Hi all,
For my second question put to y'all: The phone call I got the other day (I described it in another thread) from a CA that must have bought an old debt of mine reminded me that I've got several debts that were sent to collections about four to five years ago after I lost my job and was put into the hospital from a catastrophic medical occurance. I've made a slow but remarkable recovery (thanks for asking! :P )
I'm wondering if I write a letter to another CA that's on my credit report to verify the debt, would it reactivate my account with them and they'd feel like dunning me again? Should I let sleeping dogs lie in this case? There are only a few years left to run on them before they drop off, but I'm getting married soon and I want to get my credit cleaned up for starting my new life. I'm still on Social Security Disability, so my income is fixed and limited; I honestly don't have much to be able to pay these accounts off.
What say you?
Hello there, welcome to the forums :)
This is the first time I am interacting with you so Congratulations on your engagement. You seem to be very systematic when it comes to finance. Will clean up all the dust before settling?
I would suggest not to get in touch with any CA until they contact you. Any transaction will renew the SOL. So let it be.
However if you really want to pay it off then get in touch. No matter what happens to the SOL because you will anyway pay it back.
Hi Norseman,
I would suggest not to get in touch unless they do. But keep monitoring for any remark that they give on your report.
Very Old Debt
I have a mark against my credit report from a very old credit card (from when I was in high school, I graduated in 1990) and need to resolve or pay it off. What advice do you have?? There is a "Judgment" from the court against it so, regardless of age it won't come off my report. This is the only dilemma I have in purchasing a house. The total charge NOW is $2645, but I didn't "spend" near that much!!!! I can offer them $300 for TOTAL PAYOFF.
Help!!!
Thanks again guys and hi George! Hi again Laura!
It's funny, George, that you remark that I appear to be methodical about this. I really never was before now -- part of what was going on was that I felt pretty helpless about my finances and had a lot of emotion tied up in it. So it's taken a while for me to realize that dealing with money is just another skill that I didn't have much of but that I can learn over time.
Shawna,
the amount on the judgment is so high because court costs were added, and the judgment amount will continue to accrue interest. In California, if a creditor renews the judgment, the previously accrued interest becomes principal on the renewed judgment. All you can really do is pay it; perhaps you can try settling, but I would guess that $300 will not suffice--unless you can borrow money from a family member.
Shawna, industry standard for collection is about 75-80% of the debt, you need to look up the laws for your state so that you know how long the judgement will stay in place. What state are you from? Maybe I can help you find this information. would be glad to try anyway. Look forward to hearing from you.
I don't think they will settle for that small of an amount Shawna, you could maybe try to offer them at least half, but if you google junk debt you will see that they are running in about the 70-80 percent for settling like good says. There is alot of information out there on google, do a search for junk debt, dead debt or go to the debt forum and read some of the threads there, you can also pose some questions there and get some good guidance. goodluck
Norseman,
You could dispute the accounts with the credit bureaus to try to get them taken off of your report. But, they are old, so they are not effecting your credit that much at all.
If you decide to dispute and the CA contacts you, you may want to negotiate a pay for delete...whereas you promise to pay if they promise to delete it. Get it in writing.
But, honestly, I doubt the CA will contact you. If it's that old, they probably don't have much paperwork and little proof that you owe it and will probably just give up on it. I doubt they will even respond back to the CRAs...and the CRAs will have to delete it.
Good luck!
Hi Chane,
On the basis of this
But, honestly, I doubt the CA will contact you. If it's that old, they probably don't have much paperwork and little proof that you owe it and will probably just give up on it. I doubt they will even respond back to the CRAs...and the CRAs will have to delete it.
I feel the same. I wanted to know, if Norseman gets in touch with the CA in ways can it affect him?
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lqhFVI Looking forward to reading more. Great article.Really looking forward to read more. Great.