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I am interested in buying a new home within the next year. I contacted a mortgage loan office and they told me that I would be approved for an FHA insured mortgage but I would have to do the following thing: pay off the three accounts that are currently in collections.
Discover @ ~11500 Amex @ ~3500 HSBC @ ~5000 I stopped making payments in January/February of 2005. Originally the balances were less, but I suppose they tacked on the interest and late fees for many months then sold them to collections.
They were calling/contacting me pretty much every day for the first 6 months or so, and then they just stopped calling.
Northrup Group owns the HSBC debt, but I am unable to find the owners of the Discover and Amex debt. The accounts just show the balance and that it was sent to collections.
1. How do I find out who owns the debt for those two accounts? Do I contact Discover and Amex?
2. Next month, I will have roughly 6000 dollars that I can apply to this debt. After that I will only have 400-500 a month for debt payment. I have had offers, from Northrup Group, to settle the account for less than I own. How likely am I to talk them down further than these amounts?
3. Once I find out who owns my debt from the first two accounts, how should I approach this? Should I give them a call, verify the debt, and work out some kind of payment method? Or should I handle all correspondence through the mail?
Will my contacting them make them believe that they are now free to harass me as the did a couple of years ago? I don't believe I want to go through that again.
How likely am I to send them letters offering to settle the accounts with them for roughly half of what I owe them and have them report it as paid?
Thanks. I will appreciate any help.
Edited to insert paragraphs so that it is easier to read. -sidewinder
dgatewood wrote:
I am interested in buying a new home within the next year. I contacted a mortgage loan office and they told me that I would be approved for an FHA insured mortgage but I would have to do the following thing: pay off the three accounts that are currently in collections.
Discover @ ~11500 Amex @ ~3500 HSBC @ ~5000 I stopped making payments in January/February of 2005. Originally the balances were less, but I suppose they tacked on the interest and late fees for many months then sold them to collections.
They were calling/contacting me pretty much every day for the first 6 months or so, and then they just stopped calling.
Northrup Group owns the HSBC debt, but I am unable to find the owners of the Discover and Amex debt. The accounts just show the balance and that it was sent to collections.
1. How do I find out who owns the debt for those two accounts? Do I contact Discover and Amex?
If Amex and Discover are reporting a balance, I'd bet they still own. Once they sell, they are to report a $0 balance. A friend had a Discover go bad, they never did sell. SOL runs out in Oct, they filed suit this month. But, yes you can call to make certain.
2. Next month, I will have roughly 6000 dollars that I can apply to this debt. After that I will only have 400-500 a month for debt payment. I have had offers, from Northrup Group, to settle the account for less than I own. How likely am I to talk them down further than these amounts?
What is SOL in your state? You can find SOL here-
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20040116b2.asp
Once SOL has passed, the greater chance for settling for even less and the greater the chance at a PFD.
3. Once I find out who owns my debt from the first two accounts, how should I approach this? Should I give them a call, verify the debt, and work out some kind of payment method? Or should I handle all correspondence through the mail?
Depends on what your SOL is and if you are in/out of SOL.
Will my contacting them make them believe that they are now free to harass me as the did a couple of years ago? I don't believe I want to go through that again.
How likely am I to send them letters offering to settle the accounts with them for roughly half of what I owe them and have them report it as paid?
Depends on SOL.
Thanks. I will appreciate any help.
Edited to insert paragraphs so that it is easier to read. -sidewinder
Message Edited by sidewinder on 07-07-2008 01:55 PM