What's going on, Junk Debt Buyers getting to be on the ball ?

[IamOld]

Excellent GoingDown - you fight for the rest of us!!!!!


BEST OF GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!

[bcohen]

GoingDown, you are right. It would be interesting to try and fight it on those grounds, and if I am sued, maybe I will do that. After all, my debts were incurred from roughly 2000 to 2008, and the accounts were maxed out in March of 2009 when I quit paying on them. Who knows, maybe I might get a sympathetic judge? Also, as all of my debts (except Discover) were sold to JDB's, I can attempt to attack their case on the basis of documentation, chain of custody, etc.

[jacko]

Has your financial picture improved? What is your reason for not wanting to pay (some of) it back? My reason is being financial, not enough dough to cover the min payments, lost cause, to many lender/creditor games like attaching fees etc and not giving a schhit anymore. I'm collection proof and see no reason to file. By filing would not solve my back taxes yet and future medical debt. I still manage to contribute $100 month to my IRA to get in the habit of saving.

I have the same paper. I have quoted it on this and other forums many times. But now the state legislature has passed a new law about SOL.


There has been much inconlusive discussion on other forums about whether or not old debts which were owed before this law passed would be subject to this new law, but what it comes down to is that if you are sued, you will have to fight it in court and see what the judge decides about it.

My guess is that, unfortunately, most judges are pro debt collector, and will side with them.

If I am sued, I will fight it, and I will argue that the new law does not apply to my old debts and I will tell you all what the judge has to say about it. But, at this point, it does not look likely that I am going to get sued for these old dormant debts, and they only have a few months left to sue me before even the 6 year SOL expires.

Even if they do sue me and win, they won't get a penny from me, ever. I will see to that.

[GoingDown]

To even pay a penny of it back right now would reset the statute of limitations for another 6 years. It would be the worst thing to do at this point.

And with all the interest and fees added, it would be a lost cause for me, too. I would never be able to pay it all off, so I won't even try to pay any of it.

And settling the debt is also stupid for me. It would wake up the sleeping giants, and still cost me a large amount of money, and then get more 1099-C forms sent to the I.R.S.

If I did anything about it, I would file chapter 7 bankruptcy. But at this point, I'm saving that for when I really need it at some point in the future.

Has your financial picture improved? What is your reason for not wanting to pay (some of) it back? My reason is being financial, not enough dough to cover the min payments, lost cause, to many lender/creditor games like attaching fees etc and not giving a schhit anymore. I'm collection proof and see no reason to file. By filing would not solve my back taxes yet and future medical debt. I still manage to contribute $100 month to my IRA to get in the habit of saving.

[jacko]

Great reasoning. This should be a sticky for those who may succumb to their creditors who out realizing the consequences. I'm hoping my credit report with a foreclosure listed will keep others from filing suit for another 3 years. I have learned a lot how stuff gets reported there. No more land line, which means peace and quiet. I do everything on Skype for telecom. What a life saver.

What steps have you taken to protect your cash?

To even pay a penny of it back right now would reset the statute of limitations for another 6 years. It would be the worst thing to do at this point.

And with all the interest and fees added, it would be a lost cause for me, too. I would never be able to pay it all off, so I won't even try to pay any of it.

And settling the debt is also stupid for me. It would wake up the sleeping giants, and still cost me a large amount of money, and then get more 1099-C forms sent to the I.R.S.

If I did anything about it, I would file chapter 7 bankruptcy. But at this point, I'm saving that for when I really need it at some point in the future.

[seekingpeace]

We got a notice from the sheriff from a Home Depot account. We can't file BK at this time. It is a total of $2700 and I'm trying to get them down without any luck. Will I have luck any time soon? The girl I talked to just now admitted she wasn't authorized in settling for anything less than 50% without the client's approval which is why I explained I wanted to talk to the supervisor. She insisted she wouldn't be able to do any better. Is she right??

[GoingDown]

We got a notice from the sheriff from a Home Depot account. We can't file BK at this time. It is a total of $2700 and I'm trying to get them down without any luck. Will I have luck any time soon? The girl I talked to just now admitted she wasn't authorized in settling for anything less than 50% without the client's approval which is why I explained I wanted to talk to the supervisor. She insisted she wouldn't be able to do any better. Is she right??

It depends. How old is the debt.

50% for a recent debt would be about as good as you could expect to get at this point. The older a debt is, the less it is worth, because it becomes less and less likely to ever get paid the longer it goes without getting paid. If the debt is a few years old, then 50% is too much. Try 25% or at most 30%. And remember you have to get the settlement agreement in writing BEFORE you pay them anything, or else they just turn around and start trying to collect the rest of the debt. If the agreement is not in writing, they will not honor it, nor will they remember it, and there won't be anything you can do about it.

But keep in mind that you may owe taxes on the half of the debt that gets "forgiven" or "canceled" because they will send a 1099-C form to the I.R.S. for that much settled debt.