My wifes Citibank acct was closed in 9/97 (Charged off as a bad debt). Her TU report in Oct/00 had a past due amount of $1100.00 her Jan/01 report shows a past due amount of $1200.00. Why is the past due accounts increasing on a closed account. I am trying to clean up her accounts but I will never catch up at this rate. What can I do?
Credit card companies have the right to continue charging interest and fees on the amount of money you owe (read all your disclosures), and this right can transfer to the collection agency they sell the debt to. Citibank is one of those that just continue biting you long after they charge you off. I too found this out the hard way with Citibank ($400 turned into $2500!)It rose $100/mo., just like yours. Only getting near the seven year limit and few gracious CRA reps got it off my CRs. But looks like you've got a while. If the account is with a collection agency, call and settle. You know what the balance was when it was charged off, so you use that as a guiding point as to what you can reasonably expect to pay. With my "$2500 and rising" charge off and $400 original balance, the most the collection agency was willing to negotiate for was $1K. Because I was afraid of hurting my chances of a mortgage, I almost paid. In fact, I had agreed to pay, when good old intuition finally kicked in. I did some investigating and found that TU was going to delete the item in a few months anyway. I called and called and begged and finally found a sympathetic CS who deleted it on the spot. But I think because it was only three years ago for you, you should definitely start negotiating. I think the rising price thing is just to keep your attention and keep potential creditors at bay. You shouldn't actually pay those outrageus fees. Be strong. Good luck. CC
Thanks CCMax you verified what I thought was happening. I have been working on her smaller accounts leaving her largest accts for last guess Ive been working backward at least the little accounts didnt keep rising. I know the credit gods will smile on me someday...
