Re: SOL and paying off debt

Posted by Linda on November 05, 2001 at 23:10:42:

In Reply to: Re: SOL and paying off debt posted by AB on November 05, 2001 at 01:05:01:

Under certain circumstances it is better not to stir things up. If a person has defaulted on a debt, and say, the SOL in his state is 5 years, and he is at the 3 year mark, and nobody is trying to collect the money, and he wants to make it to the 5 years, so the debt can no longer be collected, he should not check his own credit or apply for any credit.

When you owe money, and have defaulted on the debt, and you check your own credit report or apply for credit, the credit bureau notifies your creditors that there is activity on your account, and they come after you. That's fine if you want that, so you can attack the issue head-on, and get it off your report. But for someone who wants to make it to the end of the SOL, it is bad. After the debt can no longer be collected, then he can start working on clearing up his reports. Then nobody can do anything to him.

Every situation is different, so different advice for different situations. :)

And you got it right now - the SOL and the 7 year reporting period. And reading the FTC opinions is very smart. They make great ammunition when dealing with credit bureaus and collectors.

Incidentally there is some new legislation being proposed to curb more predatory lending practices - one of the major causes of the problems we read on here. Legislators want to put an end to outrageous fees interest rates. Many folks could have paid their credit card debts if they hadn't been vicitimized by these practices. Now if they'll legislate and end to selling and reselling debt... people might have a chance.

Linda

Follow Ups:

Post a Followup