AboutChristine Janklow Expertise As President of SettleSource,Inc. a business debt settlement firm, I invite you to inquire about all aspects of business debt solutions to best determine which may be most appropriate. If you have questions such as: What is debt settlement and how process provide debt relief to my business? What options are available to deal with my business debts? Is it possible for a business owner to negotiate their own settlements? Why is debt settlement preferable to filing a bankruptcy or debt consolidation? Why are creditors willing to provide settlements to a business? How will settling debts affect credit scores? or How to rebuild a business after debt is eliminated. Please ask it now! For more information regarding how debt settlement can help your business, please visit www.SettleSource.com and place your inquiry. Mention All Experts to have a confidential no cost consultation with Christine. If this is your business situation time may play a very important factor in getting matters resolved proactively before they have negative affects on the business.
Experience My expertise is specific to providing business solutions that will have profound positive impacts on the financial health of businesses. I have 25 years experience as an entrepreneur and have developed national sales programs; strategic alliances; product development; marketing programs; business and turnaround plans and debt settlement programs all providing methods to improve the financial outlook for large and small businesses.
Organizations Turnaround Management Association; Los Angeles area
Publications Los Angeles Daily News; Today Magazine Monthly series of business articles entitled "Brand News."
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Business Administration; Associate of Arts Merchandising
Past/Present Clients American Airlines, American Express, Safeway Inc., New York Life, consumer products manufacturers; retailers and service providers.
Question In the summer of 2007 I closed the doors on a small business I ran for 4 years. I was filed as a DBA, personally guaranteeing the repayment for ads in the local phonebooks. The business address to the debtors was a p.o box, which, along with the business phone # are gone. The other day I was served at my home for a debt of $350 for a small ad from 2005. I know that I have a much larger debt of about $7000 to another phone book which is from 2005 as well. Although I am not "hiding" from the phone book companies, the smaller one took it upon themselves to locate my home for a very minimal debt. This leads me to believe the larger one will follow suit.
However I recently obtained copies of all three credit reports and none of my debts from the business appear, in any form, whatsoever. As if they don't exist? I am in the process of cleaning up my personal credit, and am not sure what to do about the missing phone book debt.
Part of me does not want to "wake the sleeping dog", but the other part just wants to get everything out in the open.
Is it possible they wrote off the debt?
Can it really disappear?
Why is nothing showing up on my reports?
The same is true from my credit card machine, which I failed to complete paying on the lease, except they know my address due to the location of their leased equipment.
Any advice you may offer is greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Brad
Answer Dear Brad:
Thank you for your inquiry. I regret that your business did not fare well and you are left still feeling the effects of the closure. Your situation is common, most likely due to a lack of response to prior billing inquiries and collections activities. In order to salvage your credit, you need to settle or pay in full the amount owed on the pending suit. As for the other amount, it is always better to take a "pro-active" position on your financial behalf(waking the sleeping dog, as you put it) than to get caught unbeknownst without a plan to deal with it. You can request a copy of your bill from the Ad company to see if they have turned it over to a collection agent. If you are in a position to offer a percentage of the balance as a lump sum, they may choose to settle it and close it out. If that is the case, get all deals in writing and documented. It is possible that the debt has changed hands and that the creditor has already written it off. Personal debts are protected under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act and usually have a statute of limitations for collection. You can check the following website for your state of residence and timeline for statutes http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/statue-limitations.html
If it has already exceeded the statue, they may have no further ability to collect. To answer why the debt is not reporting, the type of debt you owe is categorized under vendor/supplier. Some don't endeavor in formal reporting as there are costs associated with this. However, a judgment gained by them can be reported because it is public record at that point. I hope this information is helpful, and if you found it so, please take a moment to rate it so others may benefit as well.
Respectfully,
Christine Janklow
