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Paying off an old debt

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chester1886

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?Maryland

This is another question from my previous one

I beleive I have come to a decision of paying off the debt but I do have some other questions that maybe you or someone else can help me with.

I received copies of my credit reports and when it comes to this particular debt I am kinda confused.

My TransUnion reports doesn't show the debt at all, Experian shows the debt once of course under negative marks but it also says the debt has been transferred to another office. After that the dollar amount and no other agency shows on the Experian credit report. Now the last one Equifax shows the debt three times. Twice for the same amount which is $7,104.00 but it shows two different account numbers and then the third time it shows a amount of 7,190.00 and this one has a different account number as well. All three say that the account is "written-off".

Needless to say that my Equifax credit report has the lowest FICO score of all three credit bureaus.

My first question is with this showing three differenct times with different account numbers does it mean this account had been sold numerous times?

What I have done so far is: Last year I tried contacting the agency in order to figure out a payment agreement. They were not willing to talk with me and then when I called again the person said "Oh, this has already been written off". Next about a few days ago I wrote a letter to Experian requesting this debt only show up once on my credit report. The main reason I wrote the letter is that I am already in past debt of about $12,000.00 but the Experian my outstanding debt is not only the $12,000.00 that shows on the other credit reports but an additional $21,398.00 therfore Experian report makes it look as though I am $33,398.00 in debt. All from the one $7,104 that shows up twice and the $7,190.00 that shows up once.

I really wouldn't mind seeking a 1099-C and claming this as income ($7,104.00) in order to settle this when I really don't have the extra funds sitting around. My addtional fear is if I go the repayment route and I can't make large enough payments then I am sure I will accure interest on this amount as long as there is a high balance.

More questions.... Do companies normally report negative information multiple times with different account numbers when it is the same debt? Or could this be from the account being sold to another collection agency? The funny part is that this debt has the same company information on it and not a collection agency the second and third time. The only thing that is different are the account numbers.

I feel lost with this one.
 


Debt Guy

Senior Member
There are a couple of different issues here. Some relate to your credit report and some relate to the debt itself.

First, Maryland has a 3 year statue of limitations. You said the debt is "old" but you really need to know exactly how old. The SOL runs from the date of default. The date of default is almost always 30 days after you made your last regular payment.

If the debt is close to the SOL or already past the SOL, you have nothing to gain by paying it.

You can still be sued for debt that is past SOL. But, you can raise the SOL as an affirmative defense and have the suit dismissed. You just need to be attentitive to any summons you might receive and be sure to not ignore it. If you ignore the summons then the creditor will receive a default judgment and you will have a whole different set of problems.

Second, there is the issue of how it reports on the credit bureau reports. The fact that it reports differently on each bureau is not surprising.

You have the right to dispute the accuracy of any debt reported. It is not hard to make the disputes and you can do it yourself. Sometimes it is easy to get errors fixed and sometimes they stick like glue. Ultimately, if there is an error and it just won't go away, your only recourse is to sue the creditor for falsely reporting.

To learn about how to dispute errors, go to www.creditinfocenter.com. There are lots of materials and samples there to help you.

But, first, find out about the SOL question.
 

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