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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    1

    Question 4 Year Old Debt

    My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Florida (or at least that's where I lived when I incurred the debt)

    I lived in Stuart Florida in 2004 when the hurricanes came through. The first, Francis, ripped the roof off of the building that I worked and the company told me not to come back. The second, 3.5 weeks later, left a tree in the middle of the apartment I had moved into in late August.

    I was left homeless and with no money because I just moved. I was very lucky to have a great friend who let me and my cats move in with her, I put my things that weren't beyond repair in storage and worked my second job (pt waitressing) as much as I could until I could get my own place again.

    From the moment I knew I wasn't going to be able to pay my bills I contacted my creditors and let them know... well, that's a bit of a lie, it wasn't until we had some kind of phone service that I contacted them. The credit card companies agreed to work with me, the utilities more-or-less told me to shove it and to pay them anyway, and the apartment complex I moved into said that they had 6 weeks to fix anything and they couldn't get anyone out to my apartment for at least 4 - regardless of the gaping whole in my roof.

    I quickly caught up on my car payment, differing a few to the end. The credit card companies, despite agreeing to work with me had added so many fees that my 4K in debt had ballooned to more then 7K in a few months. And I pretty much just ignored the debt. Along with the utilities.

    Four years has passed now, I'm trying to do Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball thing and I'm trying to figure out what to do about this old debt. The only company's I ever hear from are the electric and one of the credit cards. Do I contact the companies and offer to start payments? Or, since I only get maybe 1 notice every 5 months, do I ignore it?

    Thanks
    Meg

    PS: Yes, I know the debt is mine, however I can't really afford to pay on it, so I feel like I'm in a catch 22....

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    853

    Default Re: 4 Year Old Debt

    There are a lot of variables. Dave Ramsey has a few good ideas, but some of them I disagree with.

    As far as your debts, there are some things to consider. First, when did you last pay on each debt, and what the debt was for. This is important, because the Statute of Limitations in Florida is five years for debts based on a written instrument, and four years if not based on a written instrument or if the debt is a store credit card.

    Paying an old delinquent debt frequently does nothing for your credit, as the scoring algorithms penalize you for being delinquent, but do not reward you for paying once delinquent debts. Not only that, but once you pay an old debt, the other debtors fund out, and smell blood in the water. Then you start getting all kinds of calls.

    The place to start is with a copy of your credit report. If you have a copy of that, you can get a good picture of where you are, and start a plan from there.

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