I have not paid my debts for years ( like 3 or 4) how can I start repairing my situation. My first step was actually printing and looking at my credit report. IT wasnt so scary. Now what?
Well.....I'm not an 'expert', but..I CAN tell ya thins. You said you looked at your credit report already. Usually, on a CR, it will state, for every debt you have, when a 'fall-off' date will be...that means when the debt will come off your CR. If the 'fall-off' date has expired and the debt is STILL on there, you can 'dispute' the items, through the CRA's and asked them to be removed...because they should have been deleted already. Go from there. Usually when you 'dispute' items, the investigation takes about 30 days..depending. Hope this advice works helps.
Hi Lapchild
As you have already pulled out your credit report from the credit bureaus, you should check these reports to find out whether any of the debt listing is there in the report. If there is any negative listing in your credit report, you should send debt validation letters to these creditors or the collection agencies as the case may be, and on getting validation of the debt, you should come to a repayment agreement with them to pay off the debt. However, before paying off the debt in full, try to make your creditors agree to pay for deletion agreement, so that as soon as you pay off the debt in full, the negative listing comes out of your credit report.
Also check the statue of limitations for your state. If you can't find it we can get it for you. I say this because once they are past the SOL they can no longer legally sue you to recover the money.
Thsi will tell yolu where you need to start first. I would see which ones were a threat (not in SOL) and start with those first (after getting debt validation) because they are the ones that could hurt you the most.
debts
Well.....I'm not an 'expert', but..I CAN tell ya thins. You said you looked at your credit report already. Usually, on a CR, it will state, for every debt you have, when a 'fall-off' date will be...that means when the debt will come off your CR. If the 'fall-off' date has expired and the debt is STILL on there, you can 'dispute' the items, through the CRA's and asked them to be removed...because they should have been deleted already. Go from there. Usually when you 'dispute' items, the investigation takes about 30 days..depending. Hope this advice works helps.
Hi Lapchild
As you have already pulled out your credit report from the credit bureaus, you should check these reports to find out whether any of the debt listing is there in the report. If there is any negative listing in your credit report, you should send debt validation letters to these creditors or the collection agencies as the case may be, and on getting validation of the debt, you should come to a repayment agreement with them to pay off the debt. However, before paying off the debt in full, try to make your creditors agree to pay for deletion agreement, so that as soon as you pay off the debt in full, the negative listing comes out of your credit report.
Also check the statue of limitations for your state. If you can't find it we can get it for you. I say this because once they are past the SOL they can no longer legally sue you to recover the money.
Thsi will tell yolu where you need to start first. I would see which ones were a threat (not in SOL) and start with those first (after getting debt validation) because they are the ones that could hurt you the most.