I just found this site today. I'd love some advice if anyone has any for me.... I started racking up cc debt in college - that was 8 years ago. I have approx. $9,000 in debt. All of which has been charged off. I have been running from this debt for years - subconsciously I think I thought it would just go away. It, of course, hasn't. I didn't realize how hard life would be without having access to credit - of any kind. My credit score is 450. I have been hundreds of days delinquent on all of my accounts. I was unemployed for about 9 months and I had some parking tickets referred to collections. Keeping with tradition, I didn't pay them. Last week, my checking account was overdrawn by $600. The collection agency (with the parking ticekts) got a 'writ/lien' and took the money I owed them out of my checking account. I'm sick of dealing with this. I've carried this ugly weight around with me for years and it is destroying my quality of life. The only way I can borrow money is if I go through a loan-shark-esque establishiment that will charge me 25%. I want to buy a home some day. What is the quickest way to eliminate my debt, and get my credit back? Is it too late to 'dispute' my debts to have them removed from my report? Once I either have them removed, or pay them off, how do I rebuild my credit? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I last paid the original creditors when I lived in Oregon. Then I moved to Seattle, WA. Now I live in LA.
If you've decided to repair your credit be prepared for a LOT of hard work -- and a sizable amount of money to be spent. Mailing letters via certified mail, making phone calls and ordering credit reports all costs money. Sit down with a sheet of paper and put all your debts in order. Write down the contact info. for the creditor, how much you owe, all the pertinent info. etc.... Once you get a sense of how much debt you have and who you should pay it to, start trying to work deals with creditors to reduce your debt (offer to pay 50% of it).
First of all, get your reports and see exactly what is on there. The SOL for Oregon on cc debt is 6 years and Ca. is 4 years. Just remember you run a bit of a risk in wakening the beast so to speak when you start credit repair. Do you have any positive trade lines? As old as these chargeoffs are, I'll bet a real problem is you have no positive stuff going for you.
I'm trying to get a subprime cc and a secured card from my bank. My student loans are current and I just paid off my car (had a loan through a subprime lender - borrowed $3000, repaid $5500 over 2 years) - so i've got that going for me...I think.
Fortunately, this has never happened to me, but I've heard of it happening to others. I'm just curious, don't you get some kind of notice that they're putting a lien on your checking acct.?? Or do you just wake-up one morning to an overdrawn acct.??
I never had it happened to me either, but my DH works for a bank and he said the bank get an order from the court to freeze the account and the CA takes the money due to them. Unfortunately, they don't give notice but if they did what would you do? Probabaly what I'd do, take the money and runnnnnnnnnnn! lol
The thing is that my bank NEVER notified me and I ended up making 13 debit card transactions - and they charged me $22 per trans. Seems like a bit of a conflict of interest. The bank has my phone numbers, e-mail address, etc. They just didn't notify me (even after the garnishment occured) and sat back and collected overdraft fees. I just think it's bad business. They could have at least told me so that I didn't cost myself hundreds of dollars unnecessarilly. I just got off the phone with the bank and they are refusing to refund the OD fees. I'm closing my account.
You should try to get another bank account before you close this one. They may have put you on Chexsystems and you may not be able to get an account. I would ask why they didn't decline your debit card transactions if you didn't have any money in the account. Were they all the same day? If not, I'd notify the banking authorities, whoever they may be (this may depend on whether it's a state or national bank). You might want to talk to a lawyer as well, and see if you can take any action. If all of your purchases were the same day as the garnishment, you may be out of luck.
My husband's bank puts a freeze on the account so that what happened to you doesn't happen. I would call back and talk to someone else. Try to be calm when you talk to them. If your snotty, they won't help you at all. Maybe talking to a supervisor would be best. The other poster is right about you might not being able to open another account so tread lightly. Good luck.
