One of my creditors sent me a notice in the mail today
that my debt was being written off (charged off) as a
bad debt. The notice went on to state that this action
would be reported to the three major credit bureau
organizations as a charge off. Then, in bold print, the
notice read:
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CONSIDER THIS FACT:
A charge off account
remains in a debtor's credit report for seven (7) years.
This may adversely affect your credit rating.
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Now,
this is a considerable amount of debt - one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars ($150,000.00), in fact. I had
gotten this in a line of equity against one of my
properties in hopes of keeping me afloat until I was
able to sell one of my three properties - none of which
have yet to sell and are not likely to sell in the near
future given the current real estate market conditions.
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Seven (7) years is the same number of years that
bankruptcy hits your credit reports - again, no
incentive to file bankruptcy as far as I can tell. Now,
just because the creditor has written this off as bad
debt and reported it to the credit agencies does not
mean that they will still not try to collect this debt.
I expect plenty of follow-up phone calls and letters.
There will probably be legal action as well. As such, I
will take this notice to my lawyer and see what he
thinks is best. I will update this blog entry with what
I find out from him. If you find yourself in a similar
situation, I strongly encourage you to contact a lawyer
or attorney for professional legal counsel (Looking for a lawyer? Find pre-screened local lawyers at LegalMatch.).
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If you have been through a similar situation, please add
a comment to tell us what happened in your situation.
Please tell us what state you are from as well since state
laws will most likely differ.
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