Jun
16
Bad Credit?
Filed Under Credit
livinglife
Years ago I got married at 17 and my credit went downhill from there. Bad car loans (2), medical bills (3), credit card bills (2), one eviction and a cell phone bill…. all unpaid some older than 8 years now. I would say a little less than 30,000 in unpaid debt! I am now divorced he is filing for bankruptcy and I do not want to do that because I never want to mark “have you ever filed bankruptcy” on any box.
I am now a full time student, with a part time job and live at home with my mommy again ( never fun to do!!) I want to start paying on some of these bills even if I am just sending in 100 or 200$ a month to them….
What is the best way to go about it?
What bills should I focus on paying first?
Should I not pay some of the older ones?
Years ago I got married at 17 and my credit went downhill from there. Bad car loans (2), medical bills (3), credit card bills (2), one eviction and a cell phone bill…. all unpaid some older than 8 years now. I would say a little less than 30,000 in unpaid debt! I am now divorced he is filing for bankruptcy and I do not want to do that because I never want to mark “have you ever filed bankruptcy” on any box.
I am now a full time student, with a part time job and live at home with my mommy again ( never fun to do!!) I want to start paying on some of these bills even if I am just sending in 100 or 200$ a month to them….
What is the best way to go about it?
What bills should I focus on paying first?
Should I not pay some of the older ones?
Comments
if you file bankrupsy its not so bad, you will instantly get new credit and it will give you a new start, your credit is already ruined so your ex is doing it right, good luck!
smallest amount first then work your way up the ladder. By starting small as you get one paid it gives you a sense of accomplishment
speak to the creditors explain the situation DONT ignore them try an IVA or consolidate the loan but most importantly PAY SOMTHING
If they have been sent to collections then the damage is done. Paying them off after that will not really effect your credit score. Work out a payment plan with any that have not gone to collection and be sure to stay current on all your new bills. Your credit will take probably three years to show any substantial improvement. Good Luck.
You need to pull your credit reports first. Do it for free at annualcreditreport.com
Then you need to see how old your debts are. Some of these older debts may not even be on your credit reports anymore.
Then you need to consider that some/many/all of these debts may be time-barred by the Statute of Limitations…meaning the creditors cannot sue you for these debts anymore.
Understand too that paying on some of these old debts may not even help your credit score.
You need to formulate a smart plan of attack. Don’t just blindly start sending in payments. You may end up getting sued or something.
Notice bankruptcy is nowhere in this list.
I really suggest looking into credit counseling and debt consolidation. It does not lower your debts, but it can lower the interest on them (insted of having 19% there, 10% here, you’ll have one interest rate).
So… Instead of having a bunch of debts, you’ll have one monthly bill…. Easy and convenient and will help your credit quite a bit in the long run.
you should call consolidated credit and let them deal with it! you don’t need the added stress of worrying about what is going on while you are in school and trying to make something of yourself and do better for yourself!
call them and let them know you can only make this amount each month for payments. they will help you work your way out of it.
but to be honest with you, I personally would just let it all sit until you finish with the degree of your choice. you already went this long with things piling up right? why not wait to deal with it when you actually have some real money coming in and when you are a little more financially stable in life? really you don’t want any added stress to your plate while in school and your credit really can’t get too much worse for wear if you are to let things ride out while you go to school. if you don’t like living at home with your mom, then having a couple extra bucks might help you to relax or be able to get out of the house when you really need to. you can’t do that if you tie your money up into bills and back debt and credit.
good luck! I wish you the best.
I totally agree with everything Jeffrey posted.
Pull your credit reports, from the free FTC annualcreditreport.com site he mentioned and look them over.
Looking through your past questions , your state is Pa?
If so and if it has been more than 4 years from default, then you are past the collecting SOL for your state and you are no longer “legally” obligated to pay. The collecting SOL, for both open and written, is 4 years.
(for any that have been less than 4 years, you might send validation requests and then after receiving validation, send requests for pay for delete agreements before paying)
The collecting SOL, for most things, begins to run on the date of first default before it was charged off by the original creditor
If you had repo(s) it would start on the date the vehicle was sold that created the deficiency (which could be up to 3 months after the repo occurred)
For medical it starts on the date of service (date of treatment).
If some of the medical accounts are for hospital visits, it’s possible that the hospital “may” receive funding from the state or fed governments. If that is so then there may not be any collecting SOL on those debts as they “could” be looked at as any other state/fed backed debts.
If you pay those than, through HIPAA and your states medical privacy rights, you have the right to pay the original medical provider (as long as you pay in full) and demand they recall the debt(s) from any collector they have placed it with and that the collector(s) must remove it from their files and from your reports if they are reporting.
(you should “only” deal with the medical provider and never the collector since you may waive your HIPAA protection by dealing with the collector)
If it has been 8 years from any of the defaults, none of the debts should still be reporting on your credit reports.
(if it has been 8 years from default then your ex is screwing his credit, up by filing bankruptcy, for no reason since everything ‘except the possible hospital bills’ is past the collecting SOL for your state)
For any collectors that may be contacting you, I have a link to the FTCs FDCPA in my profile on here, you might read it over to learn how to protect your rights.
Your state also has its own version of the FDCPA.
The following link is to your states Attorney General web site that explains your states debt collection protection laws:
You might also click on the last link I have listed in my profile to a free credit discussion board.
Do some reading in the Newbie section first, then do some reading in both the Credit Forum and the Medical Forum.
Along with learning more about protecting your rights, you will also be able to find sample letter templates (validation, pay for delete, etc) to send to any collectors that may be contacting you.
And there is an extremely well written HIPAA letter to use for any medical accounts that you may want to pay.
(everything on that site is free to read, use and to ask any questions you may have)