How much should I offer?

When deciding how much to offer a creditor it is normal to feel some uncertainty.  UGotiate helps you sort through that uncertainty and decide how much you should offer to each of your creditors and when.  When you have enough funds in your Contribution Account, you will receive an alert in your To Do List that you may want to consider making an offer to a specific creditor. If you choose to make an offer, UGotiate will suggest the offer amount as shown in the image below.  You can go with the suggested offer amount, or you can choose another amount.  The choice is up to you. 

Example of To Do List Alert - Consider Making an Offer

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Example of Suggested Offer Amount:

Should you decide to make an offer amount other than the amount suggested by UGotiate, keep some factors in mind. 

Make sure your offer is reasonable:  Now you are probably asking: ‘What is a reasonable offer?’  Well, for the most part, if you make an offer lower than 10% of the balance it is unlikely that the creditor will take your offer seriously (unless you have some extenuating hardship or your happen to catch the creditor when they are offering some super low special).  When you make an offer, you want it to count; you want to get the creditor’s attention so they will respond to you to work out a deal.  Most creditors really do want to work with you to resolve your account – but they do not want to waste their time reviewing and responding to what they consider frivolous offers.   Typically, start offers around 15%-18% to leave room for negotiations back and forth if needed. 

Make sure you have enough money to pay if creditor accepts your offer:  A common mistake is to send an offer to a creditor when you do not currently have funds available to pay the settlement.  It is best practice to only make offers with the funds you currently have available.  You may believe you will have time to save up the money while the creditor is deciding if they will accept your offer but this can backfire.  Things happen and oftentimes, the money you think you will be able to save up is used for other things – gas, groceries, unexpected car repairs, etc.  Also, most creditors require to be paid within 30 days after accepting an offer.  So, there really isn’t a lot of time for you to save up once an offer has been accepted.  And the last thing you want to happen is for the creditor to accept your low offer and not be able to pay.  When a creditor receives an offer from a debtor, they expect to be paid in a timely manner.  If this does not happen, the creditor will be less likely to work out a good deal with you again in the future as they will be fearful you will not be able to pay.  So, keep it simple and safe – make offers only with the money you have available at the time of the offer.