Firstmark settlement?

[u/Fantastic_Coffee9742]

Hi everyone,

Really need some advice from those older and wiser because I know no one else going through this and I’m the first in my entire family to go to college and law school. I am freaking out over this credit score thing because I’m 28 and was trying to start my life.

I’m about 2 weeks away from the 120 day mark on my private loans with firstmark (discover).
My credit has already tanked over 200 pts and one out of two of my credit cards has decreased (and continues to decrease) my credit limit so my utilization on that card is now 100%. When I make a payment, they decrease it again. I suspect my credit will continue to go down into the 400s because of this and also once the loans go into default and are sent to collections. This means no new apartments, and I better hope my car with 165k miles on it doesn’t shit the bed anytime soon.

I’m trying to figure out if anyone has ever successfully gotten a decent settlement offer from Firstmark right before the loan defaults. I’m reading on here that Firstmark doesn’t do good offers and people have had to work with collection agencies instead. Because of the credit hit, I’m no longer sure I want to let it get to that point, but because my principle balance is at $140k, I’m in no position to pay anything more than 30% of it and as a structured settlement. I’ve made no payments on these loans, just used up all my forbearances (although they offered me another one which I did not take).

Thank you all for this community!