“I am jumping for joy! Thank you for completing this settlement!”
“I feel a huge weight off my shoulders now (sigh).. I really appreciate it.”
Credit Card Debt Success Stories
Our debt relief services have helped lower or wipe out debts completely with major credit card companies, banking companies, lenders and more. Some companies we have helped our client settle credit card debt with Citibank, American Express, Chase Bank, USAA, Target, Discover Card & more! We’ve reduced clients debt anywhere from 25% – 100% of their total debt, it all depends on the individuals situation.
- Our client owed Citibank in excess of $14,000. After sending several letters to various departments of Citi’s collection departments, they agreed to take the balance down to $0.00. That’s a 100% savings! This was the final account for our client and he is now heading into retirement debt free!
- Our client owed a debt to Citibank for approximately $13,138.22. Once the account went into default, Citibank sold it to ICON Equities, LLC. They farmed the debt out to Viking Client Services in an attempt to collect the debt. Once with Viking Client Services, we were able to settle the account for $6,000.00, payable over 12 months at $500.00 per month. We saved our client $7,138.22 (approximately 55% of the amount due) and got our client on a payment plan that met her monthly budget.
- Our client owed Citibank in excess of $17,000.00 on a personal loan he took out in 2008. The original loan totaled $7,997 back in 2008. However, the interest rate varied from 18% to 28% during the course of his repayment of this loan. He became unable to make the payments as they became due once he went on Social Security post-retirement. Citibank eventually sold the account to Cavalry Portfolio for further collections. Cavalry hired the Winn Law Group to attempt to collect. When they couldn’t collect, Cavalry sued him for $18,369.52, the balance due with accrued interest, and obtained a judgment against him. Our client, now 80 years old, could not afford to pay this since he’s on a fixed income. He had the benefit of a third-party willing to help him get out of this debt with a small loan of $5,000.00, to put this behind him. We negotiated with the Winn Law Group and Cavalry Portfolio to settle this account for $5,000.00. We saved our client $13,369.52 on this account. He no longer needs to be concerned with Winn Law Group coming after him to collect on this judgment.
- Our client obtained a credit card from Citibank. When he became unable to pay back on the charges he made on the account, Citibank sent the account into collections. Eventually, Citibank sold the account to Midland Funding when they could not get him into a repayment agreement. They sued him and ended up getting a judgment for approximately $14,500.00. We were retained to represent this client at this time. Our client had the benefit of third-party funds to help facilitate a settlement of this account. After explaining some of the extreme hardships our client has endured over the past several years, including essentially zero income, we convinced Midland Funding to accept a lump sum settlement of $6,000.00 to settle this account. We saved our client over $8,500.00 on this judgment. He can now continue to recover from the hardships he has endured and live his life free of this debt.
- Our client owed $4,555 to Citibank through their collection agency Global Credit Collection. Since Global Credit is not permitted to speak with a debt settlement attorney, we requested that the debt be returned to Citibank’s Collection and Recovery Department. We then settled this account directly with Citibank for a one-time lump sum payment of $1,594.11, which is 35% of the balance due. We saved our client just under $3,000.00 on this account.
- Our client defaulted on a Citibank credit card that had a balance of $14,555.78. When Citibank could not collect this debt, they sold it to Midland Funding, LLC. This company buys up bulks of defaulted credit card debt and sues on this debt if they cannot collect from the consumer. That’s what happened here and Midland eventually got a judgment against our client. Midland initially offered to settle this judgment for $13,100.00, payable in a lump sum. Due to our client’s severe hardships, we knew there was no way he could afford this amount. We explained these extensive hardships to Midland and got them to agree to accept a one-time lump sum payment of $6,000.00 to settle this account. This is approximately 40% of the amount due on the judgment. We saved our client $8,555.78 on this judgment and he no longer has to fear Midland Funding attempting to levy on his bank account or levy on future wage earnings.
- Our client owed Citibank $4,544.26. He defaulted in payments on this account due to an unexpected loss of income. Rather than continuing collection efforts, Citibank eventually sold the account to PYOD, LLC. We recognized this as a great time to seek a settlement since we know that PYOD purchased the account for a discount. With one phone call to PYOD, they agreed to settle the account for a one-time lump sum of $1,817.00. We saved our client $2,727.26 (60%) of the total debt due on this account.
- Our client owed $14,083.05 to Citibank. The account went into default and Citibank eventually farmed the account out to Northland Group for collections. Northland Group agreed to settle this account for $2,850.00, payable over a 3-month period at $950.00 per month. Our client only has to pay back 20% of the amount claimed due, a savings of $11,233.05.
- Our client owed Citibank $12,078 for a delinquent credit card debt. After explaining our client’s extensive hardships, including being a single mom with a school-aged child with limited child support. We convinced Citibank to accept $3,020.00, payable in a lump sum, to fully settle this account. Our client realized a saving of 75% of the amount due ($9,058.00). It’s always fun to call a client to let them know that we reached a settlement below our original estimate for settlement!
- Our client owed Citibank $14,055.00 on three separate accounts. After he stopped paying them, the accounts were eventually sold to Northland Group, Inc. We negotiated with the Northland Group and they agreed to accept $4,216.00 (30% of the amount claimed due) on all three accounts, payable over a short term of 3-12 months. We saved our client $9,838.35 on these three accounts.
- Our client owed Citibank $6,340.00 on two separate credit cards. The accounts were sold to a third party debt buyer, Icon Equities. This turned out to be the perfect time to contact them to get the account settled within 2 days of Icon receiving the accounts. They agreed to accept $2,536.00 in a lump sum to fully settle both accounts. We saved our client $3,804.00 on these two accounts.
- Citibank sued our client in Florida way back in 2005. Our client had no idea she had been sued. She moved to San Diego and Citibank somehow figured that out and domesticated the Florida judgment here in San Diego County. The total due was $15,432.35. With a judgment now enforceable in California, Citibank prepared to enforce the judgment by bank levy or wage garnishment. We were able to step in to negotiate a settlement of $8,286.00, which is a little over half of the amount claimed due. This helped our client avoid the embarrassment of her employer receiving a wage garnishment order. And put this 11-year-old debt to rest.
- Our client owed Cavalry SPV I, LLC $2,374.75. Cavalry is a junk debt buyer and had purchased this account from Citibank for an AAdvantage credit card. Our client had this debt as well as three others that he could no longer afford to pay back. After settling his other accounts, we focused on this one that had been referred to the Winn Law Group for a potential lawsuit. It is quite common for Winn Law Group to file suit, even for accounts with low balances such as this one. We negotiated with Winn Law Group to settle this account for a one-time lump sum settlement of $1,200.00, which is about 50% of the total amount due. Besides this savings of 50% on our client’s debt, he no longer faces the threat of a lawsuit being filed against him. More importantly, our client is now debt free – a goal we have for each of our clients!
- Our client owed Cavalry Portfolio Services $38,113.73. Cavalry purchases debt from the original creditor that they could not collect on. Cavalry then hired the law firm Quall Cardot to collect on this debt. When our client received a collection notice from Quall Cardot, she retained our firm to help her try to negotiate a settlement. She had a relative willing to loan her money to get this matter resolved. We were able to negotiate a settlement with Quall Cardot for a one-time lump sum payment of $4,000.00. We saved our client $34,113.73 on this debt!
- Our client owed Cash Central in excess of $4,500.00 on a payday loan. We negotiated a settlement of $1,000.00, with payments over 10 months. We saved our client saved approximately 78% of the total balance claimed due.
- We settled our client’s Best Buy account for 40% of the balance owed on the account. More important, Best Buy agreed to have the account reported to the credit bureaus as “Paid in full.” This will give our client an immediate increase in his credit score, which is his overall goal in settling his debts.
- Our client owed approximately $113,000 to various creditors. One of his accounts with Best Buy ended up with the Moore Law Group for debt collection. They threatened to sue him on this debt if he could not pay it. This is one of our client’s smaller debts, totaling $2,408.00. We were able to contact the Moore Law Group and settle this account for $1,800.00. It’s not the savings we attempted to get for our client, but they agreed to accept payments over 12 months. Sometimes it takes some creativity to get deals done for clients to facilitate other settlements. That’s what we did here. We will continue to work on the remaining debts and hope to have positive updates on this client’s accounts.
- Our client owed Bank of America $11,134.27. After explaining her significant hardships, Bank of America offered to settle the matter for $3,000.00. Our client paid approximately 27% of the amount owed, saving a little over $8,000.00 on this account.
- Our client owed Bank of America $8,452.45 and had been sued by creditor law firm Hunt & Henriques. We were able to negotiate a settlement of $4,500.00, payable over a 7-month period. Our client was pleased to avoid the unnecessary headache of fighting this out in court.
- Our client owed Bank of America $32,584.98. When he stopped paying on this account Bank of America retained Harris & Zide to file a lawsuit against him for breach of contract. A week before trial, we received a phone call from Harris & Zide with an offer to settle the debt for 50% of the balance due. Since my client had other debts to resolve as well, we reached an agreement to let him pay off this settlement over a period of four years. We saved our client $16,292.49 on this debt. More importantly, we helped him avoid having judgment entered against him, which could have haunted him for many years.
- Our client got sued by Bank of America for a past due balance on his credit card of $35,584.98. The matter went through pre-litigation discovery and our client did not dispute that he owed this amount. He just couldn’t pay it all at once. Seven days prior to our trial date, we negotiated with the attorney for Bank of America to settle this debt for 50% of the amount due, with payments to be made over a 24-month period. We helped our client avoid a trial, which would have most likely resulted in a judgment for the entire amount claimed due, plus attorney’s fees. Instead, we saved our client $17,792.49 on this account.
- Our client owed Bank of America, N.A. $9,988.61 for credit card debt that accumulated over the course of many years. She is self-employed and became pregnant with twins. Due to several complications with her pregnancy, her doctor placed her on bed rest, which significantly reduced her income. Bank of America eventually referred the account to Suttell & Hammer, which threatened to sue our client if we could not resolve the account. After explaining our client’s hardships, Suttell & Hammer agreed to accept $4,750.00 to deem the account settled in full. We saved our client $5,238.61 (53%) of the total balance claimed due.
- Our client owed ARS National Services, a third-party debt buyer, $3,708.00. We negotiated a settlement of $1,297.00, payable in a lump sum. Our client saved 65% of the amount owed and will soon be debt-free!
- Our client owed ARS National Services, a third-party debt buyer, $4,389.00. We negotiated a settlement of $1,200.00, payable in a lump sum. Our client saved approximately 73% of the amount owed.
- This is a small account, but worth mentioning. Our client owed Wells Fargo Bank $12,468.07. He owed about $40,000.00 in debt to other creditors that we are negotiating with. Wells Fargo became aggressive in their collection activities. We stepped in and got Wells Fargo to agreed to a settlement of $4,987.23, payable over 24 months. This is a savings of 40% of the amount due. This will allow us to not only pay off this debt over time, but also allow us to continue to negotiate his remaining debts with his other creditors on terms he can truly afford.
- Our client owed Capital One in excess of $10,000. We negotiated the balance down by 50%, with up to 24 months to pay off the balance of the settlement.
- Our client owed Capital One $12,500.00 on her credit card. When she became unable to pay, Capital One referred the cased to Hunt & Henriques, a debt collection law firm in California. They filed suit against her after they were unable to collect. Once served with the lawsuit, she retained our firm for representation in the lawsuit. We were able to settle this account for $6,500.00, payable over 12 months. We helped our client stay out of court by getting this account settled within a matter of a few days of retaining our firm. The case has since been dismissed and she is now well on her way to becoming debt free.
- Our client owed Capital One approximately $8,300.00 for a defaulted credit card debt. She became unable to pay after being involved in a pretty bad car accident. She suffered a loss of income as a result and chose to retain Freedom Debt Relief to help her settle her debts. Freedom is a debt relief company that offers services similar to our firm. However, once Capital One sued this client, Freedom told her she would have to find an attorney since they are not licensed attorneys. Thankfully, she found us and we were able to quickly negotiate a settlement for this client for a payment of $4,400.00. We saved our client approximately $3,900.00 on this credit card debt and helped her avoid litigation, something Freedom Debt Relief could not do.
- Our client owed Capital One $2,896.88 on a defaulted credit card account. He became unable to keep up payments on this debt as he and his wife had accumulated approximately $57,000.00 in other credit card debt. The minimum monthly payments just became overwhelming. We helped our client accumulate funds to settle all of this debt over time. When Capital One threatened to sue our client for this small amount, we negotiated a settlement of $1,535.35, payable in a lump sum. This is 53% of the balance claimed due. While we would have preferred to settle for less, helping our client avoid costly litigation became our main priority.
- Capital One sued our client for $22,152, on a delinquent credit card account. We were able to settle the account for a one-time lump sum payment of $11,076. We saved our client 50% of the amount due. Most important, we helped our client avoid litigation and potential wage garnishment and bank levies without having to fight this out in court.
- Our client owed Capital One $5,561.26. The account had been past due for a couple of years and Capital One maintained the account in-house instead of sending it out to a collection agency, which they usually do. We negotiated with Capital One to reduce the balance by 50% for a settlement of $2,780.63.
- Our client owed Hawaiian Airlines $10,430.08 on a defaulted credit card account. He also owed another $30,000.00 in other unsecured credit card debt. Hawaiian Airlines referred the account out to Phillips & Cohen Associates, Ltd. for further collection activities. We negotiated with Phillips & Cohen and they agreed to accept 35% of the balance due, $3,651.00. We saved our client $6,779.08 on this debt.
- Our client had a judgment entered against him in the amount of $3,657.06, prior to retaining our firm. Plaintiff attempted a bank levy to collect on the judgment. We immediately stepped in and settled the matter for $2,500, with the agreement that the bank levy be terminated. That’s $1,157 saved! Post-judgment settlements are possible, even if not at the rate of savings our clients enjoy prior to any judgment being entered.
- Our client owed Barclays Bank $2,905.00. We were successful in negotiating a lump sum payoff of $1,089.00 to fully settle the matter. We reduced our client’s debt by 63%.
- Our client owed Barclays Bank $9,073.37 for a credit card debt. She became unable to continue paying on this debt for a number of unforeseen circumstances. Barclays Bank eventually referred the account to The Law Office of Harris & Zide to collect on the debt. When they could not collect, they sued our client for breach of contract. We defended against the lawsuit and seven days prior to trial, Barclays agreed to accept $3,500.00, payable in a lump sum. We saved our client $5,573.37 on this debt. We also helped her avoid having a judgment entered against her, which appeared to be very likely with trial a week away.
- Our client owed Barclays Bank $8,848.37. She could not keep up with these payments after her ex-husband stopped making child support and alimony payments. Barclays hired Harris & Zide to first try to collect, but after those efforts failed, they filed suit. With a pending trial date, we attempted several times to settle. Five days before trial, Barclays agreed to settle for a one-time lump sum payment of $4,089.00 (approximately 46% of the balance claimed due). We saved our client $4,759.00. And again, we helped her avoid the necessity of appearing for a trial and facing an inevitable judgment against her.
- Our client owed $2,609.45 on an Amazon credit card account. She became delinquent on this account as well as numerous others. Our client is a teacher and has limited income to cover all of her defaulted credit card debt. Amazon eventually referred the account out to Second Round, LP, a Texas-based collection agency. Once with them we were able to settle the account for a one-time lump sum payment of 40% of the balance due, $1,043.78. We saved our client $1,565.67 (60% of the balance due). Our client continues on her path towards a life free of debt!
- Our client owed Forward Movement Recovery $670.00. After sending out one letter demanding validation of the debt owed, Forward Movement presented a settlement offer of $67.00, which reduced our client’s debt by 90%.
- Our client owed Banamex USA $8,761.33 on a defaulted credit card account. Soon after retaining our firm to negotiate this debt and several others, we were able to settle this account for $876.13. We saved our client $7,885.20 (90% of the balance due) on this account.
- Debt buyer Cavalry SPV sued our client for a debt previously owed to Citibank in the amount of $15,168. We were successful in reaching a settlement in the amount of $3,000, without having to answer to the lawsuit. We saved our client approximately $12,000 on this debt without her having to deal with the stress and cost of litigation.
- Our client had a credit card that he couldn’t pay back. The original creditor eventually sold the debt to Cavalry SPV I, LLC. They sued him and obtained a judgment against him for $5,900.00. He made payments on a settlement but couldn’t keep up with the payments. With accruing interest, the judgment grew to a whopping $18,349.00. We were brought in to negotiate a settlement with Cavalry’s attorneys at the Winn Law Group. Our client had the good fortune of the ability to obtain settlement funds from a third party to settle. After several rounds of negotiations back and forth with the Winn Law Group, we were able to settle with them for a one-time lump sum payment of $8,500.00. We saved our client $9,849.00 on this account (approximately 53% of the amount due). Our client no longer has to be concerned with further collection efforts by the Winn Law Group to collect on this judgment.
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CACH, LLC sued my client for a debt totaling $27,124. We settled the case one week prior to trial for $13,500, payable over 27 months. We saved our client approximately 50%, and helped him avoid having to experience appear at trial to testify.
- One of our clients owed Citi $40,100. We were able to negotiate a settlement of $12,045, payable in a lump sum. We saved our client over $28,000 on this credit card debt.
- Our client owed 11 different creditors a total of $73,275.00. During the course of a 9-month period, we negotiated this debt down and our client paid a total of $29,294.94 to fully settle all 11 accounts. Our client realized a savings of 60% of the total balance due on these accounts.
- Our client owed $12,357 to First National Bank of Omaha. After receiving “final offer” of $4,200 from the creditor, they agreed to accept $3,700 to settle the debt. Our client saved 70% on the balance due.
- Our client owed $5,055.94 to Citibank. We negotiated with creditor and reduced her debt down to $1,850. That’s a savings of 63%.
- Our client owed Citibank $8,410.00. In just one phone call, we convinced their collection agency to settle for $2,106.00, saving our client 75% of the amount claimed due.
- Our client owed Midland Funding, LLC approximately $24,500.00. Midland Funding had purchased this defaulted debt from Citibank when our client could no longer afford the monthly payments due. Midland attempted to collect, but eventually filed a lawsuit since they couldn’t reach an agreement with our client. We stepped in and began negotiating with the attorneys for Midland Funding in an effort to avoid having to litigate the case. We convinced Midland to accept a settlement of $13,200.00, payable over a term of 42 months. Our client will make an initial payment of $3,000.00, then monthly payments of $250.00 per month. We saved our client approximately $11,300.00 on this account. We also saved her from the additional expenses and stress associated with having a matter pending with the courts.
- Our client defaulted on a credit card debt that eventually got sold to Midland Credit Management. When they could not collect, Midland filed a lawsuit against our client for $5,320.00. This is when we were hired to see if we could negotiate a settlement for this client. He needed a settlement that would allow him to make payments over a term of several months. We were able to negotiate a settlement of $3,521.45, payable over 16 months at approximately $250.00 per month. This fit well within our client’s budget and in just a bit over a year, he will be debt free!
- Our client defaulted on a credit card account, which eventually got sold to Midland Funding, LLC for further collection. Midland Funding routinely purchases defaulted debt from a variety of creditors. If they cannot get the debtor to voluntarily pay, they will file suit. We have seen them sue for as little at $900.00 in the past. This particular client owed about $3,800.00 and he ended up being sued. He retained our firm immediately after getting served with the lawsuit. We were able to jump in and get the account settled for a one-time lump sum payment of $1,500.00 (approximately 40% of the amount claimed due). We saved our client approximately $2,300.00 on this defaulted credit card and helped him avoid having to defend against a relatively low amount claimed due in the lawsuit filed by Midland Funding. It’s important that individuals understand that even if you are sued, there does exist the potential to settle the account. Don’t give up and if you feel overwhelmed, give us a call. We deal with these creditors on a daily basis and are not intimidated by them or their tactics while trying to collect!
- Our client took out a credit card account with Wal-Mart, which she used to help with her mom’s finances after her dad passed away. She could not keep up with the payments on this account. Once she defaulted on this account, Wal-Mart sold the debt to Midland Funding, LLC. About a year after that, Midland sued her for the balance due, $6,815. This is where we stepped in to negotiate with Midland. We convinced them to accept a settlement of $3,800, payable at $100/month for 38 months. We saved our client a little over $3,000 on this debt, kept her from having to go to court, and got her monthly payments she could truly afford.
- Our client owed American Express $33,036. Prior to filing suit, they demanded a full balance payoff, payable in monthly installments. American Express subsequently sued our client for the full balance. We negotiated a settlement for $16,000, payable over a 15-month term. Our client saved 52% on the balance due on this account.
- Our client owed American Express $4,074.02. He also has about $120,000 in other credit card debt he became unable to pay due to a number of hardships. AMEX eventually referred this account out to Firstsource Advantage, a large collection agency. After explaining our client’s hardships and other debts due, Firstsource agreed to accept $1,262.00 to settle this account in one lump sum. We saved our client $2,812.00 (a 70% savings on the total debt due).
- Our client owed American Express $16,363.00. He also has about $70,000 in other credit card debt he became unable to pay due to a number of hardships. AMEX eventually referred this account out to Nationwide Credit, Inc., a large collection agency. After explaining our client’s hardships and other debts, Nationwide agreed to accept $6,546.00 to settle this account over 24 monthly payments. This is 40% of the total debt due. Since we had our client in settlement payments for other accounts, Nationwide also agreed to accept payments of $10.00 per month for a few months until we freed up more money after finalizing other settlements. Thereafter, his settlement payments will gradually increase until the settlement is paid in full. We saved our client $9,817 on this debt owed to American Express.
- Our client owed American Express $35,351.12. She defaulted in payment on this account as well as several others. AMEX eventually sued our client seeking the full balance due. Over the course of the next year, we continued efforts to negotiate a settlement for our client due to the pending lawsuit filed by Michael & Associates. With a pending trial date, our client agreed to settle this debt for $20,000.00, payable over a period of 24 months. We saved our client $15,351.12 and got her into a settlement that she can afford to pay over time.
- Our client owed American Express $2,366.35. The account went into collections when she could longer afford the payments due on the account. AMEX sent the account to Firstsource to handle further collections. Once the account reached Firstsource, we recognized that the account would be ripe for settlement. We offered and Firstrource accepted $830.00 to settle. Due to some confusion, the account shifted back to AMEX before the settlement payment could be made. We presented proof of the prior arrangement and AMEX agreed to honor and accept the deal. We saved our client $1,535.35 (65% of the balance due) on this account.
- Our client owed American Express $35,351.12. She could no longer make the payments due on this account and American Express sued her for the full balance due. Facing a trial date, AMEX reached out to us to see if we could get the matter settled. Our client did not dispute the amount due and agreed to settle the debt for $20,000.00, payable over 24 months. We saved our client over $15,000 on this debt and avoided a trial and a potential judgment that would have had our client on the hook for the entire amount due.
- Our client owed American Express $30,096.72. AMEX referred the account to the law firm Nelson & Kennard, who filed suit against our client. We were successful in settling this account for $15,500.00, payable in two payments, without having to file an Answer and fight this out in court. We saved our client $14,596.72 on this account.
- Our client owned a construction company that did not survive the recession. He owed American Express Bank $27,442.36 on a credit card used for this business when he was forced to close it down. American Express sued my client and the business for the full amount due, plus court costs and attorney’s fees of $630.00. We were able to step in and settle this matter for a one-time, lump sum payment of $12,000.00, without having to file an Answer to the lawsuit. We saved our client $16,072.36 (a 60% discount on the amount claimed due).
- Our client owed $7,804.07 to American Express/Citibank for a Costco credit card. He became unable to pay this account after his business shut down. The account eventually got referred out to a collection agency, Credit Control. Once with them, we were able to negotiate a settlement of $2,731.42, which is approximately 35% of the total balance due. We saved our client $5,072.65 on this delinquent credit card debt.
- Our client is having a tough battle with cancer treatment while also going through a divorce that has not been amicable. To top it off, American Express hired The Law Office of Sara J. Hamilton to sue her for her AMEX credit card account with a balance in excess of $37,800.00. Her divorce attorney referred her to our firm to see what we could do to help her. We explained the situation to the attorneys representing American Express and convinced them to accept $10,000.00 to fully settle the debt. We saved our client $27,800.00 (approximately 75% of the balance due). We were able to deliver this news just before the holidays. Hearing the relief and gratitude from our client made my year. This is the reason I love what I do.
- Our client owed American Express $2,366.55. She had been in default for over a year on this account. AMEX sent the account out to FirstSource for further collection efforts. They originally asked for 50% of the debt to settle. After some back and forth regarding our client’s hardships, they agreed to accept a lump sum of $830.00 to settle this account. We saved our client $1,536.55 (65%) of the balance due.
- Our client owed American Express $3,369.00. AMEX sent her account to Nationwide Credit, which is one of their collection agencies. Nationwide originally requested that she pay 60% of this balance to have the account considered settled in full. After a series of phone calls back and forth, explaining that our client is unemployed, Nationwide agreed to accept approximately 30% of the balance, which came out to $1,050.00. We saved our client $2,319.00 on this account.
- Our client owed American Express approximately $6,320.00. My office started getting phone calls from 877-434-3248, but the caller would not leave a message. I later learned that this number belongs to American Express Global Collections. After speaking with a representative, we were able to settle this account in a lump sum for $2,212.00, which is 35% of the total balance due.
- Our client owed Chase Bank $14,249. During the course of our representation, Chase notified our client that the entire debt was being discharged. Our client saved $14,249 – or 100% of the total debt owed.
- Our client owed Chase Bank approximately $25,000.00 on a defaulted credit card. He became unable to pay this debt due to a number of unforeseen hardships. That’s when he hired us to negotiate this debt for him. We waited for the opportune time after the debts charged off and negotiated a settlement of $9,500.00 (38% of the balance claimed due). We saved our client $15,500.00 on this Chase credit card debt.
- Our client owed Chase Bank $17,143. During the course of our representation, Chase notified our client that the entire debt was being discharged. Our client saved $17,143 – or 100% of the total debt owed.
- Our client owed Chase Bank $20,589.00. We tracked the debt down to MRS Associates, a collection agency acting on behalf of Chase Bank. MRS agreed to accept $7,500.00, which is a 64% savings of the total credit card debt due.
- Our client owed Professional Collection Consultants in excess of $20,400.00 on a defaulted Chase Bank credit card account. They eventually sued our client and had a judgment entered against him. Professional Collection Consultants levied on his bank account to try to satisfy the judgment. This is when we were retained to see if we could negotiate a settlement. We settled the outstanding amount owed for $6,000.00, payable in a lump sum. We saved our client over $14,400.00 on this judgment. More importantly, he no longer needs to be concerned with a bank levy, which always comes as a surprise.
- Our client owed Chase Bank $1,474.88. This was her final account we were hired to settle and she was anxious to be debt free. She recently received her undergraduate degree and is heading off to graduate school soon. Chase held strong at $960.00 until we explained her hardships, including being a single parent with mounting student loan debt, Chase agreed to accept $600.00, approximately 40% of the amount due, to resolve this matter. Our client is now debt free and on her way to graduate school. We wish her the best continuing on with her education free of the burden of her credit card debt!
- Our client owed approximately $16,302.00 on three credit card accounts. Due to a series of unexpected medical issues, he and his wife could no longer afford to pay back this credit card debt. We set our client up on a plan to have his debts completely settled in a 24-month period. We quickly settled two of his accounts for about 35% of the balance due (just a bit under our estimate of 40% that we anticipated settling). His last account with Chase totaled $5,580.00. We outlined our client’s hardships and they agreed to accept $2,600.00 to settle this account. We saved our client $2,980.00 (approximately 54%) of the amount claimed due on this debt. Overall, we settled our client’s debt for less than what we originally estimated. As a result, he gets a little extra money back in his pocket and is now 100% debt free!
- Our client owed $15,880 on his Chase Alaska Airlines credit card. During our negotiation with Chase, their settlement offers went all over the place from $6,300 up to $9,000, then down to $8,200. We remained steady that our client could only come up with $6,000 to settle this account. Despite being told numerous times that they could only accept $6,570, we finally convinced them to accept the $6,000 we had been offering for months. We saved our client $9,880 on this credit card debt.
- Our client owed Nordstrom $4,212.00 on a credit card account. She works in a government facility that requires her to maintain a security clearance. A defaulted credit card account would jeopardize her job. She became unable to pay this debt as well as another due to hardships she endured. She retained our firm to negotiate this account as well as another. We settled this account for $2,106.00 (50% of the amount due). We’re now on to her other defaulted credit card so she can move on from the burden of her debts, without fear of losing her security clearance.
- Our client owed US Bank $9,418.00 for a credit card that went delinquent due to a number of hardships that prevented our client from paying back the debt in full. US Bank initially offered $7,535.08 to settle this debt. We responded with an aggressive offer of 30% of the balance, $2,826.00, to fully settle the account. Much to our delight, US Bank agreed to accept this amount to consider the account settled in full. We saved our client $6,592.00 (a 70% discount) on the balance due.
- Our client had a credit card with Citizens Bank. She became unable to pay the account back and had an outstanding balance due of $3,047.67. Citizens bank eventually sent the account out to Convergent Outsourcing for collections. Convergent held out for months offering the settle the account for 60% of the balance due. We did not give in to this demand and eventually convinced Convergent to accept $1,067.00 to settle. We saved our client 65% of the total claimed due.
- I’ve read online that settling small debts is more difficult and getting a significant reduction is almost impossible. Our client owed Synchrony Bank $529.87. We convinced Synchrony that $158.00 was the most they would ever get from this client. They agreed to this settlement of approximately 30% of the amount owed. They even offered to allow her to pay this settlement off over 3 monthly payments. Don’t tell me I can’t do something!
- Our client owed a debt to Synchrony Bank/PayPal in the amount of $8,751.84. The account went into default for a number of hardships our client endured. The account eventually got sold to a third-party debt buyer. That third party attempted to collect for a number of months. When that didn’t happen, they sued our client. This is when we were retained to see if we could settle the account without having to defend our client in litigation. We were able to negotiate a settlement of $2,625.00, payable in a lump sum to settle this account. This is a 70% savings on the amount claimed due. We saved our client $6,126.00 on this account and helped him avoid having to go to court to defend against a lawsuit.
- Our client took out a credit card with Smile Generation (Comenity Capital Bank). He could no longer afford to make the payments and the account eventually got sold to Midland Funding, LLC. He owed a balance of $1,051.34. We contacted Midland once they got the account and settled the matter for a one-time lump sum payment of $525.68 (50% of the amount owed). People often think that a smaller balance like this cannot be settled. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Midland would certainly sue for this amount if given the chance. We were pleased to get this small account out of the way for our client.
- Our clients owed Navy Federal Credit Union $16,459.20 on a defaulted credit card account. Much like most of our other clients, they endured substantial hardships, which required them to rely on credit cards to supplement a low income. In total, they accumulated over $114,000.00 in credit card debt. Credit unions are often the most difficult creditors to work with on settlements. Traditionally, settlements with them range from 65-80% of the total balance due. We fought hard for this client to get the amount reduced further than that since we have many other accounts still to settle. We got Navy Federal Credit Union to agree to accept a one-time lump sum payment of $6,583.68! We saved our client $9,875.52 on this credit union credit card (a 60% discount of the balance due).
- Our client voluntarily surrendered his vehicle after he could no longer afford the payments. The lender sold the vehicle at auction and billed the client for the $22,000 deficiency balance due on the loan. During the course of our representation we were notified of a defect in the notice of sale the bank sent out to our client. As a result of a pending settlement in a class action lawsuit, he now owes nothing on this balance – or 100% of total debt owed. Money he set aside for this debt can now go towards the settlement of his other debts.
- Our client ran up a J. Crew credit card to a balance of $1,745.00. She owes several other creditors and became unable to pay them all back. She retained us to negotiate this debt as well as the others. The account got sold to Midland Credit Management. Once it reached Midland, we realized the opportunity to get our client a discounted settlement on this account. We negotiated with Midland and they agreed to accept $872.50 (50% of the balance due), payable over 3 months to fully settle this account.
- Our client had a judgment entered against her she did not know about. She first learned of it when she got a call from the law firm threatening to garnish her wages. Within an hour of retaining the Gamez Law Firm we were able to reach an agreement with the creditor to reduce the judgment amount by 25%, cease accrual of post-judgment interest, and allow our client to pay the negotiated amount over a 12 month period. This will prevent the embarrassment she faced of her employer receiving a wage garnishment order.
- Our client owed USAA $24,734.23 on a personal loan. He became unable to pay on this loan and a few other credit cards. We were able to settle the smaller balance accounts with payment over time as our client put away money monthly to resolve all of his debts. This loan was the last one to resolve. Based on our client’s monthly budget, we were able to get this loan settled for $12,368.00, 50% of the balance due. We saved our client $12,366.23. He also has until February 2020 to pay this amount, which he will handle on a monthly basis until the settlement is paid in full. Once he is done our client will enjoy living a life free of debt.
- Our client owed third-party debt buyer, CACH, LLC, $21,204.82 for a debt originally owed to GE Money Retail Bank. Various collection agencies attempted to collect on this debt. During that time, the 4-year statute of limitations for the creditor to sue expired. CACH, LLC can no longer sue our client to collect on this debt, but can legally attempt to collect. Our client wisely decided to tell CACH, LLC to pound sand! Our client realized a savings of 100% on this debt. He is now in retirement and no longer in fear of these creditors coming after him.
- American Express sued our client for $46,654. Our client never disputed this amount during the course of defending the lawsuit. Despite this, we negotiated a settlement of $18,000 for our client. The Gamez Law Firm negotiated a payoff equal to 38% of the total amount due on the account, saving our client $28,654.
- Client owed in excess of $39,000 to USAA. We were successful in negotiating a settlement of $4.000.00. The Gamez Law Firm reduced approximately 90% of the amount owed.
- Our client owed USAA $32,361.00 on a defaulted credit card account. USAA attempted to collect for a couple of years, but eventually sent the account out to GC Services, a collection agency. We have negotiated a number of accounts with GC Services to our clients’ benefit. This account proved to be the same. Without even having to provide any hardship information or income and expenses, we negotiated the account down to $12,944.00 (40% of the balance due). We saved our client $19,417.00 on this defaulted credit card account.
- Client owed a total debt of $13,475, due to a third-party debt buyer who filed a lawsuit. Our firm settled the debt for $3,000.00. The Gamez Law Firm saved our client $10,475 – or 77% of the total debt owed.
- Our client owed Paypal $3,207.00 on a defaulted credit card account. We reached a settlement with Paypal for 50% of the balance due. When we asked for written confirmation of the settlement, we learned that Paypal sent the account out to American Coradius, a collection agency, despite the verbal settlement agreement. We contacted American Coradius and they agreed to accept 40% of the balance due ($1,284.00). That’s an additional $320.00 we were able to save our client. This isn’t the biggest balance account we’ve ever settled, but every dollar counts for our clients.
- Citibank sued our client for $1,200. The Gamez Law Firm settled the case for $500, without our client having to appear in the lawsuit, avoiding additional attorney’s fees and court costs. The Gamez Law firm saved our client $700 – or 58% of the total debt owed.
- Discover Card sued our client for $7,300. We settled the debt for $3,500, payable over a 12-month term. The Gamez Law Firm saved our client $3,800 – or 52% of the total debt owed.
- Our client owed Discover Card $20,885.00 for two accounts. When she became unable to pay these debts as well as several others she retained our firm to assist. The Discover accounts were eventually referred to Zwicker & Associates, a California-based collection law firm. Once they received the accounts, we were able to reach a settlement with them to settle both accounts for a total $7,505.00, which is approximately 35% of the amount claimed owed. We saved our client $13,380.00 on these debts and kept her from getting sued by Zwicker & Associates on these accounts.
- Our client owed Discover approximately $6,843.00 for a credit card. The account had been in collections for over two years when we were retained to step in to negotiate a settlement. We negotiated with Discover to settle this account for a one-time lump sum payment of $3,000.00. We saved our client $3,843.00 on this debt that would certainly have resulted in a lawsuit if not resolved so quickly.
- Our client owed Discover $13,282.25. The account had not been paid in over 2 years and Discover assigned the account to Suttell & Hammer. We received notice that they intended to file a lawsuit if we did not come to terms on a settlement. Fortunately, our client had a lump sum available to offer to resolve this account. Discover agreed to accept $5,000.00, payable in a lump sum to settled the account in full. We saved our client $8,282.25 (62%) of the balance and helped him avoid the lawsuit being filed against him.
- Don’t think that your account balance is so small they Suttell & Hammer won’t sue you! Our client owed Discover Bank a whopping $1,319.08. She had over $80,000 in other debts owed and this one didn’t seem a priority until Suttell & Hammer filed a lawsuit to recover this defaulted balance. Smaller debts can be hard to settle and there were really no defenses to the lawsuit. Rather than have them rack up more money in attorney’s fees than the debt was worth, our client agreed to settle this matter for $990.00. This wasn’t the hugest savings around, but their attorney’s fees and court costs would have easily caused this debt to more than double if they went all the way to trial.
- One client owed Target $1,594. We settled the debt for $478. The Gamez Law Firm saved our client $1,116 – or 70% of the total debt owed.
- Our client owed $7,941.26 to Target. When she could not pay the debt, Target retained a law firm to sue her. Unfortunately, she never filed an Answer to the lawsuit and Target had a default judgment entered against her for the full amount due, plus attorney’s fees. Once we were retained, we negotiated with the law firm representing Target to reduce the balance down to $5,587.40, with payments on this settlement over 24 months. By settling, our client no longer needs to worry about Target coming after her paycheck through a wage garnishment or freezing her accounts with a bank levy.
- Our client had a Target credit card she could not afford to pay back. Target eventually sued her and obtained a judgment totaling $4,305.32. Target then levied on her bank account; freezing the $2,000 she had in her account. She retained our firm to see if we could get this money back that she needed to pay her rent. We negotiated with the law firm representing Target to return $1,500 to her account. Additionally, we negotiated to settle the account for approximately $2,150, including the $500 they kept from the bank levy. The remaining amount due will be paid to them over a 6-month term for about $275.50 per month.
- Another client owed Chase Bank $20,472. During the course of our representation, Chase notified our client that the entire debt was being discharged. Our client saved $20,472 – or 100% of the total debt owed.
- One of our clients owed Chase Bank $15,100. During the course of our representation, Chase notified our client that the entire debt was being discharged. Our client saved $15,100 – or 100% of the total debt owed.
- Discover Bank levied on a client’s checking account for $5,500 (on a payday) to partially satisfy a $35,000 judgment. After we challenged the levy, the court ordered the return of $4,125 to our client. The Gamez Law Firm helped our client get the money back they needed, to pay for rent and other basic necessities of life.
- Our client owed Discover Bank $28,850.30. When he defaulted in payment, Discovery Bank transferred the account to LTD Financial Services, which is a collection agency. We stepped in and started negotiating with LTD for a settlement. They were demanding a lump sum payment and our client’s family agreed to step in as a third-party source of settlement funds. We negotiated a settlement of $17,315.00, payable in a lump sum. Our client saved $11,535.30 (approximately 40% of the amount due).
- Our client owed Wells Fargo Bank $16,421.75 for a credit card account. Due to unforeseen circumstances, he became unable to pay this debt back. Wells Fargo eventually hired the law firm Collection at Law, Inc. to file a lawsuit against our client. We went through written discovery and never denied that he owed this debt to Wells Fargo. He just didn’t have the amount they wanted to settle ($14,000.00 over 3 months for the full balance over 36 months). We elected to have a settlement conference with a Superior Court judge. This is much like a mediation, but less formal. At the settlement conference, we were able to explain our client’s hardships and inability to pay what Well Fargo wanted. We told the judge that our client could get a one-time lump sum amount of $8,500.00 from a relative to settle the matter. The judge did his part in helping convincing Wells Fargo that this would be the best deal they could get. Wells Fargo finally relented and accepted our offer. We avoided a trial that would have led to a judgment for the full balance due. We also saved our client $7,921.75 in the process, approximately 50% of the balance claimed due.
- Our client owed Wells Fargo $12,468.07 for a credit card account he could no longer afford to pay back. He retained our firm to help him settle this account as well as several others he had defaulted on. Over the course of a few days, we were able to negotiate with Wells Fargo to get the account settled for 40% of the amount due, $4,989.22, payable over 24 months. We saved our client $7,479.85 on this credit card debt. We still have other debts to settle, but this is a great result for a client that has $30,000 in additional debt we have been retained to settle. But we are well on our way to helping our client become debt-free!
- Our client owed Nordstrom $2,802.81 on a past due, charge-off account. Once the account charged off, Nordstrom sold the account to third-party debt buyer Admin Recovery, LLC. We negotiated with Admin Recovery to settle the account for a one-time lump sum payment of $800.00. We saved our client approximately 71% of the balance claimed due ($2,002.81).
- Our client had a business credit card account with Bank of America Alaska Visa. The balance exceeded $37,000.00. The business failed, but the debt remained a personal liability for our client. Bank of America assigned the debt to LTD Financial Services for collections. We negotiated with LTD to settle the account for $11,350.00. We saved our client just under $26,000.00 (a 70% savings on balance due).
- Our client received collection notices from Resurgent Capital Services for two accounts that went into collections when she could no longer afford to pay these debts as well as several others. These two accounts with Resurgent totaled $1,235.17. Fortunately, we have been working with this client for some time and had helped her save up money to settle her accounts. We were able to settle both accounts for a total of $445.79. We saved our client $789.38 on these two accounts. These were low balance accounts, but don’t be fooled by that. Creditors will still try to collect, and we have seen lawsuits filed by them for accounts totaling less than $1,000.00 balances in the past.
- Our client came to us owing Navient in excess of $143,000 for her private student loans. Realizing that paying this debt off would be nearly impossible in her lifetime, despite being in her early 30s, she wisely chose to start looking at her options. We were fortunate to have her contact our firm to see if we could help her resolve this debt. During the course of our representation, accruing interest caused her loans to skyrocket to $156,845.31. We endured countless threats from Navient, including threats that the debt would be “going to the next level” if she didn’t bring her account current. That “next level” turned out to be nothing more than another collection department within Navient. They eventually sent the accounts out to the law firm Weltman, Weinberg & Reis for further collections. Once with this firm, we were able to settle our client’s private student loans for $50,019.73. We saved our client $106,825.58 on her private student loans, approximately 70% of the total amount due. We are thankful that our client stuck to her guns and continued to have faith in our firm to get her loans settled. Settling student loan debt can be a nerve racking experience and ignoring idle threats from Navient proved to be a successful strategy. We are so excited to get this awesome result for our client
- Our client owed Navient approximately $24,800.00 for private student loans taken out to fund her education. These loans originated with Sallie Mae and were taken over by Navient when they went into collections due to her inability to pay back the loans when they became due. During the collection process, the loans were eventually transferred to Weltman, Weinberg & Reis, a collection law firm based out of Ohio. We know this firm well, since they are usually considered the last stop for Navient loans. After a series of phone calls and negotiations explaining our client’s hardships, they agreed to accept a settlement of $10,000.00, payable in a lump sum to fully settle this account. We saved our client in excess of $14,000.00 on her private student loans. She will no longer face harassment from Navient for collection of these loans or have the burden of this student loan debt looming over her.
- Our client moved overseas but owed private student loans to Navient. Once she retained us, we confirmed that our client owed $346,372.11 on these student loans. During our representation of this client, the balance continued to accrue interest and increased to $356,324.48. Fortunately, our client had access to funds from relatives to assist in the settlement of this debt. We negotiated with Navient to settle this private student loan for $122,000.00. Through a creative payment arrangement she is paying a portion of this amount up front, then smaller monthly payments for several years and a lump sum balloon payment at the end. This is a settlement of approximately 34% of the balance due – a savings of over $234,000.00.
- Not to pick on Navient AGAIN, but… another client co-signed for a private student loan for his daughter through loan-giant Navient. They originally took out an $11,000.00 loan, but due to accruing interest, the balance increased to $27.000.00. Navient eventually referred the account to a California law firm – Harris & Zide. They threatened to sue our client if the account could not be settled. This is a rather recent development that Navient is referring loans out for litigation – something we have not seen in recent years. Fortunately, we have handled files against this firm for a number of years now. Through a series of negotiations, we reached a settlement of $13,500.00 on this loan, payable in a lump sum. This is 50% of the balance claimed due. More importantly, we helped our client avoid being sued on this private student loan.
- Our client owed student loan giant Navient $139,353.91 on 5 private student loans. Due to the high balance on these loans, our client could not afford to make the monthly payments Navient requested. She defaulted on the loans and they went into Navient’s internal collections unit. Our client is fortunate to have family willing to provide her with a lump sum of money to settle this account in full. The loan was set to default at the end of August. We recognized this as the best opportunity to settle in a lump sum. We convinced Navient to accept a one-time lump sum payment of $50,000.00 to settle this account. This is 35% of the total amount due on her private student loans with Navient. We saved our client $89,353.91 on her private student loans. These results are attainable to others if you have access to lump sums of money to settle. Settlements with payments over a term tend to go for a bit higher, but we are proud to get this result for our client!
- A client had a very old student loan debt owed to Sallie Mae/Navient. After researching her credit reports, we discovered that default occurred over six years ago. Under California law, Navient had four years from the date of default to file suit to collect on the debt. With this ammunition, I contacted Navient and explained that my client had no intent on paying even one penny towards this debt. Navient is now time-barred from filing suit against her. They can still try to collect informally through phone calls and letters, but she is under no obligation. Every once in a while a client lucks out. Glad to report it happened to a client of Gamez Law Firm!
- Our client owed Sallie Mae $21,868.80 on a private student loan. His mother co-signed on this loan. He could not keep up with the loan payments and it went into default. After collection attempts were mounted, we were brought on to see what we could do to assist on a settlement. We negotiated with Sallie Mae to get the account settled for $13,171.00, which is 60% of the amount due. The co-signer had been setting aside money monthly with us to achieve this settlement. Not only did we save our client 60% of the amount due, but we are also sending her back the portion of the money she set aside with us for settlement that we didn’t end up needing for settlement of this private student loan.
- Our client took out $60,273.62 in private student loans from Sallie Mae. The student loans were eventually taken over by Sallie Mae’s spinoff, Navient. The loan payments were much too high and our client could never afford them. In typical fashion, Navient used a number of collection efforts and threats in an attempt to get our client to pay the balance in full over a ridiculously short time frame. When those efforts failed, Navient eventually sent the account out to Central Credit, a collection agency. At that time, we negotiated with Central Credit and convinced them to accept $22,000.00, as settlement in full on this debt. We saved our client $38,273.62 (approximately 65%) on the balance due.
- Our client owed Navient $142,263.75 for private student loans that went into default. The client had a relative willing to help pay a negotiated settlement. We settled the debt for $45,000.00. Our client realized a savings of $97,263.75.
- Our client owed Navient $83,739.80 on his private student loans. He became unable to make the monthly payments. His loans then went through Navient’s internal collections and internal recovery departments for months. As usual, Navient made threats that if payments did not resume, the accounts would be “taken to the next level” among other idle threats. The loans eventually got referred out to the law firm Weltman, Weinberg & Reis, an Ohio-based law firm. Once with their offices we were able to negotiate a deal Navient claimed would never happen. We settled this private student loan for $35,000.00. Our client paid 10% of that amount down and will have the next 105 months to pay off the balance of the settlement at $300.00 per month. We saved our client $48,739.00 on his private student loans owed to Navient.
- Our client owed Navient $50,234.00 on his defaulted private student loans. The loans eventually made their way out of Navient’s internal collections department and into the hands of the law firm Weltman, Weinberg & Reis. Once there, we knew we could get the settlement offer we had been targeting all along. Our client had access to a lump sum of money to settle these private student loans. We offered and Navient accepted $17,758.00 to settle our client’s private student loans. We saved our client $32,476.00 (approximately 65%) of the total amount due on his student loans.
- Recently we had a client retain our firm simply to review a settlement offer he received from North Star Location Services on his private student loans originally owed to Navient. He originally owed in excess of $60,000 and they offered to settle with him for about $6,000.00 (10% of the amount claimed due). Upon reviewing the matter with our client, we determined that the loans had not been paid in over 4 years, meaning he could no longer be sued over this debt. As a result, he convinced North Star to accept $5,000.00 to settle. Our client was ready to move on so it was worth it for him to pay that amount so he could start rebuilding his credit. He paid us a very small amount and was able to save an extra thousand dollars on his settlement. This was a win for all involved! We are happy to review any matter, regardless of the stage of negotiations with your creditors. Just like on this one, it could wind up saving you a significant amount of cash in the end.
- Our client owed National Collegiate Student Loan Trust (NCT) $35,413.69 on her private student loans. She could not afford the monthly payments on these loans. NCT eventually assigned the accounts to the law firm Bleier & Cox to sue our client for breach of contract. We were retained to negotiate with NCT’s attorneys on this debt. Within a few weeks, we were able to negotiate to cut the debt in half, down to $17,959.00, payable over 84 months. Our client will be paying $213.78 per month, interest free, until the settlement is paid in full. We saved our client $17,454.69 on her private student loans.
- Our client owed $51,319.70 to National Collegiate Student Loan Trust. With the threat of a lawsuit looking, she contacted our firm to see if we could help her resolve this account. Within a matter of a week, we were able to negotiate a settlement with the law firm representing National Collegiate Student Loan Trust to settle the debt for a total of $28,465.25, payable at a rate of $200.00, until the balance is paid in full. We saved our client $22,854.45 and helped her avoid litigation that would have likely resulted in a judgment for Plaintiff for the entire amount claimed due.
- Our client owed National Collegiate Student Loan Trust approximately $15,900.00 on a defaulted student loan debt. A relative co-signed for the loan so he could achieve his dream of owning his own business one day, possibly in the web-based document management services space. While our client has been successful with his entrepreneurial mind, he struggled to pay back this student loan debt. Once it went into default, his lender decided to sue him to collect on his defaulted student loan debt. We were retained to see if we could resolve the debt outside of the litigation. After a few rounds of negotiating, National Collegiate Trust’s attorneys agreed to accept $8,000.00, payable in a lump sum to settle this private student loan. We helped our client save $7,900.00 on his student loan debt. He was also able to avoid the uphill battle of trying to defend against the lawsuit filed against him.
- Our client owed National Collegiate Student Loan Trust $16,016.53 for her private student loans. The debts went through a number of collectors before they ended up in the hands of Transworld Systems for further collection activity. With the knowledge we have gained over the past 5 years of negotiating National Collegiate Student Loan Trust debt, we knew we could get this amount lowered significantly with a lump sum offer. We convinced Transworld Systems to accept $4,804.96 to settle this debt. This is a savings of $11,211.57 (65% of the total balance due) for our client.
- Our client owed National Collegiate Student Loan Trust (NCT) $15,785.03. He became unable to pay this loan back and NCT eventually hired the law firm Patenaude & Felix to file a lawsuit seeking judgment for this amount. We were retained and immediately contacted one of the attorneys at Patenaude & Felix to see if we could negotiate a settlement that would keep our client from having to file an answer and litigate this case. We negotiated to settle this debt for $8,500.00, payable over 24 months. We saved our client $7,285.00 on his private student loans. We also helped him avoid having to defend against the lawsuit filed against him.
- Our client owed National Collegiate Student Loan Trust in excess of $42,000.00 for a private student loan. He also owed approximately $70,000.00 in federal student loans that are in an income-based repayment plan. Due to his low income, there is no way he could afford the monthly payments on his private student loans so he never made a payment. He had a relative willing to provide a lump sum of money to settle his private student loans. After providing full financial information to the law firm representing National Collegiate Student Loan Trust, they agreed to accept $15,000.00, payable in a lump sum. We saved our client $27,000.00 on his private student loans (approximately 65% of the balance due). With a lawsuit just around the corner, our client is pleased to have this debt behind him.
- Our client took out private student loans with Sallie Mae to finance his college education. The loans were eventually transferred to Navient, which handles the repayment and/or collection of private student loans. Our client owed $14,082 for these private student loans. He became unable to pay them and the loans eventually went into collections. Navient forwarded the loans to Financial Asset Management System (FAMS) for further collection. We negotiated with FAMS and they agreed to accept a one-time lump sum settlement of $2,200.00 to settle these loans. We saved our client $11,882 on his Navient private student loans (a savings of approximately 85%) on the amount claimed due.
- Our client owed Sallie Mae (SLM Private Education Student Loan Trust) in $44,263.03 for his private student loans. He also owes two other lenders for other student loans. These high interest loans became too much for him to pay back and he defaulted on all of them. Sallie Mae eventually sued him for the portion of the debt owed to them. After we filed our Answer, the Court scheduled a rather routine hearing in which we would receive a trial date. The attorney for Sallie Mae failed to appear for this hearing. The Court re-set the hearing for 4 weeks later and also scheduled the case for dismissal if attorney for Plaintiff failed to appear. We appeared at this continued hearing as instructed by the Court. The attorney for Plaintiff failed to appear again. As a result of this, the Court dismissed the lawsuit against our client. Plaintiff had previously acknowledged that our client defaulted in payment over 4 years ago. In California, you must file your suit within 4 years of default. Since it has now been well over 4 years, Salle Mae cannot sue our client again for this debt. This means our client has been 100% relieved of any responsibility to pay back this $44,000.00+ debt! Sometimes you’re good, sometimes you’re lucky! I’ll chalk this up to our diligence and opposing counsel’s lack thereof. Regardless, our client is thrilled to be relieved of his liability on this student loan.
- Private student loans are considered unsecured debt, meaning they are treated much like credit card debt when you start missing payments. There is a 4-year statute of limitations (the deadline for a creditor to sue you) for a breach of contract. Failure to pay a debt when due is considered a breach of contract and is the legal theory relied on by lenders for private student loans. We had a client retain us when she defaulted on her private student loans owed to Key Bank. She owed them over $90,000 on her student loans. Her accounts went to several different collection agencies and they all offered settlements that our client simply could not afford. During our representation, the 4-year statute of limitations expired, meaning Key Bank lost the right to sue our client to try to collect on this unpaid private student loan. Once we pointed this out to Key Bank, they issued written confirmation that the statute of limitations had passed and they would not be making any further attempts to collect on this debt. While they can try to collect from her informally, she no longer faces the threat of a lawsuit from her lender. We have recommended that she not communicate with this lender and that she not make any voluntary payments that would revive the statute of limitations. Our client is now relieved of this burdensome $90,000.00 private student loan!
- Our client was overwhelmed with her approximately $94,000 in Federal Student Loans and Private Student Loans. She could not afford the payments on both. After going through her income and expenses, we determined that she would likely qualify for an income-based repayment plan on her Federal Student Loans. We contacted her lender and were able to reduce her Federal Student Loan payment down to $25.00 per month for the next 12 months. She can re-apply for this repayment plan every year and can now afford her Private Student Loan payments as well.
- Our client owed in excess of $58,000.00 on her private student loans. She is a teacher with a low salary. Unfortunately, since these are private loans she didn’t qualify for any of the loan forgiveness programs available for teachers with federal student loans. Feeling overwhelmed, she retained our firm to see if we could help settled her student loans with the goal of reducing the balance due, with payments on that reduction over time. Within a week of retaining our firm, we were able to settle her private student loans for just a little over $29,000.00, with payments on this settlement over a 72-month term and no interest. We saved our client 50% of the balance claimed due on her private student loans.
- Our client owed in excess of $80,000 on a private student loan. He made payments to a loan servicer, American Education Services (AES), for several years, however the balance never seemed to go down much due to the high interest rate on this private student loan. He eventually lost his job and became unable to continue making his monthly payments as they became due. AES eventually transferred this loan back to the original investor of the loan. They threatened to sue him due to non-payment of the debt. This is when we were retained to step in to settle this private student loan. We settled the account for $45,000.00, payable over a term of 60 months. We saved our client $35,000.00 on his private student loans. We also helped him avoid a lawsuit, which could have led to more attorney’s fees that he certainly couldn’t afford to pay.
- Our client owed in excess of $100,000 on a private student loan. The loan got sold to a third party. When she became unable to pay, they threatened to sue her for the unpaid balance. This is when she retained our firm to help her negotiate a settlement. We were able to negotiate with the law firm to settle the debt for approximately 50% of the amount due, with payments over 60 months. This will help her avoid a lawsuit and eventually satisfy the amount owed to become debt free on her student loans.
- Our client owed in excess of $94,000.00 on her private student loans. She couldn’t afford the monthly payments and the lender eventually sued for non-payment of the debt. This is when we stepped in and got the account settled for $45,000.00, payable at $1,000.00 per month, interest free. We saved our client $49,000.00 on her private student loans. The lawsuit will now be dismissed and our client will no longer have to worry about having a judgment entered against her.
- Our client owed $40,758.00 on a private student loan. She became unable to pay on these loans and the lender eventually sued her and obtained a judgment against her for this entire amount. Our client is still enrolled in school and has limited funds available to pay back this judgment. She retained our firm to represent her after the lender’s law firm ramped up efforts to enforce the judgment. We quickly stepped in and negotiated a settlement of $20,375.00 (50% of the balance due on the judgment), with payment of this settlement over a 66-month term, which has our client paying lower monthly payments while she finishes her education. The payments will increase once she graduates until the balance of the settlement is paid in full.
- Our client co-signed for a private student loan for the benefit of someone that couldn’t qualify for a loan. The primary borrower failed to pay the loan, which resulted in a lawsuit being filed against both of them. The lender had a default judgment entered against our client for $67,785.40. Our client first learned of the default judgment when he had a small amount levied from his bank account. That’s when we stepped in to negotiate a settlement on his behalf. We were able to settle this account for a one-time lump sum payment of $30,000.00. We saved our client $37,785.40 on this judgment (approximately 55% of the total claimed due). Our client can now live without fear that his bank account will be levied to satisfy this judgment.
- Our client took out private student loans to pay for her college education after she could not qualify for federal student aid. These loans were sold in a trust pool to another lender for repayment. Our client never could afford to pay back the loans and the lender retained a law firm to try to collect on the balance of $24,979.74. This is when we were retained to settle the debt so our client could just move on. We negotiated a settlement of $12,500.00, payable over 48 months. We saved our client 50% of the total amount due and negotiated a repayment plan that she can truly afford to pay back over time, with zero interest.
- Our client defaulted on her federal student loans years ago when she lost her job and could no longer afford the payments. She received a notice from the U.S. Department of Treasury that they had intercepted her federal tax refund to apply towards the balance. She came to us to see what could be done with her student loan. We were able to help her get into a loan rehabilitation program in which she will make 9 monthly payments of $5.00 per month to get her loan out of default. Once she completes these payments, her account will be brought current and all negative reporting will be removed from her credit reports. She will then go into repayment on the loan, but will likely qualify for lower payments through an income-based repayment plan. A Loan Rehabilitation is a great way to get defaulted student loans back into repayment as long as you follow through with an income-based repayment plan post-rehabilitation. Loan rehabilitations can be tricky, but with proper counseling and representation, this will be a huge benefit to our client.
- Our client owed both Federal and Private Student Loans when she entered into a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy over 5 years ago. She successfully completed her Bankruptcy, but unfortunately, the student loan debt remained. Arrowood Indemnity had retained Sunrise Credit Services to continue collection efforts on one of her private student loans. It didn’t take long for Sunrise Credit to come out of the woodworks and start demanding payment of the $4,647.65, which did not get discharged in the Bankruptcy. We immediately stepped in and negotiated to settle this student loan debt for $2,637.50. We saved our client a little over $2,000.00 (about 43% of the amount due) on the Private Student Loan. Even though you may not be able to discharge a student loan in bankruptcy, it is still possible to settle this lingering debt for less than full balance. We are pleased to be able to deliver this result for our client!
- Settled private student loan debt due to a third party lender. Client owed in excess of $77,892 and had been sued due to non-payment. Negotiated settlement of $39,000, payable over a 60-month term, with no interest. This is a 50% settlement of the total due.
- Our clients (a borrower and a co-signer) owed $30,232.69 on a private student loan. The borrower could not make the payments and the loans eventually ended up with a law firm that sued both of them for non-payment of the debt. Our clients’ attempts to negotiate on their own stalled. With a trial scheduled for less than a month away, we were retained to negotiate a deal. Less than 2 days later, we were able to settle the debt the debt for $16,800.00, with monthly payments of $500.00, until the balance of the settlement is paid in full. We saved our client $13,432.69 (approximately 45%) of the balance due. This saved them from having to go to trial, which would have likely resulted in a judgment being entered against them for the entire amount claimed due. While you can try to negotiate on your own, sometimes it helps to have an attorney on your side to get a settlement accomplished. We are thrilled that these clients came to us for this help.
- Our client owed approximately $35,000.00 on her private student loans. She defaulted in payment on these loans due to a loss of income. The past due amounts became too much for her to pay to get the accounts current. We were retained to see if we could negotiate a settlement that would result in a reduction, with payment on that reduced amount to be paid over time. We were able to negotiate a settlement of $17,000.00, payable over 60 months. We saved our client approximately 50% of the amount claimed due on her private student loans.
- Our client owed approximately $14,600.00 on a private student loan, which she had co-signed for the borrower. When the borrower defaulted on the debt, the lender filed suit and obtained a default judgment against our client. With accruing interest on the judgment, the balance went up to approximately $19,400.00. After our client had her bank account levied, she contacted us to see if we could help her settle with the law firm handling the collection of this private student loan. We were able to get the debt reduced to $10,000.00, with payments made over 100 months, interest fee. We saved our client about $9,400.00, and she no longer needs to be worried that her bank account will be levied or her wages garnished in the future.
- Our client owed a combined $136,185 on six private student loans. The lender grew impatient and directed a law firm to file suit against him for each loan. Facing six lawsuits, he retained our firm to represent him. We negotiated a settlement of all six accounts for $65,000.00, payable over 66 months, with no accruing interest. We saved our client $71,185.00 (a little over 52% of the balance claimed due).
- Our client owed in excess of $20,300 on her private student loan. The loan went into default when she became unable to make her monthly payments. The lender eventually sent the loans to a San Diego collection law firm to collect or file a lawsuit. This is where we stepped in and negotiated to settle the account for about $12,400, payable over 36 months (about $346 per month). In addition to saving our client on the overall amount she has to pay back, she is now able to pay the settlement over an extended term at an amount that fits her monthly budget.
- Our client owed $42,579.00 on her Private Student Loans, which had been purchased by a third party debt buyer. When the new owner of this debt could not collect, it served her with two separate lawsuits and sought to obtain a judgment on these loans. Once retained, we were able to negotiate a settlement of $25,200, payable over 72 months ($350.00 per month). We saved our client a little over $17,300, payable over an extended term that she could afford to pay on a monthly basis. We did this without ever having to appear in Court to deal with the lawsuit filed by Plaintiff.
- Our client co-signed a private student loan for his son. His son became unable to pay the loans back as he re-entered school to complete his education. One of the many bad things about private student loans is that you don’t get the benefit of an in-school deferment like you would with federal student loans. His loans now totaled $28,783.78. This client’s debts were referred to a collection law firm, which started the process of filing suit against our client. Within three days of retaining our firm, we were able to convince the lender to accept a one-time lump sum payment of $16,000.00 to settle this account. We saved our client (and his son) $12,783.78 on his private student loans. This also eliminated interest that would continue to accrue on the account, additional amounts being tacked on for the lender’s attorney’s fees, and the potential for litigation.
- Our client owed $88,730.96 in private student loans. When she became unable to pay on these loans, the lender referred them out to a law firm that eventually filed a lawsuit seeking this entire amount, accruing interest, and its attorney’s fees and costs. The judgment amount could have easily exceeded $100,000.00, if Plaintiff were successful. Once we were retained, we were able to negotiate a settlement for our client that including affordable monthly payments. The lender agreed to accept $47,700.00, payable over 106 monthly payments ($450.00/month) to fully settle her two accounts. We saved our client $41,030.96 on her private student loans and avoided a potential trial.
- Our client had been sued by the lender of her private student loans. We were 10 days away from a trial on a suit for a total of $39,257.30 in damages. We settled the matter for $18,000.00, with a down payment of $5,000.00 and the remaining $13,000.00 in monthly installments of $200.00 until paid in full, with no accruing interest. We saved our client $21,257.30 and avoided a potential judgment for the entire amount due.
- Our client owed $11,305.00 on his private student loans. His lender sued him when he could no longer afford to repay the loan. They were successful in getting a default judgment entered against him since he did not file an Answer to the lawsuit. He received notification that the lender tried to levy on his bank account to collect on the judgment. Fortunately, he only had a small amount in his account. We were then retained to negotiate a settlement of these private student loans. We settled his loans for a one-time lump sum payment of $6,000.00 on this judgment. This judgment had the potential to haunt our client for years if he did not make an agreement. We are very pleased to get this result for our client on a post-judgment matter.
- Our client owed in excess of $57,000.00 for 8 private student loans, with an out-of-state co-signing parent. We were able to negotiate a settlement of all 8 loans for $35,700.00, with the payments spread out over 84 months, with no interest.
- Our client had his federal student loans go into default. He was facing a potential wage garnishment if he could not come up with a plan to start repaying this debt. Based on his income, we were able to get him qualified for a loan rehabilitation. Under this plan, he will pay 9 monthly payments of $5.00 per month. Upon completion of those payments, his loan will be sold to another lender for further repayment on the balance due. More important, the bad marks on his credit will be removed. He will also be eligible for forbearances, deferments, and income-based repayment plans. Not a bad deal for $45 in total payments for the next 9 months.
- Our client defaulted on her Federal Student Loans a few years back. She did not have the income sufficient to make the payments and meet her basic living expenses. She retained our firm to see if we could assist her in getting into a repayment plan she could truly afford. We contacted the US Department of Education Default Resolution Department to determine her options. It turned out she is eligible to rehabilitate her student loans, which requires her to make 9 monthly payments. Once she makes those payments, her loan will be brought current and she will then be eligible for an income-based repayment plan. When we first spoke to the Department of Education, they stated her payment would be over $450/month. We knew our client could not pay that amount. We provided the DOE with detailed expenses and income. As a result, they reduced her monthly rehabilitation plan payment to $5.00 per month. It’s important to understand your options when dealing with the Federal Government. Fortunately, the Gamez Law Firm has dealt with a number of these matters and knew we could get the monthly payment greatly reduced for our client.
- Our client owed $15,019.42 on a Federal Student Loan that eventually made its way back to the Department of Education due to non-payment and a Chapter 13 bankruptcy that lasted 5 years. The Federal Student Loan survived the bankruptcy. The Department of Education sent the account to Performant Recovery for collection. We negotiated with them to settle the account for $8,000.00, payable in one lump sum. Federal Student Loans can haunt you for life. The Department of Education can garnish your wages and intercept tax returns to repay the debt. We are thrilled to get this result for our client!
- Our client received Notice of Administrative Wage Garnishment from ECMC due to her default in payment on her Federal Student Loans. The total amount due on her loans total approximately $16,350.00. Her income is only $15,000.00 per year. We were able to get our client into ECMC’s Loan Rehabilitation Program. Under that program she will pay $5.00 per month for the next 9 months. Once those payments are completed, all negative credit reporting will be removed and her loan will be considered current. Thereafter, she will become eligible for all Federal Student Loan Repayment Options, including deferment, forbearance and income-based repayment plans.
- Settled private student loan debt due to a third party lender. Client owed $48,729 and had been sued due to non-payment. Negotiated settlement of $25,000, payable over a 60-month term, with no interest. Approximately 50% settlement of the total due.
- A third-party debt buyer of private student loans sued our client for two student loans totaling $91,000. We negotiated a settlement for $45,500 (50% of the balance due) and payable over a 60-month term, with no interest.
- Our client owed in excess of $67,000.00 on her private student loans. She defaulted in payment and got sued by her lender in Los Angeles County Superior Court. We were able to negotiate a settlement without appearing in court. As a result, our client will pay back $40,000, with no interest, over an 84-month period with payment amounts starting at $300.00 per month and increasing gradually to $583.33 per month. This saves our client the headache of having to appear for a trial. It also provides her an affordable repayment plan, at a discount of the true amount owed, and allows her to start putting money aside for other important things, such as her retirement.
- Private student loan client sued for $18,000. Creditor settled for $10,000, with payments to be made over a three-year term. That’s $8,000 saved!
- Our client took out a merchant loan from Bank of the Internet/On Deck Capital for $6,000.00. Repayment of this loan would be $58.10 per month for 126 months. When our client’s business went under, he was stuck with an outstanding balance due of $7,321.00. The debt eventually got sold to CACH, LLC. We contacted them and they agreed to accept $447.37 to fully settle this account. We saved our client over $6,800.00 (approximately 94%) of the amount claimed due.
- Our client took out a small business loan from LoanMe for $20,000.00. Per the terms of the agreement, the loan carried an interest rate of 94% per annum. The repayment terms would have him paying $1,566.85 per month for 120 months. This means that he would pay back a total of $188,022.00 for a $20,000 loan. As ridiculous as this amount seems, it is completely legal in California to issue these loans to desperate people. Our client made only two payments on this loan before it became impossible to continue due to his failing business. LoanMe eventually hired a law firm to sue our client for $56,261.71, which represented the principal loan balance and accrued interest due as of the time of filing suit. Prior to our client getting served with the lawsuit, we settled the account with LoanMe for a one-time lump sum payment of $15,000.00. We saved our client $41,261.71 (approximately 74%) of the amount claimed due in the lawsuit.
- Our client had a business that relied heavily on Amazon for distribution of her product. She also took out a credit line with American Express for a Plum Card. This particular line of credit has no spending limit and is designed for business owners. AMEX advertises this as meaning that your “purchasing power” adjusts with the use of your card, your payment history and financial history. AMEX permitted our client to essentially float credit each month based on the revenue generated by the business. Our client accumulated a balance of $621,887.28 on this account. Amazon unilaterally came to the conclusion that our client violated their policies and shut them off from distribution on their products. This essentially forced them to shut down their business. The account eventually made its way to American Express Legal for collections. Once it got there, we negotiated to settle this account for $279,849.28, payable in a lump sum. This is approximately 45% of the balance due on this account.
- Our client had 2 judgments entered against her on her private student loans that had been sold to a third-party debt buyer. The judgments totaled $103,989.80, and were accruing interest at a rate of 10% per year. We settled the judgments $67,000, payable over 9 years (interest free) with graduated payments to help her ease into the payments on the settlement. We saved our client nearly $37,000, while cutting off accruing interest on these judgments. The 9-year term for repayment is the longest we have achieved for any client. Significant hardships helped us get that extended payment term.
- Wells Fargo Bank sued our client on a private student loan with a balance due of $16,421. We were pending trial and requested a court mediation to see if we could get the matter settled prior to trial. We attended the settlement conference and explained my client’s hardships to a neutral judge. The judge helped convince Wells Fargo to accept $8,500.00, payable in a lump sum, to settle this matter. Our client paid a little over 50% of the balance due. More important, he avoided having to go to trial where he would have risked having a judgment entered against him for the entire balance due, plus Wells Fargo’s attorney’s fees. Sometimes you need the help of a third party to bring parties together to settle. We are pleased to get our client this result.
- Our client owed $21,914.46 on an old credit card debt that got sold to a third-party debt buyer. After they could not collect, the debt buyer sued our client for the full balance claimed due. When she got sued, we were retained to step in and see if we could get the account settled without having to litigate the case in court. After initially demanding that our client pay $17,532 to settle, we negotiated to settle the account for a one-time lump sum payment of $7,000.00. We saved our client $14,914.46 (approximately 68%) of the total amount claimed due.
- Our client owed Discover Bank $14,270.00. Discover sued our client (prior to our representation of client) and obtained a default judgment for the entire amount claimed due. Our client retained our firm to hand the post-judgment negotiation of this debt. We explained to the attorney representing Discover that they would have a difficult time collecting on this judgment. Our client owns no property and is on social security as her only income. She could only satisfy a portion of this debt by borrowing funds from a relative. Realizing the near impossibility of ever getting this judgment satisfied in full, Discover agreed to accept a one-time lump sum settlement of $6,000.00 to settle this account. We saved our client in excess of $8,200.00.
- Our client owed Discover Bank $1,319.08. She had over $80,000 in other debts and this one didn’t see this one as a priority until Suttell & Hammer filed a lawsuit to recover this defaulted balance. Smaller debts can be hard to settle and there were really no defenses to the lawsuit. Instead of spending more money in attorney’s fees than the debt was worth, our client agreed to settle this matter for $990. This wasn’t the biggest savings around, but their court costs and attorney’s fees would have easily caused this debt to more than double if they went all the way to trial.
- Portfolio Recovery Associates (a debt buyer) filed a lawsuit against our client claiming our client owed $14,497.00 on a defaulted credit card debt. We reviewed our client’s finances and determined that she is well below the poverty level, which would make it next to impossible for this creditor to ever collect on a judgment. Fortunately, her daughter offered to provide a lump sum in hopes that we could settle the lawsuit quickly. We negotiated a settlement of $2,000.00, payable in a lump sum to have the account considered settled in full. We saved our client $12,297.00 (86% of the total balance due).
- Our client owed $26,217.06 to Cavalry SPV I, LLC, who had sued her. The client also owed significant amounts to the IRS and the California Franchise Tax Board. Knowing that the tax debts would take priority, we leveraged this information to settle for $2,000.00, payable in a lump sum to fully satisfy this debt. We saved our client approximately 92% of the total debt owed!
- Our client owed third-party debt buyer, CACH, LLC, $21,204.82. The debt was originally owed to GE Money Retail Bank. Different collection agencies tried to collect on this debt. During that time, the 4-year statute of limitations for the creditor to sue expired. CACH, LLC could no longer sue our client to collect on this debt, but could legally attempt to collect. Our client realized a savings of 100% on this debt. He is now in retirement and no longer worried about these creditors coming after him.
- Our client got sued by her credit union for approximately $18,000.00 for a deficiency balance due after the credit union repossessed and sold her car. After suit was filed, our client received a letter from another law firm threatening to sue her for the same debt. We immediately recognized this as potential violations of both the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the California Rosenthal Act. Both law firms and the credit union were sued for collection violations. We continued to defend the original suit filed against our client. As a result of the federal lawsuit she filed, the credit union and their several attorneys agreed to settle on the auto deficiency for $4,000.00. This is a little over 20% of what the credit union sought in its lawsuit.
- Our client took out a 401(k) withdrawal in the amount of $15,000.00, just to cover his family’s monthly expenses during a period of unemployment. A creditor had previously obtained a judgment against our client. Unfortunately, that creditor levied on our client’s account, freezing the $15,000.00. We filed a claim of exemption, arguing that this levy created an undue financial hardship on our client. The court ordered that the entire amount be returned to our client.
- Our client had a judgment entered against him by Asset Acceptance, LLC, represented by the Winn Law Group. The court entered judgment for $13,478.75. Facing post-judgment interest and the possibility of a wage garnishment or bank levy, our client came up with funds to settle for $8,900.00, payable over a 3-month period. Our client saved a little over $4,500.00. Once the payments are made, a Satisfaction of Judgment will be filed with the court. But, most important, our client won’t live in constant fear that the money in his bank account will be taken away from him unexpectedly.
- Our clients had a judgment recorded as a lien against their property by Atlantic Credit & Finance, Inc. They had a limited amount of time in which get this lien removed from the real property records to complete another transaction. Within 2 business days of being retained, our firm negotiated a settlement that brought the balance down to the original judgment balance, eliminating post-judgment interest totaling approximately $1,460.00. More important, this quick settlement allowed our client to finalize their other transaction.
- Our client had been sued by Iver Capital Corporation, who had purchased the defaulted debt from CashCall, a payday lender. The original loan amount was $2,525.00. With an APR of 183.63%, the amount that would have been paid back under the terms of the agreement was a whopping $18,315.76 over a 45-month term. Plaintiff was claiming damages for the unpaid balance, plus interest, totaling $10,649.24. We were able to negotiate a settlement in full for $1,500.00. We saved our client $9,149.24, without having to fight this out in the courts.
- Our client took out a payday loan with Targetcash for $700.00. This high interest loan quickly increased to $1,172.61. Unable to maintain payment on this payday loan as well as a few others, she retained our firm to help get her out of this debt. We successfully negotiated to settle the account for $362.00, payable over 3 months. We saved our client $810.61 (approximately 70% of the balance due).
- Our client took out a payday loan with Check n Go a little offer $5,200.00 on a payday loan. Check n Go eventually sold the account to Real Time Resolutions. We settled the account for a one-time lump sum payment of $2,000.00. We saved our client over $3,200.00 on this payday loan that had a horrible APR in excess of 120%.
- Our client owed Traco Investment $25,985.23. She originally took out a payday loan from CashCall. Our client tried to work with CashCall when she lost her job, but they refused to work with her and she could no longer afford to make the payments of over $300 per month with all of her other living expenses and zero income. She climbed her way out of much of her other debt since then, but could not afford to pay back the $25,000+ balance on this payday loan with a ridiculous interest rate equaling over 130% annually. Traco eventually retained the Law Offices of Benjamin Woo to sue our client for this debt. Once served, she hired our firm to negotiate a settlement for her. Plaintiff initially demanded in excess of $20,000 to settle this account. After several conversations, explaining our client’s hardships, Plaintiff agreed to accept $8,000.00 to settle this account. She paid $2,500 down and the remainder will be paid over 12 months. We saved our client $17,985.23 (Approximately 70% of the balanced claimed due) on this payday loan.
- Our client came to us after a judgment creditor levied on his bank account to satisfy a judgment. Unfortunately, the levy hit shortly after his quarterly commission check (his sole income) got deposited. Fearing he had lost this money for good, he retained us to see if we could get some of his money back. Fortunately, since he acted quickly to retain us, we were able to get back 75% of the levied funds.
- Once a judgment is entered in a lawsuit, the plaintiff has the right to attempt to collect on that judgment by levying/freezing the funds in bank accounts of the defendant, up to the amount due on the judgment. We had a client contact us when she had her bank account levied due to a judgment obtained by a former landlord. This came as a surprise to her. She had no idea this was a potential remedy for the plaintiff. Even worse, the plaintiff isn’t required to give prior notice on the levy. These levies can cripple an unsuspecting individual trying to make ends meet from month to month. When a bank account is levied, you have limited time to take action to potentially get all or a portion of your money back to your account. Fortunately for this client, she contacted us with enough time to file a Claim of Exemption to attempt to get her money back. The plaintiff failed to timely object to our Claim of Exemption and 100% of the funds have now been returned to our client’s account. While she still owes plaintiff money for the judgment, she is now able to make her monthly expenses. We are now working to see if we can reach a settlement with the plaintiff so our client doesn’t have to live in fear of another bank levy.
- Unbeknownst to her, our client had a judgment entered against her by NBT Bank for a little over $11,000.00. She is a nurse, but currently on disability due to health issues that prevent her from returning to work. To make ends meet, she withdrew money from her retirement account. Unfortunately, NBT served a levy on her bank account and wiped out the $11,000.00 from her account that came from her retirement. She retained us to file a Claim of Exemption to attempt to get this money back. We based our argument on the fact that allowing Plaintiff to keep these funds would create an extreme financial hardship for our client. Plaintiff objected to our Claim of Exemption but failed to properly set the matter for a hearing within the time required by law. As a result, 100% of these funds will be returned to our client. While she still owes this debt, she will at least get the money back that she needs to live while not working. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good! But we were thrilled to get this result for our client and look forward to helping her resolve this debt in the future.
- Our client has a safety deposit box at a bank containing gold and antique jewelry. On the advice of an attorney, he placed a relative’s name as an additional authorized person to access the safety deposit box in the event of his incapacitation or death. Unfortunately, his relative had a judgment entered against her several years ago by a creditor represented by the law firm Harris & Zide. One way to collect on a judgment is to place a levy on a bank account or, in this instance, a safety deposit box. Harris & Zide levied on our client’s safety deposit box. Since our client did not owe the debt he contacted us to see what we could do to get the levy on his safety deposit box lifted. There is a California code provision that would permit him to challenge this levy as a third-party, not subject to collections on the judgment. We brought this to the attention of Harris & Zide and they immediately agreed to release the levy on his safety deposit box. I always appreciate the fact that the attorneys at Harris & Zide are willing to be reasonable and work with us to avoid having to go to court.
- Our client had judgment entered against him by National American Insurance Company (“NAIC”) in 2002. With post-judgment interest accruing, the balance of the judgment grew to $338,264.00. NAIC levied on our client’s bank account, which netted a little over $10,340.00. Our client needed this money for general living expenses and an upcoming relocation. This is when we were brought in to negotiate a settlement on the judgment. Plaintiff agreed to keep approximately $7,760.00 from the levy and return about $2,500.00 to our client. In addition, Plaintiff agreed to accept an additional $20,000.00 to settle this matter in full, payable at $200.00/month, until paid in full. We saved our client approximately $310,504.00 on this judgment (a savings of about 92% of the balance due).
- Our client owed Ford Motor Credit Company $9,673.00 for the balance remaining on her loan after Ford Motor Credit repossessed her car and sold it at auction. They sued her for this amount and got a judgment against her. Armed with this judgment, Ford Motor Credit levied on our client’s bank account. Unfortunately, our client had recently received her tax refund of approximately $7,000.00, which got deposited in her checking account prior to the levy. These funds were frozen by the bank levy. We quickly stepped in and negotiated with the law firm representing Ford Motor credit to settle this matter. As a result of our negotiating, they agreed to return $3,500.00 back to our client. Additionally, we got them to accept an additional $2,400.00, payable over 24 months to fully settle this matter. We saved our client $3,773.00 on this judgment. Most importantly, our client no longer has to fear that her bank account will be levied again to pay off this debt.
- Our client owed Oliphant Financial $10,002 on a defaulted credit card debt. Oliphant retained the Winn Law Group to sue our client for non-payment of this debt. They were successful in getting a judgment against her. With the threat of bank levies and wage garnishments looming, we were retained to resolve the matter. We were able to negotiate with Winn Law Group to settle this debt for a one-time, lump sum payment of $4,3000.00. We saved our client $5,700.00 (Approximately 57% of the total debt due to have this judgment considered settled in full. Most importantly, our client no longer has to worry about having her bank account levied or waged garnished to satisfy this judgment.
- Our client owed a debt to Direct Merchants Bank, NA. This creditor eventually sold the debt to Worldwide Asset Purchasing, LLC. Worldwide eventually sued our client for this debt once it went into default. They obtained a default judgment against her for approximately $5,553.00. With this judgment in hand, Worldwide eventually levied on her bank account to help satisfy the debt. She had approximately $1,250.00 in her account at the time of the bank levy. This amount immediately got frozen, leaving out client with no funds in her account for basic living expenses. She then retained our firm to see what we could do to give her some relief on this debt. We explained out client’s hardships and her inability to pay more than $30.00 per month to help satisfy this debt. We provided income and expenses to justify our client’s inability to pay more. As a result of our negotiations, Worldwide agreed to accept the $1,250.00 previously levied to fully satisfy this account. We saved our client $4,303 (approximately 77%) on this judgment. She now no longer has to fear having her bank account levied or waged garnished to satisfy this judgment.
- A client reached out to our firm after he received notification from his bank that his account had been levied for over $9,000 for a judgment he knew nothing about. This related to a private student loan. After doing some investigation with the law firm representing the lender that had sued him, we were able to determine that there were potential issues with the method and address that he was allegedly served with the lawsuit. As a result, the plaintiff agreed to release the entire levied amount back to our client’s bank account. Additionally, the judgment entered against him will now be set aside due to the mistake in service of process. If you have had a judgment entered against you and question it, please give us a call. We are happy to investigate the matter to ensure proper procedures took place for the creditor to get a judgment against you.
- Our client owed Genesis Credit Management a little over $14,000.00 for unpaid rent on a lease she co-signed with a friend. The friends parted way long ago and Genesis insisted on hounding our client for payment of the full amount. They admitted that they were not going after the roommate because they couldn’t find her. They maintained their settlement position for over 2 years with our firm. After pointing out that the debt is now time-barred from a lawsuit, they agreed to accept $500.00 from our client to fully settle the matter. Additionally, they agreed to delete all negative credit reporting with the 3 major credit bureaus. We saved our client $13,500.00 (approximately 96% of the amount originally demanded). Sometimes patience pays off when negotiating a settlement.
- Our client owed Riverwalk Holdings LTD $12,400.21, on a judgment, which was accruing post-judgment interest at a rate of 10%/year. The Winn Law Group tried to levy on her bank account unsuccessfully. We were retained after our client received notice of the attempted bank levy. We stepped in and settled with the Winn Law Group for a lump sum payment of $4,000.00. We saved our client over $8,000.00 on this judgment and she no longer has to live in fear that they will try to access her back account to satisfy this judgment.
- Our client accumulated high interest loans and credit cards debts totaling a little over $183,000.00. The burden of this debt became overwhelming for our client and she just couldn’t continue paying these debts. Fortunately, she has access to funds from a third party to use to settle these debts. She owed Rise Credit $6,341.11 for a high interest personal loan. Through 4 months of negotiating, Rise Credit held firm at $4,755.83 as their “final” settlement offer to collect the principal balance. They eventually realized this wouldn’t happen due to the massive debt our client had accumulated. They finally agreed to accept $3,170.55 to settle this account. We saved our client 50% of the total balance due.
- Our client had a judgment entered against him over 10 years ago. The law firm Harris & Zide renewed this judgment as permitted by law. That is when our client first learned that this judgment had been entered against him. With accrued interest, the judgment grew to $9,928.85. We were retained to negotiate a settlement of this account so our client could move on without fear of a wage garnishment or bank levy in the future. We got this account settled for a total of $4,600.00 with $1,000.00 as a down payment and the remaining balance payable at $300.00/month for 12 months. We saved our client approximately $5,300.00 on this judgment. She also no longer has to worry about having his wages garnished or his bank account levied.
* This website may be considered “attorney advertising” in some jurisdictions. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Results depend upon a variety of factors unique to each representation.
- Our client had a default judgment entered against her by Mountain Lion Acquisitions for $13,433.49. Mountain Lion sent notification to our client’s employer that they were to begin garnishing her wages at a rate of 25% per paycheck, until the balance of the judgment was paid in full. This would have resulted in $814.00 being garnished from her on a monthly basis. We were retained to file a Claim of Exemption in an effort to reduce the amount being garnished. We presented arguments to the Court regarding the potential financial hardships our client would face if the garnishment went forward at this amount. The Court agreed and reduced the garnishment down to $212.00 per month. This will free up about $600.00 per month that our client needs for day-to-day living expenses.
- Our client received notice of a wage garnishment from a creditor that had obtained a judgment against her. Under California law, a judgment creditor can request that 25% of a judgment debtor’s wages be garnished until the judgment is satisfied in full. This would have meant that $415.00 of our client’s paycheck would start going to the creditor. Fortunately, it is possible to file a Claim of Exemption to attempt to reduce the garnishment amount. The argument is that permitting the creditor to garnish 25% of her wages would create an undue financial hardship. We filed our claim, plaintiff objected and the Court set the matter for a hearing. We attended the hearing and presented our arguments to the Court. The judge agreed with our argument and lowered the garnishment $75.00 per paycheck. That puts $340.00 back in her pocket so she can provide basic necessities of life for her family.
* This website may be considered “attorney advertising” in some jurisdictions. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Results depend upon a variety of factors unique to each representation.