Credit Card Question

[selective]

I'm a long time reader on this site and have had a bit of a situation arise. We were looking at what we could prequalify for a loan on a mortgage. There was 1 credit card bill on my wife's name that never got forwarded to us when we move for $132, we never received the bill in the mail and they never attempted to contact us about it. We just found out about it when her credit check came back and with the interest its over 2k.

Whats the odds that they will "forgive" at least half of it considering she was a card holder for a decade prior and never had any issues with the account and how can I convince her to let me help. She wants to pay it with her paycheck, but without her pay check we can't make ends meat at this point.

Much help appreciated.

I wish to thank the mods and Boss for letting me do this.

[dfs]

This has the smell of scam all over it.
First....
How long did this sit unknown?
Is the charge legitimate?


"What's the odds that they will forgive a portion of this?"
You can talk to them. Talk is relatively free.

"How can you convince her to let you help?"
I'm not familiar enough with your situation to assist you here. My spouse and I have had joint accounts for...a long time now. His money/Her money just starts fights. I understand that other folks view things differently.

[selective]

This has the smell of scam all over it.
First....
How long did this sit unknown?
Is the charge legitimate?

Two years, she's not letting me look at the bill. It was when we got married and they apparently never got the change of address or the mailman failed to forward it to the new address. We're kind of press for time because the house we have been renting is in the process of being sold.

It was on the credit report run for her.

[Larry Schuler]

When I built my credit back up 2 years ago, my creditor forgave a ton, if not all, of my interest. Note that every late bill was from a few surgeries and countless CT scans I had as a 20 year old, so I don't know if the kind of debt is considered when they waive interest fees. Also, I believe it is worth confirming that they will mark your account as Paid In Full even with the waived interest. There were 1-2 accounts that I paid off and they made some weird note about how I 'didn't pay the full amount but we closed it anyway'. Someone with more knowledge can probably clarify what I'm saying but I believe that is something to consider/be mindful of.

[dfs]

I'm sorry the numbers just don't add up. To get to 2K in 2 years the original bill had to be a lot more than $132. I know that doesn't help you out, but I thought you would want to know.
$800 and a horrible bad interest rate can get you in that neighborhood in two years.

My guess is that if it's on her card they won't talk to you and she'll have to be the one making the call.

"She's not letting me look at the bill." huh.
"w/out her paycheck we can't make ends meet." ....So you are in a position where you can take on new debt in order to pay old debt. Typically that's not a winning proposition. If she won't let you look at the bill you need to have HER talk to HER lender and see if she can't get better terms. As Larry says she may well be able to do that.

[selective]

I'm sorry the numbers just don't add up. To get to 2K in 2 years the original bill had to be a lot more than $132. I know that doesn't help you out, but I thought you would want to know.
$800 and a horrible bad interest rate can get you in that neighborhood in two years.

My guess is that if it's on her card they won't talk to you and she'll have to be the one making the call.

"She's not letting me look at the bill." huh.
"w/out her paycheck we can't make ends meet." ....So you are in a position where you can take on new debt in order to pay old debt. Typically that's not a winning proposition. If she won't let you look at the bill you need to have HER talk to HER lender and see if she can't get better terms. As Larry says she may well be able to do that.

I think its the service fees on the account on top of the interest.

She'll have me listening in on speaker and commenting as her husband.

I thought she already had the bill or the numbers, she doesnt. That was my bad.

She was talking about paying the full amount over the course of a couple months and we're going to be moving. If we wait and have to rent the expenses will probably go up and still have things that need to be done.

[Redsfaithful]

I recommend any debt collection questions go here:

https://creditboards.com/forums/

I had some medical debt on a credit report. After I paid the hospital, this forum told me I should challenge the reporting of the debt because it's a HIPAA violation once the debt has been paid. It worked, came off all reports a few weeks after I sent out the letters. Point being, they give good advice.

[Redsfaithful]

She'll have me listening in on speaker and commenting as her husband.

Any debt collection agency is scum of the earth and you should not believe anything they say at any point, ever. Put all communication in writing. Send all letters registered. Act like you might have to go into court with all of this one day, because you might, even if it's unlikely.

[SteelSD]

I'm sorry the numbers just don't add up. To get to 2K in 2 years the original bill had to be a lot more than $132. I know that doesn't help you out, but I thought you would want to know.
$800 and a horrible bad interest rate can get you in that neighborhood in two years.

I agree. Even with appropriate late fees attached, I'd find it nearly unbelievable that a $132 original balance would reach 2K in 24 months as most creditors will charge off the balance when it reaches @180 days delinquent. If the account was sold to a collection agency at that point, there would likely be a number of hoops they'd need to jump through in order to continue billing any fees and/or to continue to collect interest/charge it retroactively.

For the OP- There are a lot of debt collection scams out there right now. I would be extremely careful giving out any information to anyone claiming to be a debt collection agency and would demand both their physical address and a valid, itemized copy explaining where every cent of any debt prior to paying dime one. I would go as far as to cross-check the information with the original credit card company to confirm where the debt was sold and, you might find that such a conversation my lead to a settlement for far far less (even a fraction of the initial debt) with them.

Both the FDCPA and FCRA provide consumers some protection against unscrupulous collection efforts and inaccurate/unfair credit reporting practices as well. Additionally, if the debt is being reported accurately, the bank itself may be in violation of the Credit Card Act of 2009 given the nearly unbelievable gap between the original debt and the current amount reported. I would begin by disputing the debt with the credit reporting agency and, as Redsfaithful suggested, make sure everything is in writing/certified.

[Redsfaithful]

I just assumed with a debt that old it was with a collection agency. And they just make up numbers in my experience so nothing about that would sound weird to me. If it's still with the original bank then I'd be super surprised to see that kind of balance after an initial balance of $100 odd dollars.

[jojo]

I'm a long time reader on this site and have had a bit of a situation arise. We were looking at what we could prequalify for a loan on a mortgage. There was 1 credit card bill on my wife's name that never got forwarded to us when we move for $132, we never received the bill in the mail and they never attempted to contact us about it. We just found out about it when her credit check came back and with the interest its over 2k.

Whats the odds that they will "forgive" at least half of it considering she was a card holder for a decade prior and never had any issues with the account and how can I convince her to let me help. She wants to pay it with her paycheck, but without her pay check we can't make ends meat at this point.

Much help appreciated.

I wish to thank the mods and Boss for letting me do this.

I'm thinking she's not being completely honest about the $132. Don't ask a question if you don't want to know the answer. But that might be a question you want to ask given youre willing to entangle your futures together in some very permanent ways.

[bounty37h]

Only 2 years, that kind of sucks. I had something similar happen to me when I was in college long ago, moved and never got another bill and being young and dumb it was "out of mind" so didn't matter. They tracked me down near 7 years and I let it slide as it was over the 7 years on my report. Another I got them to forgive almost 2/3 of it if I paid it off-forget details, might have been all the interest they forgave. Usually if you talk with them they will work something out as they don't want to pay the collection fee's, etc to recover full amount.