My husband & I owe 1000.00 on a credit card, hav'nt heard from in over 3 yrs, A man claiming to be a 3rd party to the account contacted my husband today at work stating we now owe 1700.00 on the card we must settle today for 1200.00 in a lump sum or spread out over 4 months the 1700.00. I called this person back and offered to pay 1700.00 over 6 month period-he screamed at me the told me to get my check book. I ended up hanging up on him, I refuse to give my cking acct number out. My husband called him back and agreed to send a money gram to him for 283.00 by 8 am tomorrow and pay balance over next 6 months. Did my husband make the right decision? Thanks for your help.:confused:

Are you US or UK? In the UK, the Statute of Limitations is six years, I believe. So, what happens is that they sell the debt on, the Third Parties attach, and that becomes part of the original debt. NEVER agree to make a pyament on the basis of a telephone call - that's unprofessional, and his response definitely sounds unprofessional.

First thing you do, is contact the Credit Counselling Service, and talk to them, or the US equivalent of the Citizens Advice Bureau. You request this person to put his claim in writing, to ensure that he's who he says he is, and you check that they are a registered bona-fide company and you're not sending money to someone who's not 100%. On the basis that he's trying to bully you into paying back so quickly, my suspicions are up already. A Credit Card debt over here isn't a criminal debt, but a civil one. They request payment, you request an Income/Expenditure form, then negotiations are made and you repay what you can in the time frame that's not going to cause you hardship, normally to be negotiated every three months. Please don't pay to a bully boy without thorough checking first. A friend of mine who hit bad times is repaying a credit card debt at the sum of $12 a month until 2043, to give you some idea. It's down in paper, but obviously as his situation improves his repayments will increase - they're looking at 2012 as a more practical date. Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by meleia

my husband & I owe 1000.00 on a credit card, hav'nt heard from in over 3 yrs, A man claiming to be a 3rd party to the account contacted my husband today at work stating we now owe 1700.00 on the card we must settle today for 1200.00 in a lump sum or spread out over 4 months the 1700.00. I called this person back and offered to pay 1700.00 over 6 month period-he screamed at me the told me to get my check book. I ended up hanging up on him, i refuse to give my cking acct number out. My husband called him back and agreed to send a money gram to him for 283.00 by 8 am tomorrow and pay balance over next 6 months. Did my husband make the right decison? Thanks for your help.:confused:

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Just a quickie - if you ever get in money trouble again, please don't leave it in the hope that it will go away for good. Just contact your creditors as soon as you know you're in trouble, let them know about the situation, make an offer of payment at a reduced rate and you can ask - as a gesture of goodwill, and some will - that they immediately freeze the account and stop accruing interest. The bottom line is they want their money back and it's in their interests as well as yours to co-operate.

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Originally Posted by kandyfruitcake

Just a quickie - if you ever get in money trouble again, please don't leave it in the hope that it will go away for good. Just contact your creditors as soon as you know you're in trouble, let them know about the situation, make an offer of payment at a reduced rate and you can ask - as a gesture of goodwill, and some will - that they immediately freeze the account and stop accruing interest. The bottom line is they want their money back and it's in their interests as well as yours to co-operate.

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Thanks for your help. I felt my husband was acting too quickly on this, before next pymt is due (4-25) we will demand something in writing, which in fact I did & he smarted off & said there was nothing because it had been so long.

Kandy's advice holds true for the US as well. Though the SOL varies from state to state. Generally 4-6 years. I suggest you do a search on Fair Credit Reportng Act for more info on your rights.

The guy is trying to bully you. Tell him all future correspondence needs to be by mail, no more phone calls. Get his address and send him a letter stating you will not pay anything more until you receive verification of the debt and his right to collect on it. Unfortunately, by making a payment, you have restarted the SOL so even if it had expired its not expired now.

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Originally Posted by meleia

thanks for your help. I felt my husband was acting too quickly on this, before next pymt is due (4-25) we will demand something in writing, which in fact i did & he smarted off & said there was nothing because it had been so long.

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He's talking garbage. There is ALWAYS paperwork, how else could he take legal action against you for non-payment? I'm beginning to wonder if the original loan company have been careless with their records and this guy has come into possession of old paperwork. Please check with the original credit card company that they have definitely sold your debt on, and who to. If they haven't, then you may have had fraud committed against you unless he can show he's legitimately obtained those records.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Kandy's advice holds true for the US as well. Though the SOL varies from state to state. Generally 4-6 years. I suggest you do a search on Fair Credit Reportng Act for more info on your rights.

The guy is trying to bully you. Tell him all future correspondence needs to be by mail, no more phone calls. Get his address and send him a letter stating you will not pay anything more until you receive verification of the debt and his right to collect on it. Unfortunately, by making a payment, you have restarted the SOL so even if it had expired its not expired now.

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Thanks for your help, we are going to take your advise&get everything in writing before anything else happens, what's so bad is I think this account was charged off. We hadn't paid on it since 2003, I think we screwed up royally by sending that pymt.

Most likely it was charged off but that doesn't affect your obligation to pay. A charge off is just a tax maneuver.

No you did not screw anything up, since "charged off" does not mean you don't owe it, it is merely an accounting term as to being credited against future taxes.