Re: Recourse For Unsecured Debt Charged Off
well a couple of hundred years ago a good many of the early settlers of the USA did that same thing. If you truly "Legally" through the local probate court went through the hurdles and had a legal name & identity change then your old name and identity dies. to some degree you are still responsible for your old ssn and identity however that is limited. smartest thing to do is notify the credit bureaus of a temporary credit freeze, which i assume you tried and have them "freeze" your file to prevent any further tampering. after the duration of the freeze you would basically just STOP using your SSN and any accounts tied to that old credit profile. Use the new one ( but if you were smart you would not tie any similar addresses etc. consistent w/ the old name to the new name, but this will be almost impossible) and just forget about the old stuff altogether. Always remember that the credit bureaus derrive their earnings from people looking at your credit more so than you as a consumer. hence preferential teatment is likely to be given to the banks, credit card companies and collections agencies before its given to you the consumer. always be aware of this as frustrating as it may be. I may be wrong, but i think that GA is not a TBE state meaning that there could be a possible way that these collections agencies could come after assets owned by your spouse (but i don't think your children if they are minors). I don't think they can do anything to your work just because they helped you in a time of need. Additionally it is against the Law and FCRA for a collections agent to call you or anyone at your place of work. If they call a neighbor to solicit information about you or go through the "defamation of character" routine etc. you could in turn sue them first or issue a cease and desist order and request they provide you with solid proof that the debt is actually yours and that it is your obligation to pay for it. Make sure they give you a "validation" and not just a "verification". Honestly if it is getting to this point then you would do better in a court than you would on your own. 9 times out of 10 especially in todays environment you will get a judge who will essentially be of the opinion that "unsecured debt" is actually what it says, Unsecured. That is the risk that the creditor takes in extending it to you, which is true. However as the saying goes, justice is blind.....It will all boil down to the manner in which the collections agency is acting, be it on behalf of the original lender, or on their own initiative having purchased the debt as a third party.
On another note, if i were you i would find out who the collections agency is and what their authority is (by means) to collect said debt. For instance, and is the case most of the time, a collections agency is acting under the "umbrella" of a "Law Firm". However these types of quote "Law Firms" are the lowest scum on the earth! They usually do not play by the rules, so keep good records, record any conversations (and keep it simple don't offer ANY information) and take statements from any neighbors who alert you to an incident of them receiving a call. Lastly if this is an agency/law firm in another state (i.e. New York) you can check with a local attorney but i think they can only sue you within their jurisdicion, meaning that if GA is not in their jurisdiction then it's hard for them to do anything short of selling it to someone else the does have jurisdiction in GA....
But all in all I think you are ok, as you essentially are in a "witness protection program" of sorts??. To be on the safe side I would recommend consulting with an attorney as a tactical move.
|
Linear Mode
