Hello! I stumbled upon this website, and am intrigued. I don't always understand the procedures you refer to. Let me explain my situation. Hubby and I both have bad credit, running from 1995-1999. Neither of us had ever seen a credit report (too scary!) and just accepted the fact that we were destined to have poor credit. We have not been bothered by creditors for years, it's as if we both dropped off the face of the earth. When I pulled my reports, the last address on record is one from 5 years ago. There are even two judgements against me I didn't have a clue about! Maybe it's time we faced our fears and started cleaning up our debt. Do I contact them, or just sit tight until my "bad things" fall off? If I do contact them, what do I say? Many of my prior debts have already fallen off. I'm just not sure if I want the "credit henchmen" to know where I am. HELP! Any and all advice welcome! I am totally naieve as to what to do!
Its a purely personal decision. If there are things in life that you now dream of such as a house or car, you need to face your fears. Of course you always face the prospect of waking old creditors and have them start hounding you. You can take baby steps - the two judgments. Head down to the courthouse and get copies of all the documentation. If you didn't know about them, you have a good chance of not having been served properly. Start with the oldest things first. A few little successes will motivate you to stick your toe deeper in the water. I would spend some more time reading this site, especially the intro posts at the top of the board. It takes reading them several times to truly absorb the information in them, and the links within. Good luck!
We are not currently planning any "large" purchases. Our house is contract for deed and we have older vehicles which we paid cash for. Maybe it's just better to stay in the dark!?! What do others think?
You never know when something will happen and you need credit. Suppose, for example, that something happens to one of your cars. Or you get sick or lose a job. At that point you'll have enough problems, so it would be good to have good credit and some unused lines to fall back on. I agree that starting with the oldest things first will give you some incentive, since they're probably easiest to remove. Another thing you need to do is check the Statute of Limitations (SOL) for your state. It may be too late for creditors to collect on the old debts. They can still contact you and try to make you pay, but if they take you to court you just have to show up and assert the SOL as a defense. If your debts are past the SOL you really have nothing to worry about. Search the board and you'll find lots of info to give you some confidence. Good luck on your repair journey!
Re: Re: Confused Newbie 1*the two judgments. Head down to the courthouse and get copies of all the documentation. jlynn 2*Maybe it's just better to stay in the dark!?! stephaniet ================== 1*I would definitely take jlyns advice on this one. Been me I'd have been down at the courthouse yesterday. 2*And again maybe it's not. Ever think about what being in the dark on what's going on with your credit and scores might be costing you in the form of interest and your cost of insurance policies? The END ************************* LB 59
Re: Re: Confused Newbie This is what I found in regards to statute of limitations; NEBRASKA NEBRASKA STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS Open Acct.: 4 4 Years Oral/Open Contracts; §25-206 Written Contract: 5 5 YearsWritten Contracts; §25-205 Domestic Judgment: 5 renewable every 5 Foreign Judgment: 5 non-renewable --------------------------------------------------- 25-206 Actions on oral contracts or statutory liabilities. An action upon a contract, not in writing, expressed or implied, or an action upon a liability created by statute, other than a forfeiture or penalty, can only be brought within four years. Actions not specified. An action for relief not hereinbefore provided for can only be brought within four years after the cause of action shall have accrued. ------------------------------------------------------- 25-205 Actions on written contracts, on foreign judgments, or to recover collateral. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, an action upon a specialty, or any agreement, contract, or promise in writing, or foreign judgment, can only be brought within five years. COLLECTION AGENCY BOND & LICENSE Bond: Based on Lic. License: Yes ** Exemption for out-of-state collectors: Out-of-state collectors are exempt if [1] communicating by interstate means (phone, fax, mail); and [2] are "regulated" by the laws of another state Does this apply as we just moved to a neighboring state? All debts were incurred in Nebraska while we were living in Nebraska. If so, how do I go about getting this information to the credit bureaus, etc. If the limit in our state is five years, most everything should have dropped off by now.
Re: Re: Confused Newbie You are making a common mistake. The statute of limitations in Nebraska that you refer to are for legal actions for collection of debts owed. This has nothing to do with the reporting period for tradelines on your credit report. The first thing you need to do is become familiar with the difference between collection statutue of limitations and the seven year reporting period for reporting of derogatory information on your credit report. The intro posts should help you with this. The good news is it looks like you are past SOL for collection in your state, so you don't have to worry about getting sued for anything. At least you would have an affirmative defense if you did. The next thing you need to do is get copies of all three of your reports and record the dates of last activity for each negative account. If there are any that are over seven years old, those are easy disputes and deletions. After that, I would dispute every negative tradeline as "not mine" just so you can get the easy deletions if there are any. Then you will be left with the accounts that will take a little more work and concentrate on those. It's really a step by step process that isn't that complicated to follow as long as you understand the laws, and how to apply them to your particular situation. This should get you started.
