I was stupid while I was in college, and had several credit cards with relatively small limits. I also had a large unsecured loan which was part of the Army ROTC program that I was contracted in. I was injured, and lost my ROTC scholarship which doubled as my income, and wasn't able to make payments on any of these accounts for extended periods of time. All of the accounts, including the loan, have been charged off, and most of the charge offs were about a year ago. I still get collection phone calls, but not nearly as many as I used to. The debt totals about $40,000 - 25 of which is the unsecured personal loan. The loan was NOT used for educational purposes, nor was it intended for education. My first question - given the period of time that has passed since the charge offs, what is the likelihood than any of these creditors will take legal action? I'm hoping I can simply wait the 7 years total for this all to fall of my credit report, but I'm very scared that years down the road I'm going to be sued by creditors. Second question - since it's already been ~1 year since the charge offs, would I just be better off waiting 6 more years until these accounts fall off my credit report, or should I look into bankruptcy? Thank you for any advice you can offer, it's a very frustrating and stressful time right now, and obviously my credit is terrible and finding an apartment to live in has been a nightmare.
Welcome luckstyl, and I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I'm sure it's very stressful. However, if I were you, I wouldn't just wait for your problems to go away. As you mentioned, they will likely come back to haunt you at some time. Do you currently have a job and any income to possibly settle these debts? Before talking to an attorney about bankruptcy, I would want to explore other payment/settlement options first.
I do have a steady job, but my salary does not leave me with any disposable income to pay off my debts. Between rent/food/gas/car payment(my dad took out the loan and I reimburse him monthly), I have very little left over.
Ok, I wouldn't even think about the "B" word. OMG!!!!! Plus like you said most of them are charged off anyway!!!!! As crazy as it sounds those charge off's can work in your favor. It's all about liability and asset with business's. When a charge off occurs it turns into an asset for the company. It's kinda complicated to understand but that's what happens. WHAT EVER YOU DO , DO NOT TALK TO THESE COLLECTORS. I cant stress that enough. Check it out. The bank charged it off. Now you have debt collectors that either bought the debt or the debt was transferred to them. There are so many ways you can get out of paying these items. I'm not saying it's ethical but, that's the way it is. Are you getting letters from these collection companies? On you credit report what is the actual charge off date listed? Newbie79
I would much rather have a collection than the " B " word. I don't care what chapter it is. Do you have a place to live? Do you have a car? Do you stay with your parents?
Actually, all of my debts have been charged off. The credit cards were mostly charged off in mid-late 2009. The loan was charged off in early 2010. I get a few letters and a few phone calls. I don't answer the calls or respond to letters. I do have a car - my dad financed it for me last winter and I pay him monthly for the car payment. So everything is under his name and technically does not belong to me. I know that creditors charged off the debts because they don't expect to be paid and for their own tax purposes, but I also realize that this does not affect that I am legally required to pay these debts. I'm worried that I will be sued by one or more creditors and my wages will be garnished - leaving me unable to pay my rent. I don't have any disposable income as it is, so garnishments would be really devastating to my income. I don't really own anything of value, so if I am sued, wouldn't wage garnishing be the likely outcome?
Your first mistake is even thinking about filing bankruptcy. That's as bad as climbing to the top of the Empire State Building, smoking a cigarette and throwing the wrong butt over the safety rail. (LOL) There is your second mistake. Failure to do your homework. Who taught you that the statute of limitations is 7 years? I've never heard of any state that has a 7 year statute of limitations on credit card debt. The correct statute of limitations could be anywhere from as little as 3 years and as much as 15 years. So now that you know that you need to go to the Lawdog web site and find out what the statute of limitations is for your state. Even though Lawdog is arguably the most accurate source of such information you need to be careful because it is easy to pick the wrong statute. Why worry about whether it falls off your credit report or not? They can still sue you 10,15,20 or more years after it fell off your credit report. They can still sue you even if you successfully disputed it off your credit report 6 months from now? That's the problem with credit repair. You can have great credit as a result of using credit repair companies or do it your self. You can be sued for a debt even though you don't owe it and get your great credit trashed that way. Why? Because of bad credit? Not a problem. Stop looking in the wrong places. Apartment complexes are extremely expensive. Houses are much cheaper to rent and most landlords don't check credit. They usually require a much smaller security deposit too. Oh, I forgot, you don't have any furniture or appliances. Not a horrible problem even if you don't have much money. Shop the goodwill stores or go to a lot of garage sales. Shop Craigslist and you can probably pick up lots of good stuff for free or nearly so. Garage sales can be great. I recently made a great deal from a garage sale. I bought two expensive cell phones and a charger for $5. Both in working condition and both exactly like one of mine. The charger alone is worth much more than $5. I kept the charger and traded the two cellphones for a pair of Dell 2650 power edge servers even up. Both of them work great. Both of them had dual processors and 5 150 gig hard drives both have the maximum amount of memory. There was also a 10 drive bay for each of the servers and they were full of 150 gig scuzy hard drives. Yes, they are older technology so the guy was upgrading to new servers and just wanted to get rid of the old stuff. He was willing to take almost anything for what he considered to be junk. Garage sales and Craigslist alike can be goldmines. You gotta learn to think outside the box.
luckstyl, I feel for you, I really do, it sucks to feel like there is no out. I've been homeless, I've ate outta trashcans behind an allsups in west Texas for 2 monthes, I've taken baths in walmarts bathroom, stolen food, and toothpast. I know you don't have it that bad. But, This is my advise to you if you want to clear these up. Pick the largest one and write them a letter stating that ................ But dang you said that you didn't have any expendable money................. Aight you know what, I would just suck it up and forget, If your in a spot to where you have NO expendable money, then like my grandma used to say " you cant suck blood outta a turnup " .. If it means that much to you, you may have to sacrafice your pride. ok ok , lets look at the obvious, it sounds like you want to settle these debts, right? Q: With what money?
one more thing, you said: but I also realize that this does not affect that I am legally required to pay these debts. If you owe your mom money, would you go pay your friend the money for your mom. Your mom did not make any arrangements with your friend to accept money on her behalf. Would you still be legally required to pay your friend. Some collection company dont even have a license to collect debt in which ever state you live in. Why legally pay someone who isn't " LEAGALLY " authorized to collect the debt.
You are never legally required to do anything until you know for sure and it's validated. If there was a killer in a dark hall way, would you say that you have to run down the hall way cause someone told you. Please read the FDCPA
I did that too when I was 16 years old. I ran away from home. I stayed gone for 6 months before my folks finally caught up with me. I rode the rails and saw people get killed doing it. I've seen people get killed by police in Albany, NY for their money and their bottle of wine. That happened down on Green Street in Albany New York. Although I left there quickly I did get my SS number while I was there. And the cops didn't even pick up the body or call anybody or anything else. They just left them where they were and drove off in their plainly marked police cars not caring whether their victims lived or died. Some of them did die from their beatings. I saw things happen back then that were worse than unspeakable. I was sexually assaulted by homosexuals. Oh Yeah, I forgot. Gays in today's political environment. But I didn't steal anything. I worked for my money. I followed the wheat harvest from Texas to North Dakota. I drove trucks, combines or whatever I could find to do. Yes, I went hungry sometimes too. But I didn't give up. I've been down and out several times but I always climbed up doing better than before. The only way there is no hope is if you give up. Just look at Dr. Linus Paulus. He can do nothing with his body. Can't move a muscle anywhere except for his eyeballs. Can't speak. Has to be fed through a tube. The horrible disease he suffers from got him when he was 17 years old. Guess what? He went on to become one of the most respected physicists in the world. He teaches physics at some university every day. Others have suffered horrible accidents and diseases. Millions have gone broke and came back better for it than before. Millions have spent long prison terms, got out and came back better than before. I won't even tell you what I think of that advice. Wanna bet? So what? Great advice. Tell you what. The only way to lose hope is to give up. When I was in your shape about 62 years ago I didn't give up hope and life on Skid Road was a whole lot rougher than it is now. I sure wish nobody else felt the same way you do but sadly that's not the case. Dr. Frederick Graves of Jurisdictionary told me that he has given up on his dream of teaching people how to win in court without lawyers. Dr. Graves has taught me a lot over the last few years. His giving up and moving on to something else was a terrible blow to those of us he could have helped, maybe for generations to come. I've taught his methods for years and I'm going to keep on doing so but I have added a lot of material that he never tried to teach. Today I teach that people should not face the music but instead learn how to lead the parade. Anybody can do it so long as they don't give up hope. But hey, you have a nice day walking the streets anyway.
Bill, You read too much into what i wrote and completely took a left turn. Look at what she wrote: She said she doesn't have any extra money! All her debts are charged off! They are now in collections! She feels that she is legally required to pay these debt! What I'm saying is, it could be worse! Dang man, you went off on a tangent! Would you pay a creditor that has charged off your account? Would you pay a CA that you have not validated for? Would you pay and pay and pay if it meant you didn't have a place to live? When I said she may have to suck it up and forget it, and sacrafice her pride, In that meaning of, She may have to move back home for a little while in order to pay off Debt. Her and several other millions of people suffer from the same situation, If you feel as if you can donate her some money to help, I would. People cant just drop 40k on past bills!
luckstyl, In short, do whatever you can, but try your best not to file bankruptcy on charged off accounts. You can probably settle your Collections for about 15 to 20% of the full amount. It may take a lot of negotiation but you can. As far as what your going to do, only you know what you can take. Just remember, everything is temporary. This is just a minor set back for a major come back! Do what you got to do! There are options! Much love to ya!! It does get better!
And she is legally required to pay her debts. No matter that they have been charged off or sold to collection agencies or not. I've done that a few times in order to get the account back to good standing. I may do it again in the future if the opportunity arises to do so. I have no qualms about paying a creditor what I owe even if they turned it over to a dozen debt collectors. I wouldn't take a debt collector to a dog fight even if I knew s/he was gonna win, much less pay them anything. Of course not. I've seen people dump far more than that on past bills then give up and file BK.
I was not referring to the statute of limitations when I said 7 years - I was talking about the charged off debt disappearing from my credit report. And can anyone hazard a guess as to how likely it is that I will eventually be sued by at least one of these creditors/collections agencies? One more question - I took on all of my debt when I lived in KY. I moved to AL last December for a job, and currently live there. Which statue of limitations applies to me - KY or AL? Oh, and I'm a guy by the way.
LOL, sorry bro, I was not referring to the statute of limitations when I said 7 years - I was talking about the charged off debt disappearing from my credit report. Well, that SOL is 7 years plus 6 months to disappear from your report. Your talking about the same thing. Because after the SOL for federal reporting it can be deleted. Not saying that it will auto fall off, you may have to remind the CRA's to delete it. you know what! your question! One more question - I took on all of my debt when I lived in KY. I moved to AL last December for a job, and currently live there. Which statue of limitations applies to me - KY or AL? That's a really good question! I'll ask my mentor. I'm guessing you had your old address on all of the old debt. So really they will have to hunt you down first.
