@Anonymous wrote:
Hello. I joined this forum for guidance on repairing my credit and clearing my debt. Ive ignored it for years and now ive reached a point where i really cannot ignore the debt any longer. Here is my situation and apologiez if you all have heard the exact same situation before.
I have 3600.00 in debt. Mostly creditc cards i took out when I was 18 (im 28 now). There are a total of 4 different collection companies that are handling the debt that accumulates to the number above. I know i can just pay it off as i go but my main question is if I can a. negotiate with the creditors and b. do i even have to pay if the debt is old. I can easily say this debt has been in my record since 2008 so almost 7 years. As i have said before, this is my first time posting in a message board EVER and i am having a hard time getting my point across as to the type of help i am seeking. Any and all advise/comments are appreciated. Thank you.
First thing to do if you haven't done so yet, is to get all 3 credit reports (transunion, equifax and experian) and see what is still showing on them. You want to look for the DOFD date (this is the date that you missed the first payment that led to the charge off). Once you figure out the DOFDs on your negative accounts then you can decide how to proceed. If any of the accounts showing are 7 years beyond the DOFD date then you can dispute them as "too old to report" and they should be removed promptly by all 3 bureaus. By law they can remain up to 7 1/2 years beyond the DOFD, but 99% of the time they will be removed by the 7 year mark. There is also such a thing called "early exclusion" and this is when a credit bureau will remove a negative account prior to the 7 year mark. Transunion will usually remove 6 months prior to the 7 year mark, and Equifax and Experian 1-3 months prior to the 7 year mark. It is important to keep in mind that if you are told no on an early exclusion request, you should keep trying, the rep you make your request to makes all the difference, some are pretty cool and some are complete hard cases.
Being that you are outside the Statute of Limitations, you cannot be sued for the debts, so legally you are off the hook. It is your choice if you want to pay these old debts or not, most people don't, but some do. Whatever you do, if you decide to pay, make sure it is for a lesser amount and DO NOT get into any payment plans with them to pay the debt. If you decide that you want to pay the debt, make sure you can do it in one payment. You mentioned earlier that they are unwilling to lower the amount for you, to me that would be a deciding factor to just forget about it then, that's just me though.
As said, do not get into any payment agreements, they will most likely set you up for a losing battle.
