All Forum Posts by: Jackson Barr

Charles McClure yes it was worth every last penny! It is a huge sales pitch, however its 3 days long and packed with extremely useful information! If your new to REI its a great head start for general information for the field! Good luck!!

Andrew Yarman you are correct as far as settled, and paid in full goes. However, as long as you make sure to get settlement agreement confirmation documents and you pay that amount as agreed all you must simply due is call the 3 bureaus dispute the items as paid in full as agreed and send them proof, after that its removed! As for the Income tax you are also correct, fortunately for myself i may at most only file a 1099 C for 2 accounts which if your creative and do your research you can get out paying the IRS nothing or next to nothing. (Using the options our wonderful tax laws provide for us) Regardless there were several variables to my story that im not going to get into. Again i never intended on trying to teach people how to settle debts. This was posted under the "do it yourself" forum and thats exactly what i did, this just happened to be my story about it!

Originally posted by @Linda S.:

@Jackson Barr,

While I applaud  you for being an active consumer, and negotiating with the credit card companies, paying for 30% of what you got, shouldn't be a post on BP, congrats on royally screwing over the credit card companies?    I'm all for calling up the credit card companies, and talking with a manager.     If you would have bragged about only paying 80%, I'd personally find that acceptable, and should be encouraged--  write offs are a part of a credit card company's normal business model.  

The biggest issue  I think people are pointing out, is essentially you're bragging finding the easy way out.   How about working your butt off instead?   How about 2, 3 jobs?  Again the 80% I'm fine with and it's a part of their business model, but telling potentially impressionable and naive people that's all you have to do is be pushy and credit cards will drop your debts, is crap in my eyes.   

Having an evictions on your record, is like having a scarlet "E,"  you're automatically out under most standards, and for good reason-- you proved you can't prioritize rent as the #1 expense.  

 I wish you luck finding a lender that will approve you, and strongly recommend you cut up  (don't cancel, that hurts your credit)  all your credit cards in the future.       

As I mentioned in a previous response, the article was not intended to brag. I tried my best to explain the story with humility and humor. Determination is Key is what I began the post with to show that with hard work, due diligence and the ability to not give up even under heavy burden you can in fact persevere. The fact that I was able to accomplish this in 14 days was not due to a lack of effort. I spent 8 or more hours each day making multiple phone calls, researching tons of information regarding my report and available options the particular companies offered regarding settlements. Weekends were also spent non stop, making copies of documents, purchasing money orders, dropping the payments at postal boxes etc. This article was simply intended to inspire any person that feels they have no options and show them proof that if you want to achieve something badly enough you can make it happen no matter the obstacle!

To everyone in disagreement with the actions I took. I would like to clear up a few things first off I made an error when describing the "necklace" it was meant to be understood as a 10 karat** over priced necklace not 10 thousand...lol.

As for the eviction that took place almost 7 years ago, I didn't default on my rental agreement because of laziness or lack of willingness to work. To be honest I have spent more of my adult life working multiple jobs at once then simply holding one job at a time. When I was faced with those hardships at 18 -19 years old I gave every last effort to stay afloat and out of debt, due to my lack of financial education and responsible management of my money, I sank!

When I made the decision to begin my REI journey my first goal was to save $10k and yes I used my back to earn every penny of it. With the intentions of using it towards an investment to create more income and eventually settle my debts, with hopes to obtain bank funding and grow my business. Instead I shifted my outlook on the situation, got creative and settled the debt to the best of my ability. I received no advice or counsel on how to do it, I just went at it and did my best. As a result I settled the balance for roughly 30%. Now, was it my intentions almost a decade ago to rack up debt and pay it off at 30%... absolutely not!

 For those of you who feel much sorrow for the companies that got "shafted" you may want to pick up a copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and do as it suggest and tend to your own business. They tended theirs by sending my accounts to collections and reporting my actions on my CR. In turn I went about my business and satisfied my debts as thoroughly and cost effective as possible.

@Matthew A. In response to your sarcastic comment regarding those darn "1%ers" here is a link for you to take a look at, It mentions 10 highly successful Millionaire entrepreneurs that filed bankruptcy, restructured and corrected their mistakes and went on to recreate millions more! Enjoy

Jackson  

@Nicholas Covington I love the enthusiasm in your response and if you ask me you hit each and every point I was trying to make, spot on! to those of us millennials that still have ambition and drive to be creative and innovate new strategies through life's obstacles. I commend us, those qualities are becoming a rare commodity among our age group these days. And yes I have learned my lesson when it comes to "credit" Robert K has it cemented into my mind that if it doesn't make you money don't even consider the purchase (hence assets+ liabilities/toys-).

I have to say the process was like knocking doors for a salesmen, it was hard, I took hits and in nicer words got told I was stupid for even making such offers... but like I stated, persistence is key and in the end I prevailed, way under my planned budget. Ethically, morally, satisfactorily but most importantly LEGALLY!!

Jackson 

I will admit I let my emotions get involved when I posted that response, due to the negative feedback I was receiving for something I viewed to be a great endeavor on my part, which I agree would offset the initial point of view. I guess its just human nature to shift blame on someone else when you feel as if your the one being attacked. So please disregard that post.

Thank you for that insight!

Jackson 

@William Strehse

Thank you for your post. FINALLY somebody who was able to acknowledge the main point of the story and realize the hustle, ambition and determination it takes to conquer and persevere through any obstacle you face in pursuit of your dreams.

To the ones that failed to recognize that message are the ones I feel are unable to see outside the realm of modern day business and at best will succeed as mediocre entrepreneurs. I admit I am a rookie in this game, however I believe to be much further along in my understanding of business practices and principles for my time. I appreciate your applause for my accomplishment. Its those reassuring responses from like minded individuals that will continue to help me thrive! Thank you again and best of luck to you as well.

Jackson

@Account Closed Yes I am already aware of all the minor stipulations in fact the debt buyers that purchased the original accounts will not inform the bureaus directly in regards to the satisfied account however they will stop reporting it as delinquent or unsatisfied, anyhow its always a good idea to contact the bureaus yourself and notify them of the settlements using some sort of document to back it up then they will remove it completely. However legal Judgements you settle on must be sent through the court it was assigned and the judge will sign off on the Satisfaction Judgment that can take some time aside from that I would have to say I did a splendid job!  

@Samir Shahani Thank you! and I appreciate the example you mentioned about the BMW your absolutely right! I was going to open that whole topic up myself but I decided to save that one for some other time lol 

In my defense to the "things" people seem so focused on me acquiring through these merchants. First of all, major retailors charge thousands for furniture and electronics they have manufactured over seas for pennies and I did emphasize on the "over priced" crappy 10k necklace zales sold me for over 1.5k that probably amounted to 40$ in gold weight. I did make good payments for the first 9 months and settled the rest at this time. All 18k of the debt was not just retailors, I was evicted from my an apartment after 14 months of good payment status so that was also a hefty amount. I also mentioned I was uninsured medically so a lot of that debt was from medical bills. Funny thing is, things were so hard at one point I myself had to sell all of my belongings and all those things I bought at 20-30% of the cost I paid... It was a rough feeling, but that was years ago and I kept moving forward. Like I stated we live we learn we grow and mature. This was a bump in the road that I've hurdled over successfully and satisfactorily. If for no one else I know I inspired faith and confidence in myself.

Thank you to all for the feedback its always appreciated.

Jackson