I have bad credit Card Debt. Will this leave me after 7 yrs?

Question

When my husband and I first got married we racked up my credit cards. It's now, 2 kids and 3 years later. We havent paid anything since 2004. I have about 30,000 on credit cards. More than we can pay. Will this just fall of my credit, the money owed? or just the negative comments? I am debating on waiting and not paying or filing bankruptcy. Basicalymy only options. Does anyone knowhow this works? or know the rules on this?
Thank You so much!

Beverly

Answer 1

There's 2 timeframes that you need to know when it comes to debt called the statute of limitations. There's a statute of limitations for collecting debt that can vary by state. (the first link I posted shows these by state) and there the Fair Credit Reporting Act(FCRA) which has a 7½ statute of limitations that starts on the date when the account becomes delinquent. Right now, you're about halfway through the federal statute, and depending on which state you live in, the statute for collecting the debt could be or almost expired. If that happens to be the case, then you may be able to either finish waiting it out, or negotiate paying it off for much less than you owe, which I strongly suggest.

Answer 2

The first thing I will suggest is that you don't take out another loan to pay those off unless you are able to get a really good rate on it (under 6%). You could imagine $30,000 is the price of a nice car so you can expect that payment to be about $600/mo. If you can't afford that I would suggest bankruptcy if you have a reliable car that won't have to be replaced in the next 5 years and are living in a place that you can live at for the same period. The reason your home and car need to be reliable is because you will have some trouble getting new credit for some time after bankruptcy.

If you don't want to file bankruptcy and you can't get a sensible loan to pay it off, you are stuck with bad credit. At some point, all those that you owe money to will come after you. They might even take you to court and you can end up with a judgement on your credit. These are really bad as well. You can also get a lien on your home or anything you own of value, which does not allow you to sell your house until you pay them off.

Have your credit cards been maxed out? Have they gone to collection agencies yet? If not, you have some time...

Answer 3

The creidt bureaus are supposed to remove any negative history 7 years after the 1st date of delinquency.

If you had a card that was written off in January 2004, but it had late payments prior to that you would go by the prior late payment date. So if you were 30 days late in 2003 you would use the 2003 date.

I would pull your credit report to ensusre that all the old negative stuff has been removed. Just because that is the law, there could be errors. I check my report every 3 months to ensure no errors. The first time I started this procedure I impoved my score 80 points just by contesting old stuff and inaccruacies.

Answer 4

Bad debt does not go away if you ignore it. It stays there and can negatively effect your getting future credit - mortgages, car loans, ANYTHING.

If you wait and don't pay, you risk getting sued for the money you owe, and in many cases, YOU pay ALL the court fees - which tacks on even more money. Then, when the judgement is made in favor of those you owe the money to (rarely is it not.) any money you make will be garnished.

My advice is to either start making payment arrangements or explore the option of bankruptcy - but it's not as easy as it used to be.

Answer 5

Nothing just falls off, you owe the money until you pay it. Records are sometimes removed 7 years after they are cleared, not 7 years after you took the money.

You borrowed enough that you may be facing criminal charges for fraud, you should see an attorney before filing for bankruptcy, as that might trigger the fraud charges. The fact that you have not paid since 2004 and continued to accrue debt would make the case against you pretty cut and dry, you spend money without intending to repay it.

Answer 6

You can relief from debt.... Have seen lots of people asking info on bad credits. Well, if you need to get your problem solved onarrange loans or other finance, and usually means you will pay more interest on any loan you take out.

Answer 7

There are a lot of services out there that will offer to consolidate your debt or negotiate with credit card companies. You might find this to be a better alternative than declaring bankrupcy. Try the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), they could put you in touch with a debt counselor that can help you get on the right track financially.

Answer 8

At this point, they will probably sue for judgement. obtain a lien at the county level that will sit on the records there for at least 10 and in most states 20 years. Credit bureau for 7-10c years. Attach wages and bank accounts if legal in your state as well as adding the charges to do this to the bill. IN addition, under new bankruptcy laws, the debits may not all just "go away" anymore.

Answer 9

Chances of that going away in seven years are close to zero. If you do not pay, judgments will be filed against you. It is entirely possible that the judgment might be 'sold' to a collection agency for pennies on the dollar. When THEY start collection proceedings, your seven year time limit starts all over again. There is a great deal of misunderstanding out there on this issue. The notion of 'seven years' means that it must disappear from your credit report seven years AFTER the last activity on the issue.

Answer 10

umm, u need to pay them first.. Then it will come off your credit report..