I am in desperate need of help! My situation is that the creditor sold the thousand dollar account to an attorney. We are in the lawsuit phase and approaching trial soon. I have been fighting this myself with some help/advice from legal aid. I want to offer a settlement at this point but don't know what to say or what the implications are. The attorney who was advising me seems kind of clueless on this issue and hasn't suggested saying anything specific in the letter. I assume that at this point I'm settling with the attorney and not the original creditor? The debt is beyond 7 years and so is no longer on my credit report. Will settling it renew it for credit purposes? What should the letter say and should payment be attached at the same time? Should I send a personal check for the settlement amount or should I send a cashiers check or money order instead? I have read the settlement letter on this website but it seemed like it dealt more with the original creditor and not my situaiton. Somebody please give me some guidance. Thanks. Saxy
If the debt is beyond 7 years, chances are the Statute of Limitations for suit has passed (only a handful of states have SOL's over 7 years). If so, then that is an AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE that you must raise at trial. I would check your state's Statute of Limitations, immediately. Also, I would ask teh Judge to schedule a Settlement Conference. Even if the attorney is a hard-ass and refuses to negotiate, that can work to your advantage. When, at trial, the Judge asks why this matter wasn't settled, you can truthfully say "Your honor, I tried to settle but the other side would not budge." Judges HATE trials, they LOVE settlements.
