CRT1998
Mar 17, 2009, 05:33 PM
I married my wife a few years back, and as the time goes by, I discover that instead of a dowery, I'm getting debt. I've already settled a few of her credit card debts, but those were a while back, before I did any research, and as such totally freaked out and probably got milked for more than I should have been. It looks like she still has another two or three credit cards haunting her from her past, and I'm hoping to get them gone.
Here's the SitRep: My wife is currently unemployed, has been since before our marriage and probably will be for a while longer still. Her mom handled her finances (poorly, it seems) before she became my wife, and essentially stopped making payments on her credit cards once her financial aid ran out, presumably hoping they'd just vanish into thin air and never resurface. Now they've tracked down my wife and we're getting "The Call" from collectors. The main one I see pop up on my caller ID is Asset Acceptance, and I see from the credit report that they purchased the debt, which I can only assume means they paid a pittance for it.
I am not a home owner (apartment renter), and I do not make a significant amount of money. On a monthly basis, my entire take-home-pay goes to rent, utilities, student loans and basic living expenses. As such, I really have nothing to use to pay the entire "balance", which I know is overly inflated from late fees, interest, etc... As an example typical of the cards in question, one had a credit limit of $300. The "Date Closed" for this entry in the credit report was June of '05. As of the credit report date (Jan '09), the balance is just past $1300.
So...
My wife obviously never charged anything beyond that $300 limit.
With the date the account was closed being 06/05, I can guarantee no payments were made after, so even being conservative I can say (from my understanding) that the Statute of Limitations expired no later than 06/08 (I live in Arizona, where the SoL on open accounts is 3 years. This is also where my wife has always lived and where the account was first created).
Let me state clearly that I do not want to simply say "tough luck, you missed your chance", trying to take advantage of the SoL and not pay a thing. I am well aware that at some point in the past, my wife did in fact receive goods or services for which these credit cards were used and as a result I am inclined to repay her debt within reason. My problem is that all the interest and late charges have blown the debt way out of proportion and I am unsure if these debt collection companies are inclined to be reasonable in return.
As tax time has rolled around, I find myself with a very small chunk of change, roughly on par with the original credit limit ($300) for the card used in the example. I am interested in trying to reach a settlement with the company, but I am truly afraid that if I so much as look in their direction the SoL will start all over again, they'll try to bleed me dry for money I simply do not have, and that I will be, simply and crudely put, screwed.
If anyone has any serious and (ideally) professional advice on how to approach this, it would be sincerely appreciated. I'm getting tired of having my stomach turn into knots every time the home phone rings, and I have to look to see if it's the collection company again, so I am considering sending a letter requesting them to stop calling. I would ideally like to propose a settlement in that same letter, but that is where my concerns come into play. Thank you in advance for any help.
Here's the SitRep: My wife is currently unemployed, has been since before our marriage and probably will be for a while longer still. Her mom handled her finances (poorly, it seems) before she became my wife, and essentially stopped making payments on her credit cards once her financial aid ran out, presumably hoping they'd just vanish into thin air and never resurface. Now they've tracked down my wife and we're getting "The Call" from collectors. The main one I see pop up on my caller ID is Asset Acceptance, and I see from the credit report that they purchased the debt, which I can only assume means they paid a pittance for it.
I am not a home owner (apartment renter), and I do not make a significant amount of money. On a monthly basis, my entire take-home-pay goes to rent, utilities, student loans and basic living expenses. As such, I really have nothing to use to pay the entire "balance", which I know is overly inflated from late fees, interest, etc... As an example typical of the cards in question, one had a credit limit of $300. The "Date Closed" for this entry in the credit report was June of '05. As of the credit report date (Jan '09), the balance is just past $1300.
So...
My wife obviously never charged anything beyond that $300 limit.
With the date the account was closed being 06/05, I can guarantee no payments were made after, so even being conservative I can say (from my understanding) that the Statute of Limitations expired no later than 06/08 (I live in Arizona, where the SoL on open accounts is 3 years. This is also where my wife has always lived and where the account was first created).
Let me state clearly that I do not want to simply say "tough luck, you missed your chance", trying to take advantage of the SoL and not pay a thing. I am well aware that at some point in the past, my wife did in fact receive goods or services for which these credit cards were used and as a result I am inclined to repay her debt within reason. My problem is that all the interest and late charges have blown the debt way out of proportion and I am unsure if these debt collection companies are inclined to be reasonable in return.
As tax time has rolled around, I find myself with a very small chunk of change, roughly on par with the original credit limit ($300) for the card used in the example. I am interested in trying to reach a settlement with the company, but I am truly afraid that if I so much as look in their direction the SoL will start all over again, they'll try to bleed me dry for money I simply do not have, and that I will be, simply and crudely put, screwed.
If anyone has any serious and (ideally) professional advice on how to approach this, it would be sincerely appreciated. I'm getting tired of having my stomach turn into knots every time the home phone rings, and I have to look to see if it's the collection company again, so I am considering sending a letter requesting them to stop calling. I would ideally like to propose a settlement in that same letter, but that is where my concerns come into play. Thank you in advance for any help.