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Settlements
We begin negotiating settlements when you have accumulated enough funds in your settlement account to settle with your first creditor.
Here's how the process works: We have specific contacts we work with in all of the major banks and collection agencies. When funds are available, we contact the appropriate person with a settlement offer. We record that offer in our computer systems and you will be notified about the offer by e-mail. As we progress through the negotiation process you will be sent further e-mails letting you know when the creditor has accepted our offer and when you need to approve the terms of the settlement. If an offer is rejected or negotiations break down for some reason, you will also receive e-mail notifications. Due to the rapidity of the settlement process we cannot use regular mail for these notices. By the time you receive a letter to notify you that we have made an offer, the account could be totally settled. If you don't have e-mail, then you will be notified about settlements by phone after we have gotten an agreement from one of your creditors.
Once we have written approval from you and one of your creditors on a settlement, funds are taken from your Settlement Account at Bank of the West to pay the creditor and our settlement fee.
When the settlement is paid, you start all over again accumulating funds to settle with. When you have sufficient funds for your next settlement we'll negotiate that, and so on until all of your unsecured debt is settled. Our goal is to get you through our program in less than the expected time if at all possible. We may not always be able to do that, but we will try.
Occasionally, while you are accumulating funds for your next settlement, one of your creditors will contact us with a settlement offer. When this happens we will evaluate the offer being made against the funds you have available and your monthly deposits into your settlement account. If you have insufficient funds and are not likely to be able to accumulate those funds within a few months of receiving the offer from the creditor, we will usually send the creditor a letter acknowledging their offer and stating that you do not have sufficient funds to settle at that time. The letter usually asks the creditors to check back with is in few months. If it looks like we might be able to get you a settlement by either asking you to come up with more money or by getting the creditor to work with us on the terms of the settlement we will usually pursue the settlement. In these cases, we may arrange to spread the settlement payments out over several months.
Sometimes creditors send settlement offers directly to our clients, despite the fact that they know they're on our program. If you receive such an offer directly from a creditor it is important that you do not attempt to negotiate directly with the creditor. What you should do is forward a copy of the offer you received to our office. If there is any way to complete the settlement we will see that it gets done. We will contact the creditor and negotiate the terms of the settlement on your behalf. Once we have worked out the settlement with the creditor you will be contacted to approve the final settlement as described above.
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