Help....how do we fix his debt??

[army mommy]

Dh is in debt, and i say dh because it was before we got together!! I am just finding out how bad...

My question is this, how do i go about taking care of them? Most have all been written off and are now in collections, but can i still call that company to figure something out ? I dont know which ones have gone to which credit agencies. And i mean is there a way they might let us set up a payment plan?

Does jag have a credit consultant that we could see? Maybe someone that will say ok...here is what you owe and to whom, heres how to contact them or go about paying....anything like that??

We just need to get it taken care of....

[guynavywife]

You need to actually sit down with someone with all three credit reports.
The quick answer is "Yes"
however, it takes time. There are no short cuts.
Time is the biggest factor.
Will pm you links for how to handle some of this on your own.
And just because it was "his debt" before marriage, it will affect you in the future.
It may also affect his career and needs to be dealt with (as you are doing by taking the first step and recognizing that it needs to be fixed)
DO NOT HIRE A CREDIT FIXING COMPANY!!!

Most are scams. Others are going to do everything that you could do yourself.

(do remember, there is a difference between a legitimate debt, and whether that debt is legitimately (or illegally) reported on your credit report.)

[guynavywife]

http://mix6.com
This site is built and maintained by an attorney. It is completely free. ignore all ads for businesses which claim they can do it for you. they are not needed nor recommended
This site contains free letters you can use, instructions, and what to expect. All free.
He also explains the realities and difficulties of trying to repair credit.
The attorney does explain why he does not handle credit repairs on his own:

"I don't do credit repair because of the federal Credit Repair Organizations
Act (CROA), which, among other things, requires that payment for any service
(which could include non-credit-repair work) that is done by a "credit
repair organization" for any individual must be completed BEFORE any payment
is collected."

See 15 U.S.C. § 1679b (b) Payment in advance: "No credit repair organization
may charge or receive any money or other valuable consideration for the
performance of any service which the credit repair organization has agreed
to perform for any consumer before such service is fully performed."

[army mommy]

I understand that it will effect me in the future and his career, it is holding him back from the MOS he wanted all along. We want to fix it...i know its gunna take time, but im ready to start!! I just have no idea where....thanks for the link ill check it out!! How do i get his credit report and are the expensive?

[Rizzle Mizzle]

I took care all of my husband's old debt. I pulled his credit report, and was able to see details of the collections agencies that were handling each account, and I contacted them and set up payment plans. He had minor debt, so it was relatively simple. But, the credit report did show me the information that I needed for the collections agencies.

ETA: I always pull credit reports for free from Equifax. A lot of the other sites that advertise credit reports for free, are not free -- like "freecreditreport.com" and others like it.

[guynavywife]

Originally Posted by army mommy I understand that it will effect me in the future and his career, it is holding him back from the MOS he wanted all along. We want to fix it...i know its gunna take time, but im ready to start!! I just have no idea where....thanks for the link ill check it out!! How do i get his credit report and are the expensive?

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
(the sites will try to sell you additional services. I wouldn't spend money on them yet.
Also, your credit scores won't help you now, and don't mean a lot. Each firm gives scores based on different formulas, so will be different from each other. Also, the scores you get may not be the same scores as given to banks, etc which enquire about you.)

you are entitled to one free report from each agency per year.
In addition, any time you are denied credit, you should receive a letter explaining that you have a right to a copy of the report that provided information to the rejecting company.

You can subscribe to credit reporting services, which will allow you to get as many reports as you want. These can be as much as 10 a month for one agency to 30 for all three.
Some services also will alert you every time there is a change made to your report.

Feel free to PM if you have questions. I may also post some more general info here if you ask.

[JustMrsJoann]

Yes. We're in the same boat, so any information that you have and could post would be wonderful!!

[TaraB]

Yep, annualcreditreport.com is what we use.

[LovingMyAirman22]

DH and I literally JUST went through this
We called the company and set up a payment plan early on but then recently they decided the wanted more money each month and we talked to them and got the settlement amount as low as possible and got help and paid it off

[army mommy]

Originally Posted by LovingMyAirman22 DH and I literally JUST went through this We called the company and set up a payment plan early on but then recently they decided the wanted more money each month and we talked to them and got the settlement amount as low as possible and got help and paid it off

outside help?