Tired of being a mass murderer

[thecleaner]

or at least feeling like one...

What is the name of your state? Texas

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Here is the story... In mid 1999, I was involved with a rather nasty dispute with US Customs, and ultimately lost my business. By late 1999, I had become delinquent on about 7 or 8 charge cards that were ultimately charged off. (One, AMEX, remains on my credit report as active and 9500 past due, but the others show charge off status and some have been assigned to collectors. )

Well... From what I can tell, I have 3 options- Wait 2 more years for the 7 year magic number so I can start getting them removed from my credit report, filing bankruptcy, or negotiating with the creditors to make a deal.

Option 1- I can't wait any longer... I can, but I really don't want to.

Option 2- I prefer not to have another nasty item on mty report for 10 years by filing bankruptcy.

Option 3- I am making a decent living again (not the same 6 figures before all my financial troubles started) but a sustainable income none the less.

Wow... to the point...

Asset Acceptance Corp owns 3 installment accounts and a phone account totaling about $23,000 of mine.

NCO Financial owns another account totalling about $10,000.

What are the chances they would be willing to negotiate a payment plan/setlement/delete with me if I contacted them? Is there any draw back to contacting them? Are there any other ways to handle this with a positive result for me?

 

[redsnapper9]

Hi thecleaner,

I am not an atty, but I do work for one whose sole purpose in life, it seems, is to collect debts. I have learned a bit from working for him the last two years, and here's what I think:

Option 1: Probably not the best idea to keep waiting... Have you been sent letters from debt collection agencies or attys about going to court? Are you facing a judgement from the courts? If so, the debt might be with you more than seven years.

Option 2: I don't think it's EVER a good idea to file for bankruptcy. As you seemed to indicate this is not something preferable in your situation, and for the most part this would haunt you long after you would like it to. Also, you would likely have to hire an atty and certainly would have to pay court costs (these are never cheap), so the money owed keeps building.

Option 3: Paying off your debt! Honesty is the best policy and there are many ways you could go about paying off your debt. You seemed to lean toward settling and/or drawing up a payment arrangements. First you should decide what kind of settlement offer you would be making, how you came up with that number, and then be firm in your reasoning. Beware, you might not get the answer you hoped for because you owe so much. Next go ahead and contact the companies and/or debt collection agencies (whoever has assumed your debt). If you do not have access to their address(es) or phone number(s), looking at your credit report will reveal all (or at least point you in the right direction). Once you contact them via phone or by mail you should make your settlement offer and/or declare your intents on paying off the debt in a timely manner (not like, tomorrow, but eventually, i.e. "I am willing to pay $X per week/month until I have paid the balance (settlement) in full"). The downside from contacting them...now they can hunt you down because they'll probably get your address, and if you make payment arrangements and don't fulfill them, they'll probably be able to garnish your bank account(s) or your paycheck.

Here's a good link to look at in the meantime while you decide what to do:
http://www.carreonandassociates.com/articles/reportingtime.htm

Again, I'm not an atty, but I hope my advice is slightly useful to you.

 

[Ladynred]

Ahh.. its quite evident that WORKING for an attorney doesn't mean anything about the law rubs off !!!

If so, the debt might be with you more than seven years.

Quite simply, it CAN"T - not unless they sue and win a judgment (which can stay on your report as long as its unpaid). Even at that, the ORIGINAL debt will age off in the proscribed 7-1/2 years from the date of first deliquency, THAT is in the FCRA and cannot be changed - at least not legally.

I don't think it's EVER a good idea to file for bankruptcy.

Then you are living in a dreamworld or you've been brainwashed by your employer. Bankruptcy is your RIGHT and there comes a time when you just have to choose your demons, bite the bullet. Bankruptcy is NOT a 10 year credit death sentence, though collection attorneys and creditors would certainly love to keep you believing that old lie.

Also, you would likely have to hire an atty and certainly would have to pay court costs (these are never cheap), so the money owed keeps building.

There are NO "court costs" with bankruptcy ! You pay the filing fee and you pay the attorney's fees and that's generally IT for most people. Only if something gets contested or otherwise goes awry do extra costs come into play - usually to the attorney.

Once you contact them via phone or by mail you should make your settlement offer and/or declare your intents on paying off the debt in a timely manner (not like, tomorrow, but eventually, i.e. "I am willing to pay $X per week/month until I have paid the balance (settlement) in full"). The downside from contacting them...now they can hunt you down because they'll probably get your address, and if you make payment arrangements and don't fulfill them, they'll probably be able to garnish your bank account(s) or your paycheck.

Wrong, wrong, wrong !! You will NEVER get anywhere with companies like NCO and ASSet Acceptance on the phone. If its not in writing, it never happened and you're foolish if you think ANY phone 'agreement' with a collection agency will EVER be honored.

Secondly, renegging on payment arrangements of that sort will NOT EVER give them the right to garnish your wages or levy your bank accounts. The ONLY way that can happen is if you're sued and they win a judgment FIRST !

Sometimes bankruptcy is the only choice for people. If you are gainfully employed with a decent salary, and have enough cash stashed away to make settlements, then you may be able to avoid bankruptcy. WRITE them a settlement offer and start low - these are really old debts for which the likes of ASSet paid pennies on the dollar. Start off with, say, 25% (still more than THEY paid for your debt) and give yourself some negotiating room. Do everything in writing and do NOT pay them a dime until you get a SIGNED AGREEMENT in hand. Try going for a 'pay for delete' meaning you'll pay if they'll remove their footprints from your credit reports.

Be aware that 'paid for less than full amount' is a NEGATIVE mark on your reports and paying off old charge-offs will NOT boost your credit score. The debts will have to age off your reports or you'll have to try to dispute them off early to get your scores to come up an significant amount.

AMEX is one nasty customer, and for the amount you owe, they might sue you. If its already been 5 years and they haven't.. well.. I'm amazed.

On the other hand, I just noticed that you are in TX. TX has a short 4-year statute of limitations on debts. That means that if you haven't paid ANY of these cards in more than 4 years, then the SOL has EXPIRED. That means that legal action to enforce collection of a debt is gone.. over.. outta here. IF any of these jackanapes try to sue you, the expired SOL is your affrimative defense to get the lawsuit THROWN OUT.

Bottom line, NONE of them can MAKE you pay, not even AMEX, their legal teeth are gone. Since you ARE beyond the SOL, waiting 2 more years for these baddies to drop off would not be the worst idea, you could do it, and there's no need to file for bankruptcy.

Oh yeah.. law firm employee... wages can NOT be garnished in TX !!

 

[thecleaner]

Thank you both for your replies.

I have never been threatened with suits or anything of the like from Amex, (I got Discover to drop their info off of my credit report because the card was obtained by my now deceased mother when I was a minor...) Asset, Nco, Chase, MBNA, or Citibank. I think my total disaster was near 55K. (The customs ordeal drained over 100K frrom my account and took my busiess away as well..... So... I was left with no way to live or repay my debts.)

**The majority of the defaulted debt occured in late 99, some in early 2000. ** So some will be 6 years old this year, and most is approaching 5... Well over the SOL then...

I guess I am moving up in years, and I have some needs that require people to loan me money again, but I keep getting denied. I recently sent in some disputes for the oldest debt, and some collections. Hopefully that will improve my little 540 FICO.


If you have any more advice, I am all ears.

Thanks again!

 

[thecleaner]

OH I do have another question....

If I contact the demons... will that reset the clock on the debts falling off of my report?

This is something I heard from a friend, etc... Not sure of the validity.

 

[cmorris]

These debts are past SOL. Contacting them does NOT restart it. Send the CA's a debt validation letter certified mail return receipt. When you get the card back, dispute the tradelines with the credit bureaus. This puts the CA's on a time line. If they verify the tradeline before providing proper validation, that is a violation of federal law. If they don't verify, the tradelines drop from your report.

Go visit creditboards.com ASAP! You have nothing to fear!