AboutDavid McArthur Expertise I can answer all questions regarding credit repair and credit scoring. My specialty is recovery from Bankruptcy.
Experience I own a credit repair company in the Chicago Area and have helps hundreds of my clients to raise their credit scores and learn how to manage their credit.
Education/Credentials My back ground is in financial planning and credit repair.
Question First of all, thank you for your time in answering questions. It is a wonderful service.
During the time of 4 -10 years ago, my husband & I went through a challenging period
when he was self employed & his work wasn't going very well. Income was up & down, &
debt that we had previously acquired we were not able to pay for. There were some unpaid
credit cards & a piano & truck repossession. We never took out bankruptcy on anything,
but the unsecured debt was written off & sold to collection companies.
We just received a statement the other day from a collection company collecting for Direct
Merchant's Bank saying that we owe them almost $10,000.00. That is nearly 10 times the
amount left owing on the original debt. We still receive, from time to time, similar letters
from a couple other places, although the balances aren't as high.
5 years ago my husband obtained a job overseas in Bangkok, Thailand working for a US
company & we have been living here ever since. We have not acquired any new debt during
the past 5 years. We actually haven't acquired any new debt in the past 10 years, it's just
that the most recent collections issue was the truck being repossessed just before we
moved over here 5 years ago.
My question is, will our credit report show that we still have all the debt that was sold to
creditors years ago since we are still receiving settlement letters? And does the debt show
up as the new balance (10,000.00) that has obviously been accruing interest in the past up
to 10 years? Also, how long does it take for unpaid, unsecured debt to not show on a
credit report?
When we eventually move back to the States, we will need to be able to buy a home & car,
but are wondering how we are going to be able to do so with the creditors still after us.
Also, we haven't obtained any new credit cards since the old ones were closed back then,
nor have we purchased anything with credit in order to start building up our credit again.
Is it likely that it would be possible for us to get a car or house loan if we were to move
back to the United States sometime within the next year?
Any information that you could provide will be very much appreciated.
Best Regards,
Name Withheld
Answer Jeanette,
My advise comes in 2 parts.
1. Research the fair debt collection act. Most of your accounts are likely approaching the statute of limitations for collection. If you decide to settle any debts to make them go away remember that discussing payment options with the lender will restart the statute time limit. Also, never pay what they are asking. They will likely settle for 10% being that it is so old and you live outside the country. Negative items appear for 7-15 years on your credit reports.
2. Hire a credit repair professional such as myself to help you prepare for coming back to the states. We can probably get a lot of the negative items removed from your reports and walk you through some simple techniques that will raise your credit scores greatly. That way a car and house will be easy for you to obtain upon your return.
Start by checking out financialscoringsolutions.com
