“Dear Steve,
I live in NY state and have been working with Donaldson Williams in Michigan. Currently I am 90-120 days past due on 4 of my credit cards. They will be working on negotiating a settlement for me when the time is right. I was hesitant about trusting anyone but after speaking with Damon Day who highly recommended Donaldson Williams I decided to trust them. So far so good but were not at the point of settlement yet.
We decided to settle because up to this point I was never late with a payment but due to interest rate increase it was getting unmanageable. My debt to income ration was narrowing but my score was still pretty good st 775 (prior to the apr increases it was 875). Now my score has gone down to 550! We decided to avoid bankruptcy so I could rebuild my score quicker once we settle with companies. I hope this was the best decision for me????
Recently, I spoke with the company Grayson Financial Services in Jamaica, NY. They claim that there is something called a Charge Off which they say means after 120 days the company charges off your unpaid debt and legally you no longer owe that money. They also claim at this point they can get those creditors removed from your report. They said to research the Fair Debt Collections Practice Act for more details. Their fee is minimal at 2500 total. This all seems to good to be true but my boyfriends friend used them and said they did help him as promised. Have you heard of Charge Off? What’s the deal? Is it a scam?
Heather”
The Answer:
Dear Heather,
If Grayson Financial Services told you that once a debt is charged off you don’t owe it, that is totally incorrect.
A charge-off is an accounting function only and has no bearing on the debt obligation. A debt will be reported as a bad debt by the banks as a regulatory requirement when it is 180 days past due. At that time the bank reports it as a bad debt by “charging it off.” The debt is still fully collectible.
A charged off debt is a negative item and will be reported on your credit report for up to 7.5 years from the time it first goes delinquent. Typically it will be removed from the credit report after seven years.
Again, the removal of a bad debt from a credit report does not mean the lender can’t still sue you if it is within the statute of limitations. Even if it is not, the debt may still be pursued for collections.
I took a look at what appears to be the website for Grayson Financial Services at the990club.com. For me it’s a huge red flag when a site has an official looking government seal on it like they do.
The website of the company says they are located at 161-10 Jamaica Avenue, Suite 205 Jamaica, NY 11432. And then it makes me worried when the company is not registered to do business in the state they say they are located.
It is also troubling that the company offers advanced fee credit repair products which appear to potentially run afoul with the Credit Repair Organizations Act. – Source
Under the Credit Repair Organizations Act it is prohibited to “make any statement, or counsel or advise any consumer to make any statement, the intended effect of which is to alter the consumer’s identification to prevent the display of the consumer’s credit record, history, or rating for the purpose of concealing adverse information that is accurate and not obsolete to–any consumer reporting agency;” – Source
The quickest and least expensive way to get rid of debt is with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. If you want to avoid bankruptcy and have sash on hand to settle but not pay the full amount due then debt settlement would be the second fastest method.
You can compare all the major debt elimination methods by using the free How to Get Out of Debt Calculator to review your options.
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If you have a credit or debt question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.