derrick2005

I will be moving back to the US within the next few weeks and have quite recently discovered that my credit has been completely destroyed. I am now incredibly nervous about the move as I had no clue.

To explain, I am a dual US/UK citizen, born in UK and my dad as a USC registred my birth at the embassy. I lived from my teens to my mid 20's in the USA where I worked, paid taxes, had a bank account credit cards etc. When I left the US I had a balance of around $1,000 in my Chase bank account and owed around $10,000 on credit cards. I made an arrangement with a relative that they would make payments for my credit cards (to have everything paid up over a "few years" we didnt specify the exact timframe). And he would maintain my bank account (I had arrangements for various payments to be made into the account). I signed over authority to my relative and arranged the finances for it so that it could all be taken care of. The simplicity of the arrangement was that any money I would have coming in would over the years cover my debt and keep my bank account in good standing. As this was a relative no contract was signed between us.

Over the years I've asked a couple of times about the accounts and was always told "all's good" or something similar.
BUT!

I have now discovered that no payments have been made to the credit cards for years, a judgement has been made against me, Chase closed the account (wrote it off) years ago and sold the debt on. In fact with this judgement and everything else I owe around $12,000, my credit is destroyed, I have no bank account.

I have a job offer and was told to formally apply when I know my exact moving date, part of the job application is a credit check, so I guess I don;t have a job now.

I don't really want to get into the ins and outs of the family situation that led me down this crazy path, but can anyone help me with a way out of this mess. At this point in my life I can come up with the money to pay things off but I'm still in the UK, and for obvious reasons I do not want to involve any family memebers any more with this. IS there a company, person, or something that can help me sort this out, so I get the payments and judgement dealt with and get a bank account so I can apply for my job?

md95065

This may not be much of a consolation to you but the good news is that you actually have a US credit history - it may be a bad one, but at least you have one which is one step up from not having one at all.

Paying off the debt will not immediately "fix" your credit history so any credit check that is run on you will still show all of this stuff so I think the best thing to do is to explain the situation to your prospective employer and, assuming that they understand and are still willing to offer you the job then you can deal with the creditors once you moce back to the US.

Michael

First get your free annual credit reports from the following web site to determine if the defaulted items are on the 3 credit bureau reports.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

If the defaulted items are on the reports, then contact the creditor to determine if they will accept a Pay to Delete offer if you pay the charges. The following is a sample Pay to Delete letter.

http://www.oskie.com/free-letter/pay...ete-letter.htm

If they accept the Pay to Delete offer, the items should be deleted from your credit report.

However the judgment won't be deleted since that is automatically picked up from public records by the credit bureaus. You should include in the Pay to Delete letter that the creditor will put an entry in the credit report that the judgment was paid in full.

That probably won't fix your credit but it will probably give you clean enough credit reports to get the job.

fatbrit

When was the last time anything was paid on the accounts? For most, they die 7 years after the last time you paid on them. You can remove all these off your credit account with a simple letter to each of the credit bureaus.

You say there was a judgment. A court judgment? Should be simple enough to overturn if you didn't have notice of it.

Student loans are a pig. If there are any of them in there, then you can't sidestep those.

Most important thing is to have a plan before you start trying to remedy. A little well-meant meddling can be worse than doing nothing. Plenty of credit forum boards around.Give yourself a month or so of studying before you even start to formulate a plan.

The Horticulturalist

Good advice there from Fatbrit and Michael.

Do make sure you get a settlement agreement from them in writing before you give them a dime, and then keep it forever as sometimes companies that buy old debt can come back years down the line claiming you owe them money.

chartreuse

http://www.creditboards.com/forums/ is your source of info and advice.

Sally Redux

What did the relative do with your money?

veryfunny

http://www.lexingtonlaw.com/

derrick2005

I'm trying to figure that out - its tricky - he's a close relative

derrick2005

thanks for the site, they offer a monthly fee to dispute items in my credit log/score/record however, if my relative hasnt made payments I cant dispute anything - I'm in the wrong. Is there a service where instead of a monthly fee they take a one time fee and speak to all creditors for me and agrees to settle all outstanding things so at least I can begin to repair the credit.

Rete

Use google as your search tool. Visit credit forums similar to this type of forum. Look for agencies that will assist in debt consolidation, debt clearance, etc. Let your fingers do the walking.

chartreuse

Many of the "services" are scams and can often leave you in an even worse position.

Visit the forum I gave the link for earlier, learn, then do.

derrick2005

Thanks - will do

fatbrit

Seconded!

Also, you need to study before you act. Just paying them off may or may NOT be the best course of action for you.

The Horticulturalist

Thirded!

It may be possible to settle for less than the $12,000 you owe, but again some reading on these forums should help you out.