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I have debt from when I first moved out over 5 years ago, I don't really know what I owe and to who i would owe it to. I would like to have good credit for obvious reasons, and I was just wondering where I would start to try and clear this up.
Also how do the debt solutions people (any of them) work and are there any good ones that would just take all my info and basically help me figure everything out?
Welcome Alicia,
The best place to start is by pulling up a copy of your free credit report at "www.annualcreditreport.com". You can recieve up to three free oulls a year. One from each reporting agency.
On there it should list your original creditor and if they debt was sold it will also list the collection agency. Most give the number to contact.
There are a few things you should be aware of before contacting any collector. First the original debt has probaly skyrocketed with a bunch of add on fees. A $300 debt over a period of 5 years could have easily turned into $2000. You have to be aware of the SOL for your state.
Generally an oplder debt you can settle for about 50-70% of what is listed on your report. If your debt is not in SOl they can still sue you to collect the money. I would go there and pull your report and then come back and give us what info you can so we can help yopu.
I myself do not recommend debt solution comapnies. Some here will. the choice is yours and it depends on how much effort you are willing to contribute. With guidance from here we can help you take care of your report.
which report is the best to pull?
I contacted consumer credit counseling a few days ago, about some repayment program. They said that it doesn't show up negative on your credit report, your just paying back what you owe. but they say it takes 48-60 months. I only owe like $5000 and I asked her how 5 grand takes 5 yrs to pay off and she didn't really have an answer, but she said there is no pre- payment penalties. so it sounds like a good plan, I just dont really know what to look for.
The report I like the best is experian. It really gives good detail. Why not go take a look at your report to begin with and we will go over what is there. Is this one debt or is it numerous debt tallied together? IF any are past the statute of limitations you can not be sued for repayment. If they aren't you may have to get a payment plan but you can negotiate the debt down and get payment arrangements yourself without paying someone else to do it for you. this would save money you would pay the couseling people and give more money to pay the debt.
its a bunch of small debts, like to utility companies. SOL doesnt run out on it for 2 more years. i think they were each under $300 tho, there were like 10 of them though. I also have my student loans, but i am still in school so i dont have to worry about those yet.
wait i think i may be confused here, i read in another post that after 7 yrs it comes off your credit anyways. and if you pay it it starts the 7 yrs all over again, so then y pay it? wouldnt it be better for my credit to wait 2 yrs and let it just disappear?
Hi Alicia
As Fireyone said, you should first ask for the credit reports from the there credit reporting agencies to check whether your dues have already been reported to the bureaus or not. These credit reports comes free of charge once a year from each of the bureaus. If you find the names of creditors listed in your report, it means that they have reported the debt and so you need to pay it off. Again since 5 years has already expired since you took the debt, you need to check whether the SOL in your state has expired or not.
You can pull all the three reports as it is free of charge once a year. After pulling your report, first check whether the SOL in your state has expired or not. If it has expired, do not try to pay back the debt because if you pay back even a small amount, the SOL will rewind and you will become liable to pay back the entire debt. However, if the SOL has expired, you should contact your creditor and take steps to pay it off as if you do not pay it off, the creditor can sue you to the court and bring judgments against you.
Hi Alicia
I agree with Mary. If the name of either the OC or the CA appears in your report, send them a debt validation letter. If they validate your debt, try to pay the entire amount of the debt if you can afford to do so. It is always better to repay off the debt as early as possible. But the negative listing may not get removed from your report if it once gets listed there. All negative information in your credit report stays there for seven years until and unless you can make your creditor agree for PFD.
Alicia,
If this SOL isn't expired then Anthony gave you the best advice. Look at your report and see if the original creditor has the debt. Whoever has it has to validate it. DO NOT pay it until you validate. There are sample letters here on the forum.
Send each of them one. Once they validate,and only when they validate, contact them about a repayment plan. Most will take less than what is listed on your report. Don't be afraid to ask if they can settle the debt for less. Most will also take a repayment plan.
If you can't do all at once, do a few at a time. You will get iot all taken care of in time.
My advice is if you are new to this is go that first step, get the debt validated and then come back here because there is other things once you start working out a settlement, like getting them to do a PAy for delete. This is where they can delete the debt from your report. If you don't get these things in the beginning you will have trouble getting them to do it once the debt is paid.
Once agian I feel you can take care of this matter yourself and as you need help all you have to do is come back here and ask. Help here is FREE.
ok i tried tp pull all of my reports, however i could only get trans union and experian. the other one wants me to send in like 8 forms of id and then i will get the report in the mail. it shows i have 4 negative accounts on transunion but 9 on experian.
now who wants to help me understand what i am looking at, and where to go from here?
My transunion didn't have as much listed as my experian one. That is why I liked experian better. I wanted to see everyhting that was on my record. Is any of these debts past SOL? If not make sure once you start contacing these people for a settlement that you can afford the payments. You will start the SOL clock over regardless of whether the SOL has past or not. Say you have three years to go before the SOL expires..once you make 1 payment it will then restart at that date.
Not only that once they see you are interested in paying it they will call until you hear the phone ringing in your sleep.
sol in my state is 7 yrs, i still have 2 yrs til sol runs out. i dont see y thats such a problem though. most of my hits are for around $100 - $500 at the most .. if i can get those reduces thoigh then i could pay everything off in no time.
i just need advice on where to start
Look at the accounts you have against you. Start with the ones with the highest intrest/fees or are most likely to sue you.
Hi Alicia
I think that you should first pay off the debts which you think might sue you as CMBV said. Since the SOL has not expired, you should send DV letters to those creditors and pay it off as soon as possible but try to negotiate for pay for deletion agreement. However, if you think that you can pay off the debt whenever they demand, you can wait till SOL expires.
This is good advise cause if they sue some or most can garnish wages or get judgements.