quote:

you kill your credit and say goodbye to the card and bank basically. its a trade-off. if you still need that card, welp, there is NO reason for them to ever give a poo poo. however, if you are willing to go through some hassle and harassment... just stop paying. you dont own anything really for them to put a lien against you on, so it really doesnt loving matter. if you are relying on any private student loans though, don't do this, because it will gently caress you over fast.

stop paying
ignore their letters and calls
when the collectors start calling you, tell them you are recording the conversation as well... this basically scares away the first few levels of the collectors because its their job to lie to you and scare you into paying using illegal methods... like threats and whatnot.

eventually, you will get someone who agrees, and then you start negotiation on the total. all fees and interest charges are removed and the original amount you borrowed is the high-end... offer 30-40% of that amount and you'll pretty much get it every time. the difference will count as "income" to you, and you'll owe tax on it, but if you are a student, odds are that you are below the threshhold where it'll cost anything real. you can get lower amounts out of them, but it takes more leverage against them. it's a lumpsum settlement, move the exact amount into a bank account that you basically NEVER use, and give them the info for it. it should not be at your main bank. you should also record the entire conversation with them verifying that the debt is fully settled and get paperwork saying as much from them. then fire off letters to the credit reporting agencies to challenge the record. unless they really loving hate you, they'll ignore it because it's just not worth their time anymore on a closed account.

congrats, you win. furthermore if you dont want to gently caress your credit, you could just call up the corporate number and tell them that this is exactly what you are going to do if they dont lower your rate back down. say you've done it before, you can get it wiped from your account and they have a choice between keeping you as a customer and making some profit, or losing a shitload of money on this small debt as well as any future profits from you as a customer. in this economy, you p much automatically have some decent leverage against failing banks.

....

well yea, see if they'll drop the rate... failing that however....

ideally... get a private loan to pay it off and lock in a much lower rate (use #3 below to make that amount smaller)... failing that...

1) see above
2) if the amex is much more tolerable and has a much lower rate, could you afford the payment on the amex if it covered it all? if you can.... dont do a balance transfer, that will gently caress you in the end most likely (might be wrong here, but just my experience... call and check, but i'd be willing to bet their transfer fee is 3% or higher and the rate aint too hot)
3) call up the lovely card company that refuses to lower the rate and demand a negotiated settlement figure for a 1-time payoff amount. regular customer service wont give a poo poo... you'll prolly have to call customer retention to get it. get documentation on that number... fixing that number is important.
4) if the answer to 2 is YES... figure out what online merchant account will hit you with the lowest fees, associate the amex card with your regular google checkout/paypal/whatever account, open a new google checkout/paypal/whatever account that is a merchants account and associate a fresh bank account with it... make a "purchase" in the appropriate amount (keeping in mind a percentage is gonna be eaten), transfer that balance into your account and pay off the lovely card. another way would be having a close friend take in the payment and transfer it back to you to avoid future complications.

this is basically a cheap way to get a cash advance. pay off that amex asap if you need private loans.

if they are government-backed loans however... you can safely file for bankruptcy and not affect getting them (it's actually illegal for a bankruptcy to be taken into consideration on fed loans) DONT gently caress AROUND WITH THE STUFF ABOVE IF THIS IS THE CASE OR YOU WILL LOSE. you're still a student, and your credit will be rebuilding nicely by the time you're out, as long as both cards have a decent history of payments on em, you should be able to get it all discharged. you mentioned greencard and tuition, so i'm going to assume this is a 5-digit number in total that probably doesnt start with a 1.

i'm also certain people will chime in about this being unethical or immoral behavior, but it's really no worse than the usurious rates and endless bloodsucking.