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darkhorse
Joined: 05 Jun 2005
Posts: 78
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 Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Consolidate after the deferment runs out |
That's absolutely correct. I meant to say defer now. |
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moonraven
Joined: 24 Mar 2004
Posts: 3094
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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I took out a small National Defense Loan in 1964 when I was an undergraduate at University of Washington. I had some deferments for two stints in graduate school (by the way, I would be very areful about assuming that deferments apply when attending foreign universities--they very frequently don't) as well as for teaching at a university. I also made some payments. At some point in the late 70s they (loan collectors from UW) were chasing me around for the final payment--really a fairly piddling amount, but at the moment it wasn't convenient for me to make it--and someone THREATENED me. I do not take kindly to threats from ANYONE. I told them that since I had a free and clear MA and a free and clear PhD, that they could foreclose on my BA and see how much that mattered to me.
Never heard from them again. It never turned up on any credit report, either.
If you want to live YOUR life, folks, you need to take CONTROL of it. |
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Mchristophermsw
Joined: 14 Apr 2005
Posts: 228
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 10:51 pm Post subject: |
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Moonraven,
Unfortunately, in the 80's the laws changed and made it much harder to ignore the student loan collectors. Today, they can even take 15% of your SSI as recourse. |
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darkhorse
Joined: 05 Jun 2005
Posts: 78
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 11:58 pm Post subject: |
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| If you want to live YOUR life, folks, you need to take CONTROL of it. |
Not sure what this means in regards to one's finances. If evading one's debts and congratulating yourself that you intimidated bill collectors is "taking control" , then many of us are certainly not in control of our life.
If taking steps to insure that the U.S. Federal Government does not garnish your wages and/or sue you, or if you would like one day to own a home, or buy a car, means you are not in "control of your life" then many of us are not in control. Many of us without deep pockets and a perverse streak do not relish the possibility of being sued by the Feds, or, for that matter, having a relationship of any kind with them. |
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moonraven
Joined: 24 Mar 2004
Posts: 3094
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| Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:26 am Post subject: |
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Look, it's your choice. Dance to the tune of your creditors, or dance to your own tune. William Blake (on whose birthday I was born) said something to the effect of: "I must either create my own system, or be enslaved by someone else's."
Credit is perverse. Example: I have not lived in the US since 1993. In 1994 I stopped paying my credit card debt (already explained earlier). I opened a bank account there two weeks ago--simple account of combined checking and savings, and requested only an ATM card, as I wanted to put most of my money into dollars since the Mexican peso is due to take another big dive within a year. My daughter informed me by e-mail yesterday that the bank had sent me an unsolicited credit card along with my permanent ATM card. Either my credit report is now clean as a whistle, or they just don't bother to check these things. |
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darkhorse
Joined: 05 Jun 2005
Posts: 78
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| Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:58 am Post subject: |
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that the bank had sent me an unsolicited credit card along with my permanent ATM card. Either my credit report is now clean as a whistle, or they just don't bother to check these things.
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It is not a question of not bothering to check. They cannot legally run a credit check on you unless you authorize it in writing. If you respond to these unsolicited credit card offers you will have to agree in writing to get your credit checked. That's when the magical offer either disappears or is reissued. If you left credit card debt in the United States, I assure you, your credit is not "clean as a whistle." When I had my credit report sent to me there was a HUGE negative simply because I skipped one car payment, even though the car is completely paid for.
And again, this ignores the point of exactly who you are indebted to. The Federal Government, surprise, surprise, has a protean way of circumventing any laws protecting the debtor.
William Blake, who, as i understand, was a hard-working engraver of some sort, nevertheless didn't have a FICO score. But it sounds like it would have been quite decent. |
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moonraven
Joined: 24 Mar 2004
Posts: 3094
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| Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 1:04 am Post subject: |
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It SHOULD be clean as a whistle. The debt was written off, obviously, 10 years ago or more. And 7 years is the maximum for old debts to stay on your credit report.
Your point about the Feds is well taken. Perhaps folks need to choose their creditors wisely? |
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darkhorse
Joined: 05 Jun 2005
Posts: 78
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| Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:15 am Post subject: |
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| The debt was written off, obviously, 10 years ago or more. |
Nothing "obvious" at all. What debt? The student loan that you referred to in the 70's? More recent debt? How can it be "obvious" that whatever you are talking about has been "written off" when clearly you have not obtained a recent credit report, and believe that receiving an unsolicited credit card offer means you have a good credit rating?
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| And 7 years is the maximum for old debts to stay on your credit report. |
You seem to be under the impression that some magical credit-restoration fairy is working on your behalf. In fact, many debts MAY drop off after 7 years, specifically late/missed payments, but if a credit card company decides to go after you for non-payment, this could be on the books forever, if you don't resolve it. Non-payment of a utilities bill stayed on my friend's credit report for 15 years. Bankruptcy is 10 years. There is nothing sacrosanct about the 7 year marker. If you don't follow up, the ratings companies might keep everything there until you do something.
Where I come from, it's called taking control. |
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ContemporaryDog
Joined: 21 May 2003
Posts: 1477
Location: Wuhan, China
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| Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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| moonraven wrote: |
FYI, debt collectors do NOT catch you in the end--or in any other part.
I had to dump my debts when the peso crashed at the end of 1994. They made harrassing phone calls to my mother until I wrote them all letters and threatened them with legal action if they didn't leave her alone. That was it. They did not track me down in Mexico, or have process servers lurking in the airports on the many trips I have made back to the US. I do not need credit in the US.
Speaking as an accountant, I can tell you that the slowest balance sheet slam dunkers write everything off at the end of the financial year. Otherwise they are commiting fraud by listing uncollectable items as receivables (which are assets). |
My brother had an overdraft of 1000 quid (2000 USD or so). He stopped working, and didn't pay any of it off. One day they started phoning our house. Ijust told them a few times that he had moved away, and they never called again.
Bear in mind that he is sitll in the UK, easily traceable. Not living halfway round the globe. |
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