I have about $5000 credit card debt on about 4 cards total. The debt has been in collections for 2 to 3 years. I have been working on repairing my credit but these 4 cards have done damage because I wrote them off. Should I contact these credit card companies and settle the debt and If I do will that have any effect on my credit score or will the score remin he same or will my score improve because I have settled the debt.
2006-09-07 09:46:32 · 6 answers · asked by Waterworking 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
Well, people in debt often seem to find some help here :
http://credit-cards.ebookorama.com
and here http://finance.ebookorama.com
also plenty more to read here
http://credit.ebookorama.com
http://credit-repair.ebookorama.com
good luck!
2006-09-07 18:28:51 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well you gotta be careful with this one...At this point I assume that these cards are 2-3 out, as in default.
These credit card companies probably have sold your debt to collectors. This way the CC company still makes a few bucks and the collectors, if successful collecting will have made a nice profit. So the CC company may not even have any legal right to your debt any more. Now the collection companies will promise you the world to collect on their investment....That is, the debt that you owe for say $1,000 to Master Card....They bought for $300 and now own....Now they will hound you to death until you pay them the $1,000 PLUS interest. They are very deceitful and will screw you any chance they get...SO.......If you try to make nice with them understand this, you just reset the clock from 2-3 year back to zero by making a transaction against that account/debt. So at this point you are what, 4-5 years away from it disappearing from your credit record (assuming 7 years like it used to be)????
*IF* you do want to try to get it off your record sooner, you would be wise to have a formal agreemnt drafted and signed by you and the collectors stating that if sum 'X' is paid items ABC will be removed from your credit record....BUT....lots of buts here....They probably were not the originators of the bad marks on your record....The CC company was and it would be only them that can remove their stuff.
So you gotta be extra, extra careful...Better to talk to a CPA or financial lawyer first (not the credit repair BS you see on TV) and get their advice. May end up costing you a few buck but depending where you are in life and how serious you are it might be the best thing if you don't have years to wait for you record to clear.
Best of luck.
2006-09-07 10:07:05 · answer #2 · answered by joe b 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have the ability to pay them off, contact them. You may be able to negotiate a payment plan. As you pay off each one, ask the company to send the credit reporting agencies a statement saying that you contacted them and that you have satisfied the debt. This will do a lot to help your credit score.
2006-09-07 09:56:34 · answer #3 · answered by Ralfcoder 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
this answer depends on what state you live in statue of limitations if you have no contact with the holder of the debt say for three years and the statue in your state is five years in two years they can't do any thing. many states it's seven years it drops from credit history, if go bankrupt may stay for ten years.ten or twelve years ago i settled with a co. last year a co. tried to collect from me statue had run out don't call me or i will sue.
2006-09-07 10:04:03 · answer #4 · answered by moonwalker 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
you will have to settle with these debtors.......after this long they may be willing to accept less. try a debt counseling service, Genus is a legit one that wont take lots of your money and do nothing like most of them do. your local county probably has some kind of counseling service along these lines
2006-09-07 09:52:41 · answer #5 · answered by fn_49@hotmail.com 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes
2006-09-07 09:52:31 · answer #6 · answered by waplambadoobatawhopbamboo 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋