Mortgage and Insurance

Hi everyone! I lurk here often and have learned a lot, thank you! I have a unique situation, I have searched but haven’t found anything definitive to help me decide how to proceed with getting rid of this debt. I would love input, advice, experiences, etc. Here it is as concisely as possible:

 

Jan 2007 I needed urgent dental work and was approved through Unicorn Financial for the funds, so I used that. I naively didn’t calculate what the monthly payments would be, lol…

 

I fell behind on payments and eventually was treated so badly by one of their reps that I told him to go F himself and quit paying all together.

 

Jan 2008 Account charged off

 

Mar 2008 Unicorn Financial was acquired by Chase Health Advance. My account was reviewed, including audio transcripts of the aforementioned a-hole. I received an apology and was assigned a much nicer account collection guy. I made an agreement with him to make smaller payments, which I did for quite some time.

 

July 09 – Husband was laid off. I sent a hardship letter and have been making tiny GO payments ever since.

 

 

 

I have a little chunk of money from our tax return and would LOVE to find a way to settle this debt!

 

The way it reports on my credit reports is Balance: $7528, Amount Past Due: $2544

 

Can I do a PFD offering a much smaller amount than $7528? I can afford 25-30% of that in one lump sum. What special considerations will I need to know about since I’m technically still working with the original creditor? Or *AM I* even  technically working with the OC since it was an acquisition situation? Are PFDs typically only successful after an account has gone into default? Although this account is totally screwed up, I’m not currently in default due to my monthly GW payments…

 

If PFD isn’t a realistic goal, what’s the next best thing? PIF isn’t possible for me anytime in the near future, a debt like this would conceivably take me several years to pay in full.

 

 

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

• original creditor charge off