With all of my sons medical bills and from when I was a single parent I have racked up a long list of people who I owe money to.
I called a lawyer and they said I need to get a list together of who I owe and make an appointment.
Don’t they usually take care of that?
I was also wondering about how to go about getting a full credit report. There are some people I owe from so long ago that I don’t remember how much.
Any advice you have to offer would be wonderful.
I really have no clue how to go about this or what I should and shouldn’t do. Things to look out for that maybe fellow dopers have learned from.
You can get credit reports from the three major bureaus: Equifax, url=“http://www.experian.com”]Experian and TransUnion.
If you go directly through them, you will have to pay for the credit report. There are places online, although I don’t know which ones, that supposedly allow you to get free credit reports.
You need to provide the listing to your attorney because s/he has no idea what you owe: they will look at it to see if realistically you can file for bankruptcy and which type of bankruptcy, Chapter 7, that eliminates your debt or Chapter 13 in which you pay a portion (usually pennies on the dollar) to your creditors.
IANAL, however.
Don’t go to those free places. They are mostly scams of one form or another. Your credit report from each bureau will cost you no more than $9.00 (they all like to tack on extra features for more money, though.) You can view them online and print them out.
Better yet, if you’ve recently been denied credit, you are entitled to a free credit report from the bureau(s) which were used to determine your creditworthiness.
You’ll need to bring all the documents you can find to your attorney; he doesn’t know who your creditors are unless you tell them.
So there isn’t just one number/place to get one list? I might end up calling a few places for credit reports?
This is very confusing and kind of scary really.
I know it is something I have to do though. 20,000 from one hospital and 40,000 from another.
Everytime my son gets an IV it’s around 5,000 and sometimes he has had to have more than one. This debt was before I had insurance. I didn’t mean for this to happen. Heck the first bill I got was way out there.
I feel horrible.
I’m pretty sure you can get a credit report from all three bureaus from Equifax for about $30. You could last time I was there.
Kricket,
I believe that in some states (Maryland is one) these reporting bureaus are required to provide you with one free copy every 12-month period, if properly requested (that’s the tricky part, finding out how to “properly” request your free report). You might want to ask your attorney about this before you spend any money.
Well, I work for TransUnion.
Call 1 800 888 4213
free states are listed in the phone menu (GA, MD, NJ…and more)
Denied credit within 60 days = free report.
To get a 3 in 1, you could visit www.truecredit.com and if you cancel the service within a given time, you’ll have a 3 in 1 report and no fees. This is legit site, and there is no bait and switch.
Or, you could write them and list accounts that you believe might be innaccurate, which should prompt them to check out the accounts with the lender/reporter. You have a right to dispute info for free, and you will get a credit report when the process is over. Write in and say, " I dispute the balances reported by any collection agency. These balances are too high".
And the adresses:
Equifax
POB 740260
Atlanta Ga 30374
Experian
POB 2104
Allen Tx 75013
TransUnion
POB 2000
Crum Lynn Pa 19022
Definately use truecredit.com , this is where I got mine and my wife’s. Now I just have to get them to the lawyer today. He said just to print of the 3 reports (make sure you print 3, not the single) and he’ll take it from there.
Good luck.
Kricket,
First off let me tell you that I did declare bankruptcy once.
It’s not fun and you need to be careful.
Your credit reoprt will NOT have everything you owe on it. Don’t think that is the hospitable sent you a bill that they automatically report it somewhere. You need to get a full list of every penny you owe to everybody. Not just what you owe from before your marriage but every penny you owe everybody right at this moment.
You will also have to pay your attorney fees up front. You see once he or she files anybody you owe has to go through the court to get paid. That would include your attorney.
So they will look at your case and estimate how difficult it will be and then charge you for all the work that they think they’ll do on your case. Believe me, I was really suprised how much it cost to be broke.
But always remember that you are in fact a good person. You are not some bum. You are simply using the law in the way that you should use it. It was very tough on me to do it. It was worse than getting divorced.
Good luck and get a good lawyer.
Zebra
Why do you feel horrilbe? You got medical attention for your child when he needed it.
Kricket - I am hoping your financial institution has a free financial planner. Remember everyone lives with a certain amount of debt…Before declaring bankruptsy weigh out all the options. You may be eligable for an number of bank programs for people in your situation. Also, don’t forget everytime someone pulls your creidt score your score lowers by a certain degree. IIRC 1 point. So be careful who you let pull your score. And please, don’t do this alone…use a free financial planner, one who can be there when you see the attorneys and guide you in what to do…
Can you explain this? Is “pull your score” equivalent to “access your credit report”? Because if it is, I don’t think that’s the way it works. You have no control over who accesses your credit report, and it seems nonsensical to me to reduce a person’s access to credit because he or she is such a good risk that a lot of companies are looking at his or her report. Perhaps Philster can weigh in on that. If that’s not what you’re referring to, then what does “pull your score” mean?
Disclaimer: I am not in the credit or financial industry. This is based on my own findings and beliefs.
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You can check your own credit score every day if you like without having it affect your credit score. No matter what you have heard or read, checking your own score will not adversely affect your credit score. It is only when others check your credit. I’ll get back to this.
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You do have control over who views your credit score. Whenever you apply for credit/loan/insurance (even certain job applications) you give the instituion the right to check your credit history. That is why even though you get a “Pre-approved” credit card appplication they still need to check your credit and they need your permission. Read the fine print it is in there. If you are having your credit checked by 20 different institutions in a few months it raises a red flag. It looks like you are either trying to get too much credit (can be bad to have too much) or you may be getting turned down by other institutions and are trying to get credit elsewhere.
If you get your credit report and you find there are instituions that are looking at your credit report without your permission I would notify they credit agency (equifax etc). They should be able to help you.
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Once you have credit with an instiution they retain the right to periodically check your credit (I believe). I don’t know how often they can or will but it is probably to see if they can offer you a higher limit and/or to make sure you are not a higher risk than before. I don’t believe they can keep checking your credit if they turn you down for credit. Periodic checks like this are not going to make a big implact on your credit score.
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This part is purely speculation
The credit agencies probably have a mailing list of “great credit” “good credit” and “Bad credit” people. They probably sell those list to the other institutions. Which is why you may be “pre-approved” but your credit still needs to be checked.
Feel free to correct or expand on anything but I believe this is pretty much how it works.
Hope this helped.
Thank you so much!
I will make sure I am careful about the sites that I check in to, and I won’t do anything without a lawyer first.
I did talk to one lawyer and he said I was beyond credit consolidation. With what I make and the bills I have my grandchildren would be paying them.
That is the part I feel horrible about. I never thought I would be in this position. And I understand I’m not a bad person for doing this, but it just doesn’t make me feel like the best person either.
I’m a responsible adult and shouldn’t have let things go this far. I understand that the majority of the debt is hospital bills, and without that care my son would have died.
I guess it is just kind of a blow to the pride. I mean when we were all growing up who thought “man I’m gonna live on less than paycheck to paycheck and rack up sooo many bills”. I know I didn’t.
I know it’s goofy, because as an adult I can reason it out and realise that sometimes shit happens and things do always go as planned.
Again thank you for the sites, addresses, and phone numbers. They will be put to good use.