Too late to settle an old account?
Hi there. I received a letter from Bowman & Heintz stating that an old Midland collection had been referred to them. I asked for validation of the debt and they say that it is from an old account with Providian with a last pay date of 11/2002 so it is within the SOL. I would like to try & settle this account. Should I contact Providian who is now WAMU, or Midland, or Bowman & Heintz? Or is it too late? Any ideas how I would format the request? Thanks so much for any help.
I do believe the debt is valid and I do intend to settle it so I'm not sure if I need to send another letter..........just wanting to know if anyone has tried to settle with an attorney, or if it would be appropriate to go back to the original creditor, or if I should be dealing with the collectin agency it was assigned to? Or is it probably too late to try to settle?
kjshay
Start with a VD letter to Bowman & Heintz, if they are the ones that last contacted you.
mommontoya
Did you send them a debt validation (DV) letter? If you already have, they can't sue you till they validate the debt. If you have not, send one now, certified mail, return receipt requested (CMRRR) and it will buy you some time.
anonymous
I don't seem to be getting any feedback on my question, but for the record, here is what I intend to do. Once I receive something from the court showing the amount they are asking for, I am going to send a certified letter to the attorney, also to the collection agency, and also to the original creditor, all offering a settlement of 35% or so. My hope is that one of them will respond favorably! I will follow up on the results of this 3-pronged approach when I have news.
kjshay
I don't think that that counts as validation. They would have to provide a copy of your contract or copies of bills. Not just a statment on thier letter head. You need to send out a DV letter and I'm someone can give a copy of one that you can use.
mommontoya
Click on the “ Do it yourself†link above …then on sample letters. You can copy the letter and edit it to meet your needs. Other folks may have better letters that they will post or have posted in other threads. You can do a search in the box on the top left side of the page.
mommontoya
If they cannot validate the debt before the SOL expires, which chances are since the debt is so old, you cannot be sued for the balance. If you feel guilty about not paying it back after the SOL, donate the balance to a charity. Better than going into the pockets of greedy lawyers.
anonymous
It sounds like it is past the SOL in most states. What state are you in?
Article-When the Debt Collector Calls
Frogpatch
First think I would do is look on your credit to see if it's there. If it IS there, find out when the SOL and 'fall off' date isw. How old is this debt?
sdchargers_63
sol on a bad check
anonymous
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