Collection services

Factual Questions
1

I just found out that my step-son-in-law has walked away from a second mortgage.

He is not planning on paying - says he has been through this before with a repossessed car and they eventually stopped calling him. (Of course, he ignores the difference between a few thousand and a few tens of thousands of dollars)

DW and I have taken in daughter, him and child - and now the debt agency has tracked them to our address and phone number.

Will my deadbeat son-in-law’s collection agency be able to trash my wife’s and my credit rating?

2

Did you co-sign? If no, then why would you be responsible for what another adult does?

3

Why is there a collection agency involved? Wouldn’t the bank just take the house?

4

I did not co-sign anything, nor did DW.

House was sold on a short sale, bank that held the second mortgage gave up and sold loan to collection agency.

Just wondering if collection agency can cause son-in-law at same address/phone number to affect my rating.

5

No.

6

Not on a second mortgage. The first-position lien holder is the only one with the right to repossess real property.

7

Just because they legally cannot do it does not mean they won’t try.

The best offense is a better defense - Debt Collection FAQs: A Guide for Consumers from the FTC is worth a read.

8

Concur.

This is one area where it might be worth spending a few dollars a month on a credit monitoring service.

And you definitely need to know how to get them to quit harassing your home phone number (per the link).

Your s-s-i-l sounds like a winner. :smack: That second mortgage is doubtless for enough money that the collection agency is NOT going to go gently away. I’m actually a little surprised he was able to sell the house on a short sale with 2 mortage lenders having an interest in the place, but I admit I don’t know a lot about that. Regardless, they’ll continue going after him for as long as your state allows and possibly even longer. They may also take him to court, and garnish his income (if any) and his wife’s (if she was also a signer on the loan).

9

cite?