SOL question - which state to use?

[Julieta]

Good evening,

I have a question with SOL, I incurred or open my AMEX card when i was in NOrthern MAriana Island way back 2000. Then when I arrived in San Diego I called them that i moved here in SAn Diego that was 2007. I am wondering they still sending letters for me in Northern MAriana Island (it is a US territory before when i open my Amex) and its now totally part of US (last year). Which SOL i am going to use?

Thnak you very much. I just really want to clear my credit history, to move on with my new life here in San Diego.

PLease help me.

[Trish]

You should use the SOL of the state in which you currently reside. So since you are now in Cali, the SOL on an open acct is 4 years.
The SOL clock starts on the date of first delinquency (DOFD).

HTH

[Julieta]

Hi Trish,

Thank you for the info. I will start fixing my credit. I think the last payment of that account is January of 2007. But I will start working on the other two.

Really appreciate it so much

[Julieta]

Hi Trish,

I have a question, is credit card and charge card the same? I only have three past credit cards and they are all from Amex. The green (charge) the Optima and blue.

The green and optima was reported June of 2006.

Please give me your input. Thank you so much.

[Trish]

Hmmm......well in that case you may want to look into it a bit further. In Cali, there are 2 different SOLs for open accts (revolving credit cards are always considered an open acct)...

Open acct - Reduced to writing - 4 years
Open acct - no writing - 2 years

Depending on how the acct was opened, it may be out of SOL.

[Trish]

The difference between a cc and charge card is on a credit card you can carry a balance from month to month and pay interest on that balance. A charge card has to be paid in full each month.

Regarding SOL, there is no difference.

[Julieta]

Hi Trish,

Thank you so much. I got my credit score and the details from MyFiCO. My Green card from amex shows this following details.

Acct. type - open acct.
LAst activity - July 2006
Date closed - not reported
Acct. number - not reported
Loan type - not reported
Current status - Bad Debt/ Collection Agency.

And I remember I applied on that three credit cards either phone or email application.

Thank you very much for helping me. Please tell me what i can do.

[Trish]

You may want to look at California laws to make sure...... but if there was no contract in writing, the collection sol is up on that acct......which (if I am correct) means you could dispute it without having to worry about being sued.

If it comes back verified.....then what you could do is contact Amex and see if you can work a deal with them... see if there is any way they might change the acct to a positive status if you paid it off. If you want to try and negotiate a lesser amount...you can try that.

If they refuse to work with you, then honestly there is really no point in paying it off.. A paid CO is just as bad as an unpaid CO. If that's the case just keep disputing away....

Hope that helps some........let me know if you still have any questions.

[Julieta]

Hi Trish,

I have a question, how long is my paid CO and unpaid CO will show on my credit report? Is it 7 years? base on the report date or last activity date?

Thank you so much.
Julieta

[Trish]

Yes, 7 years from the DOFD (date of first delinquency)