Debt After a Death in The Family

My grandfather has been dead for over 6 years, and barely NOW, we have the credit collection agency calling to collect a 3,300 dollar debt! It wasnt on my grandfathers credit report when he died, he had a almost perfect credit,and they are becoming severe on collecting this debt. We havent said he is dead, we just dont answer and they are flooding our family with collection letters, but they dont state what debt they are collecting for. Every debt collector I have recieved states whos the company we owe the debt from!

--
Ask for proof of the debt...they must provide that or they have not legal claims to this...you could ignore the calls but if they are harrassing you all ignoring them is going to do is fuel the fire. Don't send a death certificate until you know the debt is vaild and they should legally be collecting the money.

A scam that is out there is people who claim to be debt collectors scan the obits for recent postings. They then start calling the family claiming they have a debt the person didn't pay and now the estate is responsible for the bill (which if the debt is legit then the estate is responsible). They want 2 things (they will settle for either or though) 1st is the death certificate so they can steal the decedents identity 2nd is the money (seed money so they can keep the scam up). They assume since the person is dead that you have no way to back up the claim and will just pay it or send a death certificate to get them off your backs.

I am not suggesting you just assume this is a scam because if it isn't you could get introuble for ignoring the calls (the people who say you have no responsibilities are wrong...if you recieve a part of the estate then you are responsible because the estate is supposed to pay the creditors that are owed money upon death of a creditor). Ask for proof of debt and 30 days to review the documents they provide. They under fair debt collection practices they must give it to you...if they don't report them.

Fiance in Debt

My wife and i filed jointly in 2004 and 2005,now we owe 30,000 in taxes. I know we are both liable for it but the debt is mainly hers, she is a real estate agent and had some outrageous deductions,so that is the reason why we are now in debt with the IRS. I confided in her to do the taxes accurately, i was so trusting and stupid to sign too... In the other hand, we are seperated and in the process of a divorce and not in speaking terms at all. I decided to go to the IRS offices myself and got informed that my wife has been lying to me that she has been making payments, and on top of that i was also informed that i don't qualify for Spousal Relief. I finally got in contact with my wife today and asked her to make arrangements to pay because its HER debt and she told me that she arranged for that debt to be trasferred to her and she would be solely responsible for that debt. Is that possible,for a debt to be transfered just to her without me signing anything?

---
You ARE confused! And too trusting. But you are not stupid.

First, the tax obligation is between you & IRS. IRS is not bound to any agreement between you and her.

Next, you trusted a player on the other side to tell you the rules of the game. Tax law is like this: a general rule, one or more exceptions, exceptions to the exceptions and so forth. The people at IRS offices that speak to the public know the general rule correctly about half the time. Few know the exceptions. It is not their job. What you did is like asking the prosecutor what you should do. He'll always say "plead guilty".

Internal Revenue Code (IRC) sec 6015 gives several approaches to relief in your kind of situation. You may qualify for more than one of them, especially if she is willing to take on the full tax liability.

This is more complicated than you can do on your own. Professional help is strongly indicated. Engage an EA, CPA or tax attorney who is familiar with the Innocent Spouse Laws.

I have included a link below which gives you a little more info about Innocent Spouse relief. However, it is by no means the entire story.

Don't try this at home!!

Difference Between Debt Consolidation & Debt Management

What is the difference? What should I go with to help pay off my debt quickly?

Little background - Decent credit (690-710 range). Husband has several credit cards and I don't know the total debt, I have 1 (with a $1400 balance). To combat the high CC rates, we managed to get a line of credit, with an interest rate of around 16%. We moved some off to that, but have ended up adding a little more debt to the CC (hospital bills and such). We always pay more than minimum on the cards, and the LOC has a base minimum, but we have an auto payment that pays, I think, $50 over minimum.

What's my best strategy? Trying to stick with it with the LOC, moving things over as the balance gets lower and paying above minimums on the highest interest rate cards, etc...or trying to throw this to a debt management company?

I would really LOVE to find a consolidation loan on my own that's lower than the LOC rate. I just want to pay this debt back quickly and with the lowest rate possible.

--
To be honest don't believe all of the hype that you hear surrounding DMPs. Negative hype I mean. I myself am currently in one and for those of you that are not, or have never been, please refrain from giving others advice that is not accurate. All you will do is scare people.

Do understand though that most companies charge a SMALL fee for their services. They negotiate with your creditors for you to get you a lower interest rate. This is something that you can do on your own but not with ALL creditors. I will not name names, but a few of my creditors refused to lower my interest rates until my DMP contacted them in my place. After this is completed you are expected to pay the agreed amount each month to the DMP and the DMP then disperses this amongst your creditors. You'll want to make sure that you pay the DMP at least 2 weeks before the original due date of your creditors since that is how long it seems to take the DMP to pay everyone. Debt consolidation is bit different since it combines all of your debts and pays them off with a loan that you pay back over time.

Just so you know my credit score is NOT trashed. I've always monitored it closely and noticed that yes, my score (started at 698) had dropped significantly at the beginning of the plan (to 630), but after four to five months of consistent solid payments, my credit score rose up to 680. So no, bad credit is not something that will haunt you the rest of your life with a DMP. You won't be able to use your cards, nor should you incur any more debt while you are on the plan and you will notice a significant drop in your accumulated debt. My plan began in January of 2007 and will end in July of 2010.

I believe that a lot of people confuse debt management with debt settlement. With debt settlement, they can charge large fees (found out through research) and your credit score does have the potential to plummet. Debt management is not a precursor to bankruptcy; debt settlement is.

Related:

anderson fin network
process servers
process server
ldc collection systems
ldc collections
collection agency jobs
ldc collect
collection agency search
anderson fin network inc
anderson fin
nationwide process servers
swift recovery
accurent
collection industry
debt sellers
anderson fin network collection agency
collection attorneys
collection jobs
national process servers
national process service
debtblaster.org
debtmadeeasy
settle debt for pennies on the dollar
settling a debt
afni
afni collection
afnicollections.com
afnic