Charged Off Credit Card Debt

I am in Washington state. Have a credit card that charged off Jan 22, 2004. Unsure of the date of the first missed payment. In WA state, when does the "clock start to tick" to become past the statute of limitations? At the first due date I failed to pay and from which I made no further payments? Charge off date? What is the statute of limitations in WA state for credit card debt??

The statute of limitations for credit card debt in WA is 3 years.....It starts on the date of default/charge-off...but it "may" be reset if you made recent payments.

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/ statuteLimitations.shtml

2009-06-10 10:52:14 by prymaat

I got a nastygram from American Credit Collections, LLC. out of Scranton, Pennsylvania in the beginning on June, 2007. I immediately called their ...

My unpaid credit card debt was finally charged off. Now I have a letter from an attorney offering me a settlement. Am I in danger or is this just another attempt to get the money?

The credit card company has to abide by some laws too. If the debt is a legitimate debt, then you should pay it. If it is not, then you need to know that the credit card company is bound by law to act within a certain period of time to collect the debt and can use the courts to do so. The fact that it was charged off on their books doesn't necessarily mean it is uncollectable. Charge off is an accounting term that frees up assets and affects the profitability statement of the company. It's also called a bad debt.

Be very careful about taking an offer presented by a third party. It is not necessarily binding and could result in a reaffirmation of the debt. If you paid the debt to the third party, you might end up having to pay it again, back to the original company. Check the laws of your state and get your own attorney.

2007-02-14 11:19:31 by Linda P

I have just been notified that a credit card that I was working with has been charged off and it has been placed with an agency to file suit. They are saying they will garnish wages, freeze accounts and attach a judgement to my property. My employer says that my wages can not be garnished, but what about my account. I was honestly trying to make arrangements with Chase, we had a loss of income and things were very tight for a while. If they attach a judgement what does that mean? Will I have to go to court over this? They are willing to settle for $17749 if I can come up with it today!! They just called me yesterday. I do owe this debt and am willing to pay, but they are unwilling to work with me any longer. If I file bankruptcy will that stop the judgement and garnishments? I am not behind with my other creditors and even will be paying 3 off this month. The payments were manageable until my interest rate was increased because of a payment 4 days late and my payments doubled to $864.

Doesn't appear so

Debt collectors also may not state that:
-- you will be arrested if you do not pay your debt;
-- they will seize, garnish, attach, or sell your property or wages, unless the collection agency or credit intends to do so, and it is legal to do so (garnishment is currently prohibited in South Carolina for the collection of most debts):
-- actions, such as a lawsuit, will be taken against you, which legally may not be taken, or which they do not intend to take.


Bankruptcy may or may not stop judgements; but it will certainly destroy your credit for the next 7 years.

YOu may still have to go to court over it; they can get a judgement and file a lien agains property.

2007-05-08 08:58:57 by help

i have a $500 credit card debt with hsbc, they wrote it off as a charge off to a collection company. i know what that means and that they sold my account to this collections company. does that mean i cant contact hsbc anymore about making smaller payments or working something out. the collections company wants the whole amount. and im a college student full time and working, there is no way i can make the whole amount.

The debt collector owns the debt at this point.

- When a credit card is charged-off as bad debt, you need to understand that the damage to your credit is already done and there is no undoing it. Don’t make the mistake of simply cutting a check to whatever collection agency has the debt for the charge-off and assume that your credit rating will be magically restored...Doing so will not remove it from your credit reports. It will simply be updated to a "Paid Charge-Off," which, while slightly better, is still a seriously derogatory item. Per the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a charge-off, whether paid or not, can remain on a consumer's credit reports for up to seven years. This does not mean that you will have bad credit for the entire 7 years though.

If you're going to pay off old-charged-off debt anyway, then you might as well negotiate the lowest, rock bottom settlement you can possibly get, being that the negative charge-off notation is going to stay for 7 years on your credit report, regardless of whether the charge-off is paid or unpaid. ...Offer 25%

DO NOT admit in writing to owing the debt...if you do you might trigger a lawsuit against yourself. Mail them a vaguely worded statement like:

I am willing to settle this matter for 25% of the original amount. This is in no way an admission of this debt, but rather an attempt to settle this matter. Your firm must send me a written agreement on your company's letterhead that you will accept this amount as "payment in full" and that this issue will be settled. Upon receipt of this agreement, I will mail you a money order for this amount.
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- Settled/Forgiven debt is treated like earned income with the IRS...any debt that is forgiven must be added to your next year's income and you'll have to pay whatever additional taxes

2009-04-27 19:22:32 by hrt10isgurl

I have old credit card debt! I haven't paid in 7 years.-And nobody contacts me anymore.I am not proud of it, and realize I need to do something about it. I got a credit report online from Equifax. It showed no debt. Just one card that was in good standing.What's up with that? I was hoping to get the names of the card I owe to try to clear up some of the debt.Surely the debt doesn't go away!Should or Can I just try to rebuild my credit?What do I do?
I am certain that the statue of limitations in my state is 7 years. But certainly, if I try to get a loan, this bad credt will show up? It surely doesn't just dissappear? Right?

Peter is wrong. Your credit report begins on the day of the default, not the date of last activity. It's clearly stated in the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and policy statements from the Federal Trade Commissioners. If anyone wishes to state otherwise I would greatly appreciate that they supply me with their information source.

Your credit score is based on what is currently in your credit report. If you don't see any negative reports, then your credit score should be pretty good now, and there is no need for you to do anything.

About the Statute of Limitations (SOL), that is the time that the creditor can legally sue you. After that date, you have no legal obligation to pay. However, they can still pursue you for payments. They just don't have any legal way to collect if you don't want to pay them.

Do not feel bad about not paying them. For the past 7 years they screwed up your credit history, made it hard for you to get a loan, or in some cases caused you to pay more in insurance fees. In other words, you paid your debt!

By the way, check all three of your reports, not just Equifax. Go to the link below and order a free copy of each.

2006-03-27 17:07:07 by satillarivergal