@pat7 wrote:
Hello. After being an irresponsible 20 something, I've managed to rebuild my credit from the low 600s to the 700s this past year, largely thanks to the advice on these boards. There are now no bad marks on my credit report after having successfully rehabbed a defaulted student loan.
However, I'm concerned about an old debt from my irresponsible days popping back up (it's an unpaid insurance bill). It's from only 2 or 3 years ago so its definitely within the SOL, but for whatever reason it hasn't appeared on my credit report and I haven't heard from this particular debt collector in some time. I'm just nervous that after working so hard to rebuild, they'll suddenly come after me with a judgement or something and my score will plunge. What should I do? Wait until they potentially come after me and send them a PFD letter? I'm too nervous to reach out to them for fear that they will be able to reach me and the whole thing will backfire and end up on my credit report.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated, I just don't want this last old debt I have to reverse all the hard work I've done to rebuild.
Thanks in advance!
When you say it "hasn't appeard on your credit report," do you mean you have only checked one report? Just because the delinquent account doesn't appear on one report, doesn't mean it hasn't been reported to the other two credit bureaus since some creditors only report to one or two agencies.
You mentioned you haven't heard from this creditor "in some time," but you also state that you are too nervous to reach out to them for fear that "they will be able to reach me." Do they have any current contact info for you? Often creditors send a written notice before referring accounts to collections and you could address it at that time should this occur... but note that there are no gurantees since creditors generally are not required to let you know they are referring your account to a collection agency, with rare exceptions to this rule.
Is it a small bill? If you have the money to pay it, might be worth it to do so proactively to protect all the hard work you've done to rebuild your credit. Now that you are aware of the importance of good credit history, it may be a small price to pay for your peace of mind and sound credit history.
