7 years ago time where pretty rough. I could not pay several credit cards payments. Can this be eliminated?

Question

I tried Ameridebt in 2000 and my balances went up and no help.

Answer 1

The best option is to let them just sit. If you serach the money section on msn.com they will tell you that the worst thing you can do for your credit right now is to pay them off. The reason is because if you start paying now, it puts more bad marks on your credit because they will show you have reopened the file but haven't paid them off. Once you do pay them off, they don't remove the part that says you were behind or that says you were inactive for a year. It stays on there and chances are that when you get them paid off you will have to let other things on your credit slide into delinquency to get these past items caught up. Then that creates extra accounts that look bad on your credit file. Your best option is to change your phone number and wait out the seven years it takes for them to fall off your credit.

Answer 2

There is a process where Collection Agencies are required by law under the FDCPA and FCRA to validate accounts in dispute by a certain time or the trade line must be deleted.

It's long and tedious, probably a 6 month process or longer, but it can be done.

Answer 3

Derogatory items age off your credit report 7-1/2 years from the date of first deficiency.  Have you checked your credit report (AnnualCreditReport.com)?  Chances are these have already aged off or will very shortly.

If your last payments were in 2000, chances are the Statute of Limitations (SOL), the timeframe to bring lawsuit, has also passed.  Check your state:  http://www.bcsalliance.com/statute_of_li...

If the SOL has indeed passed and you hear from any collection agencies, just sent them a certified, return receipt letter telling them to cease and desist all contact as the debt is beyond the SOL.

Answer 4

Don't worry...it will be eliminated naturally. 7 years is the maximum allowable time for negative items to remain on your credit files....Once this time period ends (it can never be reset) the items will fall off your credit files.

Answer 5

Don't do anything until you pull your free credit reports from annualcreditreport.com. Pull your FICO scores from MyFico.com.

You can take care of this, but you need to pull those reports. These old debts might not even be on your credit reports anymore.

If they are still reporting, you need to find out who owns the debts and planning how to attack them. Depending on your state, these old debts might be outside the Statute of Limitations, which means your ability to negotiate a favorable settlement might get a lot easier.

But pull your reports and scores first!

on edit:

Kodiak has no clue on debt validation. Debt validation takes 30 days, not 6 months. If a collection agency fails to validate within 30 days, they are precluded from making ANY further attempts to collect on the debt until they do validate.

Furthermore, the best thing you can do right now is NOT validate these debts precisely because they could be beyond the statute of limitations and/or off your reports entirely. If you start trying to send debt validation requests without first seeing if they are on your reports, they may try to sell the debt to some unscrupulous junk debt purchaser who will start harassing you and reporting the account as a collection. They could also sue you for making them answer a debt validation request.

No, pull your reports before you do anything else.

Answer 6

it can be eliminated by paying them off.  your credit right now is probably ruined so if you even pay anything they will probably be happy.  pay even the minimum if that is all you can afford.

Answer 7

Yes they will drop off your credit report after 7 1/2 yrs and CAN NOT be redated as per the following:15USC1681s-2]  Ã‚§ 623. Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies

You might want to check your states statute of limitations on seeking legal action on debts.  Every state varies in the time a creditor has to seek civil action.

Use the follwing link to find your states SOL

http://www.bcsalliance.com/statute_of_li...

If these debts are time barred (beyond the state SOL) then all they can do is hound you for payments, they have NO legal recourse.  If they insist on contacting you send them the following letter certifed mail/return receipt  YOur credit reports will show when the item is due to drop from the report.

Today's Date

Your Name

Your Address

Collector's Name

Collector's Address

RE: [insert account number or name of account or name of debt]:

Dear [insert collector's name or company name],

This letter is in response to your [letter dated xx-xx-2005] (copy enclosed) or [phone call on xx-xx-2005], concerning the collection of the above referenced [account or date].

I do not believe I owe what you say I owe therefore I dispute this debt. I am well aware of my rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and my state laws so I hope to save both of us a great deal of time by letting you know that not only do I dispute the validity of this debt, I have also checked with my State Attorney General and verified that the Statute of Limitations for enforcing this type of debt through the courts in (insert your state or the state in which the contract was signed) has expired. Therefore, should you decide to pursue this matter in court I intend to inform the court of my dispute of this debt and that the "statute of limitations" has expired.

This letter is your formal notification that I consider this matter closed and demand that you, or anyone affiliated with your company, stop contacting me regarding this or any other matter except to advise me that your debt collection efforts are being terminated or that you or the creditor are taking specific actions allowed by the FDCPA or my state laws.

Be advised that I consider any contact not in accordance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act a serious violation of the law and will immediately report any violations to my State Attorney General, to the Federal Trade Commission and, if necessary, take whatever legal action is necessary to protect myself. Be advised that I tape record all phone calls and violations of the FDCPA can result in you or your company being personally fined up to $1,000 per incident.

(Sign above name)

Printed Name

Once they know that you are aware of your rights they usualy give up and go away.  But this is for credit card debts only, judgments are a different thing, so if any of them are judgments then you must handle those in a different manner.

Hope this answers your question

LEGAL DISCLAIMER:  The advice contained herein is for informational purposes only.  It is not to be construed as Legal Counsel nor Legal Advice.