personal debt

Greetings once again smart people of ATS. I'm hoping the right eyes see this. Hopefully I've placed it in the proper forum.

Unfortunately I was part of the housing bust a few years ago, 2006 to be exact. Unfortunately my house was foreclosed on. Part of it was my fault and part of it wasn't. I do not want to detail what took place which caused the situation. Anyway, I was a first time home buyer with no money down. The way it was set up was that I had two mortgages from jump. At the time of the foreclosure I was told that I'd be freed from the debt. That's what they told me. Now the second mortgage company, or the company the says they own the debt is trying to collect. They said I was free from the main mortgage but not the second one. I told the rep to send me a letter of debt validation. After receiving this that I'd be prepared to rectify the debt. Which I will honor.

My question is, is this the correct action to take and what "alternative" options I may have?

Make damn sure that they ACTUALLY hold the deed! They will tell you that they do, but insist on a legal copy of the deed, so that you can confirm it. You may have been flim-flamed. Get a lawyer's advise.

Yeah, it does seem fishy that it has taken them what, 7 years to come after you?
I would most definitely want certified copies of whatever they claim to have.
And then yes, see if you can get a free consultation with a lawyer.

Seven years, yes. A lawyer would say that the mortgage company has sat on its rights, and that fact puts them in a bad light. The legal time for such a civil action may even have passed. Do not be intimidated.

I would not seek legal advice on an internet forum.

I would call an attorney, you can usually get the first consultation for free.

Good Luck.

reply to post by CheckPointCharlie


F them.

Thats my advice.

They are getting paid from both ends. They made a "high risk" loan knowing there was a chance they wouldn't collect.

If they gave you an unsecured loan (i.e., no house for collateral) then screw them. Seriously. They were only there circling your corpse hoping to pick some meat from the bones.

reply to post by CheckPointCharlie



If it's been seven years in three more years the whole mortgage is going to fall off of your credit report. If there is no judgement it might have already fallen off. Also DO NOT VALIDATE ANYTHING. Do not sign anything stating you owe the debt.

There is a time limit for how long they can litigate against you for debts. Meaning they have a window within which they can summon you to court for a debt.

My advice is to make sure that by paying the debt you won't be reopening the statute of limitations by doing so. It is an unfortunate world, but you may destroy your own life by paying this debt.

-You need to check your state laws for statute of limitations for litigating on debts(second mortgages especially)
-Do not hire a debt collection agency, they are complete idiots with a high school education if that. If you need to hire anyone, hire a personal lawyer. Not a company that has debt collectors with a supposed attorney watching over them. In other words, make sure that the person calling on your behalf, and speaking to you is the actual attorney.
-Do not pay this debt or admit to owing it until you find out the laws in your area
-Mortgages with judgments fall off of credit report in 10 years, get what I'm saying? Meaning they never return. If this company does not have a leg to sue you on then their debt means diddly squat.
-They've already written this debt off

Let me know if you want more help. I was a collector for near eight years, however, you REALLY need to obtain an attorney for this. You could get screwed pretty bad without one.



Here's a couple of forum stuffs I found online

www.city-data.com...

www.avvo.com...

Based on this information, yes you can be sued. Which means that if this was waaaay back in 2006 it's very possible they've missed their window to sue you. It just depends on state law. Meaning that their letters are a last ditch effort to collect before this falls off your credit report and into oblivion.

Depending on what state you are in, the statute of limitations may have run out or may be close to running out. Here is a link that you can use to look up the limitations in your state. www.creditinfocenter.com...
Never agree to anything with a collector unless a lawyer has instructed you to.

reply to post by Lazarus Short


Mmmhm, time to lawyer up.
Sometimes the leaches are beneficial to us working type slaves.

Lawyer up for sure, depending on where you live and where the mortgage holder is located, you may be very close to the statue of limitations on mortgage debt. I google'd quickly and found this:

Statute of Limitations in the US, by State

I appreciate the insight offered here.

So, as I mentioned above I asked for a letter of debt validation. The rep agreed to send me one but asked for basic info from me like proof of myself and residency. Harmless enough right? I figured it's basic info that's needed to remedy the debt either way. No big deal. I gave him the info including my email. Today I received an email from this company asking to verify email contact. In this email asking for harmless verification on my end for communicating through email it says quite clearly that if I do not respond in writing within 30 days I am validating the dept. Unbelievable I say! This isn't even the info I asked for and they're trying to trick me into accepting the dept. The email goes on to say if I dispute it in writing they will send what I've already asked for ie dept validation. So my next step is to obviously dispute in writing the dept.

I live in Ohio btw 15 - 21 years statute of limitation regarding a written contract. But in there is something about a law that they have 2 years to collect regarding a homestead. Anyone know anything about this or any further advice on anything I've written?

reply to post by CheckPointCharlie


depends how much the debt is? If you can easily swallow it, then sure. If not at all then, you can declair bankruptcy and your debt will go away, but you'll ruine your credit for about 7 yrs.