Hi I'm a newly registered site member. I have approximately $15k in debt, all of which went 90 days past due in 2003, if not earlier. That debt is divided roughly into $9k in Wm D. Ford federal student loans and the remaining $6k is split amongst a host of credit cards and a mobile phone company. Now I haven't returned a call, letter, or even answered the phone since 2003. I haven't "re-aged" any of these accounts. My student loan takes any federal payments I receive (such as tax refunds) and applies it automatically towards the loan. My question: since 5+ years have passed without addressing the debt in any way, when seven years hits, will my credit report be clear?
Not sure about the federal loans, as they have some of their own rules, that I've never even looked at, as it isn't an issue for me. The other stuff - in a perfect world the answer is yes - assuming all the players (OC, CAs, JDB's, etc) have played by the rules, AND no one sues you and wins a judgment, which is the ONLY WAY to create a new debt from existing debt, with its own reporting period.
The statute of limitations has already passed for me (4 yrs in CA), and I'm assuming I would have heard I was being sued somehow. *If I was being sued for the student loans, I definitely would know as they are the only creditor that can track me because they know my current address based on tax returns. *My other creditors only know addresses/numbers based on the address/phone I enter on credit checks (which I avoid like the plague). Some of my creditors did violate laws in pursuit of the debt, but I ignored the violations for the sake of staying silent and not re-aging accounts, and those accounts have all been handed over to new CA's many times since. 2 follow ups: 1.Does the SOL also protect me from liens against properties I may own in the future? 2.With the debts gone from my CR, does that mean all the calls and letters will stop? I would hate to accidentally re-age an account 15 years after the fact.
Indirectly it does ... for the non-federally guaranteed debts. No judgment, no lien ... and if SOL is raised and it works, there's no judgment. But you gotta raise it if they sue. IIRC, the student loans don't even require a lawsuit to become a lien on your real property. Getting those into a rehabbed status and paying them down and/or off should take first priority. NO. It won't stop the calls and letters. And reaging can happen with our without contact with you. If they're all SOL, then DV them all and after that collect violations on 'em. Record their phone calls. Sue 'em. Collect. Use that money for the student loans.
Fraudulently, of course. Nothing with your name on it is safe, regardless of where it might be. Safer, yes if it's overseas. Safe, no, unless it's in an asset protection trust and the jursidiction curtails the statute of Elizabeth and the time period to bar the creditor reaching into the trust has run its course.
By any chance do you know where there is a list of nations that honor these statutes? When you mentioned trusts, things like Swiss/Cayman bank accounts popped into my head, as there are certain countries that seem to be immune to such legal pursuits.
A lot of Caribbean jurisdictions have laws that curtail the Statute of Elizabeth. The Bahamas and the Caymans come to mind (I think they're both 4 years), and at one time the Cook Islands was a good choice with a 2 year cutoff. Jersey and Guernsey and the Isle of Mann are also known to be favorable. The legal situs is often in one of these jurisdictions, but the money is often held in Switzerland. There's a burgeoning scandal out of Lichtenstein right now ... an insider at one of their private banks leaked the list of clients to the German government's tax authorities, allowing them to pursue thousands of tax cheats. That guy is a marked man...
I bet he is, he's pissed off lots of rich criminals! Where did you find those countries, or was it just from memory?
Word gets around. I just checked on that story ... damn near every other country in europe is trying to buy that list from Germany as we speak...
