I bought a car when I was 19 and I had to give it back since I lost my job and could not afford it anymore. The remaining balance after the auction was 5K which a law firm came after me for. I have not paid it back yet. As of last summer the repossession has shown up under my father's(Sr.) credit report. He disputed it several times to no avail.

My parents are in the process of buying a new home but their bank will not close unless the debt has been paid off or they receive a letter from the law firm that the debt actually belongs to me(Jr.) I called the law firm and they said that they will send the bank a letter showing the debt is mines but I had to make an arrangement with them. So I did. The arrangement is that I pay $200 per month. They have already taken the first 200 out of my account. Now the law firm is saying that everything has to be paid off in full now. It was never my dad's debt to begin with and now he is in danger of losing the house since there is a lien under the house he owns now. I do not have the 5K to pay it off. What can I do?

Send a letter by certified mail to the law firm. In the letter tell them that you made this payment agreement based on their promise to provide a letter that the debt is yours and not your father's. Then say that you expect receipt of that letter within the next 5 business days and if you do not receive it your father will hold them responsible for any damages he suffers if he is unable to close on the purchase of his home.

At the bottom of the letter make a notation that you are sending a copy of the letter to your state's Attorney Board of Ethics or whatever agency polices attorneys in your area. If you let us know your location I can try to find out the name of the agency.

Thank you very much. We are in Atlanta, GA

Also, the law firm sent me a letter with the agreement that I am to pay them monthly until the debt is paid off. But it does not say that they are going to send my parents bank a fax or email stating that the debt is my dads'. I think I messed up there. I should have told them to put that on the letter.

They put 40K in a fixer upper and they will lose all of it. They have to close by next Friday

Ok, I found it. Send a copy of the letter to the State Bar of Georgia, Consumer Assistance Program, 104 Marietta Street, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30303.

If you don't get the letter from the law firm within 5 days then contact the Consumer Assistance Program at (404) 527-8759.

You can read more about them at State Bar of Georgia - Consumer Assistance Program (http://www.gabar.org/programs/consumer_assistance_program/)

What has your father done to get this off his credit? As he written a letter of dispute to all the credit bureaus?

If he has done this and they refuse to remove it because the law firm has affirmed the debt, then he has grounds for a suit against them if he loses the house.

BTW, this is not a lien on your father, its simply a false report on his credit. Since your names are similar, this could be accepted as a natuaral mistake, but it should have been corrected as soon as it was reported. The process is generally that your father disputes the entry according to the credit bureaus dispute process. They then send a notice of the dispute to the reporting agency. The agency has to affirm that the entry is correct. If they did that knowing that there is a difference in the names and SSNs, then they have violated the law and can be sued over it.