Debt collectors stopped calling - Should I be worried?

[starting_over30]

I have had an outstanding debt from a previous auto loan from a few years ago, but have not been contacted by either the collection agency or the bank for about a year now. No phone calls, no letters in the mail, nothing. Should I be worried about this? The last time I had any contact was when I called the bank directly asking how much they would need to pay off the debt. I don't want to deal with the collection agency, I'd rather deal directly with the bank but they will only accept a lump sum. I'm just a bit worried about the lack of contact and what I should do. I want to pay this off and move on as I have done with all of my other debts, but those were much smaller amounts. I owe about 9k on the loan, although it's probably more now with even more penalties. When I called the bank last year I was told I could pay it off for about $3500, but that would have to be a lump sum. If I wanted to do payments I'd have to set that up with the collection agency. When I asked the collection agency about payments they would only accept a 3 month payment plan which at the time was absurd considering I was living off of unemployment insurance. - The irony is that if they had offered a reasonable payment plan with my income at that time this would have been paid off by now! Do you think they are getting ready to sue me? Do you think the debt is being sold? I'm a little afraid to even call the bank and ask what's going on, maybe they forgot about me lol (yea right!) Advice?

[llecs]

If I had that, I'd still sit tight. Are you out of SOL for that debt type for your state? If not, I would continue to save up the $9k as fast as possible and let it sit in the bank. If they did sue, then you'd at least have the $$$ to pay it off to avert a judgment. I'd also pull the CRs weekly to check up on any status changes, etc. If the CA is reporting a balance and the OC is not, then very likely the CA owns it. I would not call anyone or talk to anyone on the phone.

[starting_over30]

I don't know what the statue of limitations is for California regarding this debt....(got lost in the legal links trying to find that out) Can you explain why exactly I would want to pull a credit report every week? I'm assuming that's what you meant by CR or maybe I'm missing something, but that seems a bit excessive. Wouldn't all those additional credit checks kill my already bad rating?

[llecs]

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@starting_over30 wrote:
I don't know what the statue of limitations is for California regarding this debt....(got lost in the legal links trying to find that out) Can you explain why exactly I would want to pull a credit report every week? I'm assuming that's what you meant by CR or maybe I'm missing something, but that seems a bit excessive. Wouldn't all those additional credit checks kill my already bad rating?

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It depends on the debt type, but it could be 4 yrs. You may want to confirm. I don't know if the SOL is greater than 4 yrs for other types like written.

Your report can change daily. If I had a debt that might result in a new CA reporting soon, I'd want to be proactive and start sending letters the day it appears.

It never ever hurts your credit to pull your own reports. I pull mine daily for all 3. Now if a lender pulls, then it can hurt.

[starting_over30]

Don't you have to pay for every credit check? Once every 3 days or even every week would be quite expensive! Are you absolutely sure about the credit checks not hurting your rating, because I have been told the exact opposite in the past.

[bichonmom]

If you get a CMS, then you'll be notified of changes to your CR. With some, you can also pull your CR as often as you'd like. Right now I have freecreditscore.com and Equifax Credit Watch Gold w/3-in-1 monitoring and FICO score. EQ has a gazillion different programs.

Since freecreditscore.com is an EX product, I can pull my EX as often as I want, and the EQ Credit Watch also gives me daily pulls if I want. Right now I'm not pulling for TU, and am relying on updates from the other two for any changes to my TU rept.TU's CMS doesn't allow daily pulls.

I know it can seem like overkill, and I'll probably change to http://www.creditchecktotal.com/ as soon as I get my USAA account set up, as it's offered through them at a discount. Since CCT allows daily pulls for all 3 CRAs, I'd cancel the other services.

Here's a link to a list of the different CMS: Credit Monitoring Service (CMS) Guide - FICO® Forums

Also, you might find this useful: Guide To Common Abbreviations - FICO® Forums

HTH!

ETA: There is absolutely no affect to your credit rept or score for you to access your own credit rept. You'll see those inquiries under the section that says something like, "only you see these inquiries."