I am currently going through a divorce. I found a letter Dated December 21, 2007 in some of my soon to be ex's things. It states that almost 10,000 is still owed on one of my cards that he said was paid off. This letter stated Citicard was willing to work with me but I had 21 days to respond. I called Citicard and they have sent the account to a collection agency and said they can no longer help me. It showed up on my credit report as a write off. What can i do?
Is it a joint card or a card in only your name? If the card is in your name only, you're stuck. If it's a joint account get your divorce attorney involved.
There is not much you can do about the status of the account at this point. But get your attornay involved, as usually all debts must be disclosed, and usually settled prior to granting a divorce. If you have the funds available, you may want to try a "Pay For Deletion", this is where you offer to pay the account in full, in exchange for deleting reporting to the credit reporting agencies.
Even if it's a joint card, the attorney can only do so much. For example, you can get put in the property settlement that he is responsible for paying this card. However, you are still legally liable for the amount. The credit card company does not go by the settlement agreement--they will still come after you. Your recourse then will be to sue him for the money. It won't help your credit report, though.
You mean he told you it was paid off or this was stated in his testimony under oath? You could contact the collection agency.
I was thinking about all this and it occurred to me that maybe instead of a settlement agreement where each side promises to pay off half of some debt, the debt should be all paid off from joint assets and any debts that can't be so paid off should be renegotiated such that only one of the parties is responsible for that debt, evening out the various amounts and debts in a fair manner. I think I would really make a point to make all this happen because after the divorce, you never know what the other person is going to do, you know, like not pay their part.
But regardless of what is worked out, whoever is responsible for the card is still responsible. If it's paid off, then the card needs to be closed or have one user removed. Many cc companies won't remove a user. You have to close the account and apply for a new one. Some people can no longer qualify for a card, so they try to keep the account open. If one person is only an AU, removal is easy. If they are joint owners, probably not. I had this problem myself, which is why I'm so familiar with it. If the person who wants to keep the card can somehow keep the other person from using it until new cards come, they can of course just not give the card to the other user and it would be difficult for the other person to use the account. The same thing happens with mortgages. If the person keeping the house can't get a mortgage on their own, both names will stay on the mortgage. The one not keeping the house may even have to sign a quit claim, meaning he or she no longer has any rights to the propery. But they are still responsible for the mortgage. This could happen if there is a reason that one spouse needs to stay in the house. So while it seems easy to say just pay it from joint assets, what happens going forward? Remember that creditors are never bound by a divorce settlement.
since this card is in my name and is only affecting my credit report I want to try to began to repair this. I called citicard and it has been sent to a CA. How should I proceed?
Well what can you come up with to settle it if you want to get it taken care of? I would think 25 percent should do it. As for a pay for delete a wee bit more. Then you can try to get this amount taken care of via divorce. Woofer
so are you saying I might have to pay only 25% of my debt. Will that take it off? How so I negotiatate that in my divorce.. Also what do I do about the original creditor. does that go away? It is pass the 30 days is it too late to ask for a validation letter? Should I even go that route?
Yes that is what I am saying. If you can pay a one time lump sum, 25 percent should do it. As for Pay for delete I have never got that done but I think more money would probably be able to get you it done. Others may have the answer to how to do it. As for validating now, I wouldn't waste my time. as if OC is Citi as you wrote, then they ALWAYS have their ducks in a row and will have all back up they need IMO. Woofer
