The law prevents harassment by a debt collector. It is harassment if they call you at work?
My latest Ask Brent video discusses this. You can watch it here: httpv://www.youtube.com/user/MyCredEd.
Remember to ask your questions about credit and debt in the form to the right. I will answer via blog or video as soon as I can!
When you fill out the form, your question goes straight to my email inbox. I am an email addict, so I will see it quickly. If I put your question into a video, or answer it in a blog, I will send you and email back to let you know the answer is ready.
Posted In: Collections, debt collection
In Tip 10, I discuss how to start watching your finances and why it is important to pay attention to your money.
I have posted a video series to the MyCredEd YouTube channel discussing how you can protect your credit during divorce. Remember, your divorce will be over soon, but the effects of a credit problem can last years longer!
You can view the Tip 10 video here:
Remember to ask your questions about credit and debt in the form to the right. I will answer via blog or video as soon as I can!
When you fill out the form, your question goes straight to my email inbox. I am an email addict, so I will see it quickly. If I put your question into a video, or answer it in a blog, I will send you and email back to let you know the answer is ready.
If you are going through a divorce, your thoughts are probably not focused on what your credit score looks like. However, this is exactly the time to think about these issues!
I have posted a video series to the MyCredEd YouTube channel discussing how you can protect your credit during this tough time. Remember, your divorce will be over soon, but the effects of a credit problem can last years longer!
You can view the Introduction video here:
Remember to ask your questions about credit and debt in the form to the right. I will answer via blog or video as soon as I can!
When you fill out the form, your question goes straight to my email inbox. I am an email addict, so I will see it quickly. If I put your question into a video, or answer it in a blog, I will send you and email back to let you know the answer is ready.
The statute of limitations for your state determines how long you can be sued for a debt. However, if you treat your debt wrong, the state of limitations can be reset and the clock starts over.
My latest Ask Brent video discusses this. You can watch it here: httpv://www.youtube.com/user/MyCredEd.
Remember to ask your questions about credit and debt in the form to the right. I will answer via blog or video as soon as I can!
When you fill out the form, your question goes straight to my email inbox. I am an email addict, so I will see it quickly. If I put your question into a video, or answer it in a blog, I will send you and email back to let you know the answer is ready.
If you have filed for bankruptcy, you are going to have to repair your credit.
The question becomes when do you start? My latest Ask Brent video addresses this. You can watch it here: httpv://www.youtube.com/user/MyCredEd. You can also see my blog entry on this subject by clicking here.
Remember to ask your questions about credit and debt in the form to the right. I will answer via blog or video as soon as I can!
When you fill out the form, your question goes straight to my email inbox. I am an email addict, so I will see it quickly. If I put your question into a video, or answer it in a blog, I will send you and email back to let you know the answer is ready.
The debt collector can get a lot of information about you. However, do they have the right to see your bank records?
My latest Ask Brent video addresses this. You can watch it here: httpv://www.youtube.com/user/MyCredEd.
Remember to ask your questions about credit and debt in the form to the right. I will answer via blog or video as soon as I can!
When you fill out the form, your question goes straight to my email inbox. I am an email addict, so I will see it quickly. If I put your question into a video, or answer it in a blog, I will send you and email back to let you know the answer is ready.
Recently, I have been getting a bunch of questions about credit, debt, foreclosure, bankruptcy, and other topics about credit.
The first couple of entries are already on YouTube, and you can see them here: httpv://www.youtube.com/user/MyCredEd
It can take a long time to write a blog entry, and I just don’t always have the time. So, I decided to go ahead and release some videos that answer the questions.
Here is how this works:
See the form to the right? You ask your question there. Just type in what you want to know, and I will work on answering it. Now, I can’t guarantee that I will answer every question, but I will do my best.
When you fill out the form, your question goes straight to my email inbox. I am an email addict, so I will see it quickly. If I put your question into a video, or answer it in a blog, I will send you and email back to let you know the answer is ready.
I am working hard to grow this blog, and I want to grow it in a way that helps you. So, please ask your questions!
Again, you can find the videos on YouTube right here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MyCredEd
Well, it is over. You filed bankruptcy, and met with the trustee, and your bankruptcy case is over. You now either have a schedule of payments with a Chapter 13, or you wiped most of your debt clean with a Chapter 7.
But there may be a few assets that you decided to keep that you have to re-affirm. When you re-affirm the debt, you are promising to pay the debt off according to a new payment amount and schedule. It may be the same as it was, but it may not.
When I re-affirmed my truck, my credit union offered to let me do a ‘cram down’. I was upside down on my truck, meaning I owed more than it was worth. The difference was about $4,500.00. My credit union knew that I was unlikely to want to keep the truck, since it was no longer worth what I owed.
If the credit union had taken the truck back, not only would they have lost the extra money I owed on it, but they also would have lost the money paid to the auction house that sold it, and whatever the lower amount was that it sold for. My banker told me they were looking at losing about $8700.00 on the truck when all was said and done.
So, they opted for a different route. By bringing my truck loan down to the current market value, I saved money, they saved money, and they would make a bit back on the interest that I paid.
For me, this was a great deal. I got to keep the truck, and my payment was reduced. For my credit union, It was a decent end to a bad situation.
If you are re-affirming a debt, and the debt has a well-define market value, be sure you talk to your lender if you owe more than what your property is worth. It may be easier to keep your debt than to try to get a replacement for your property.
Make sure you take a hard look before you do this though. My truck had some problems that I still had to get fixed, and it ended up that I could have gotten a loan for a different car. It wouldn’t have been as nice, but there would have been no cash out of pocket for the new vehicle, while I had to pay for repairs to my truck.
You may have heard of ‘junk’ categories before.
You can find junk bonds, junk dealers, and junker cars. The term means the same thing: an item of low or poor value.
Well, now we have junk debt. Junk debt is debt that is either uncollectible through ‘normal’ means, or debt of very low value.
I’ll give you an example:
I got a letter 2 days ago from a law firm. They claim I owe $40.00 from a parking ticket 7 years ago.
Think about it. They paid about a buck to send the letter. They probably bought the debt for about $8.00. So, they stand to make about $30.00 if they can collect the whole thing.
But they have 2 problems. First, the statute of limitations in my state is 6 years. So they can’t sue me. Second, they will have to prove it is mine, and that I didn’t pay it. Both of these are tough to get past if you know how to deal with the debt collector.
Low margins. Old debt. No legal recourse. Seriously, this is junk.
So why do they buy it? Well, many people look at these old accounts, and settle for much less. A $20.00 payment is a huge profit for the collector, and costs less than the movie you buy when you are checking out of Wal Mart.
That one happened to be cheap. But how about bigger ticket items?
Utility companies, library fines, parking tickets, local taxes – all these things are being sold as junk debt. Many of the accounts are decades old, and they are virtually un-provable. The firms that buy these accounts have a hard time collecting, but almost all of what they collect is profit. Many people just go ahead and pay when they get the bill, just so it ‘won’t show up on their credit report’.
Why do I care? These debts can be reported to the credit bureaus. If the old debt is reported, it will affect your credit scores negatively. As someone who is concerned about credit, you need to avoid this at all costs.
If you are notified you owe an old debt, you need to contest the debt. Make sure the debt is actually yours, and don’t settle with what the collection company tells you.
Remember, these can end up on your credit report, but usually they are so old they can’t stick. You can get them cleaned up, and get rid of them, with out paying, but you need to understand how to clean those credit reports up. Make sure you do the research and understand how to fix the problem. Or, just read my book!
Posted In: junk debt
