How do I know what and how much my debt is?

Question

I had excellent credit, large amount of savings, and opened a wine bar. As money drained, and debts accrued the landlords got selfish and I didn't have the funds to fight it in court (at the time), so I tried to shoe-string it. Ended up homeless (literally) and lost everything and was steeped in cards, community finance loans, etc., without ability to pay. The landlords sold my assets illegally locked doors and took my computer and files (a different issue), and some creditors took my equipment I believe. I assume my furnishings were sold to help pay some things.

There was a lot of overlap and confusion and I was particularly disadvantaged in not having my information/papers and not having a dime available to even have a phone. Several scraping by years went by starting with minimum-wage and trying to get back into my profession, which I'm happy to finally start getting back on my feet - my professional colleagues do not know that I slept in my car for months and showered at a gym!

I'm pretty sure I know the answer is probably to save up for an attorney or something now that I have a paying job, but I know somewhere there is a myriad of weird debts that I do want to pay back. My question is How can I find out who I owe what still, after several years of not having a phone or address or access to my files and paperwork that I meticulously kept record? Is there a government service that keeps these tabs?

Answer 1

Your credit report should list all debts that have been reported against you. You are entitled to one free credit report every twelve months through AnnualCreditReport.com. All you need to provide are a social security number and date of birth. Any identifying questions they ask of you should be from your report (e.g. you don't need to give them a current address).

Some tips for you on your journey:

• Be careful searching for "free credit report" - some of these are bait-and-switch schemes that coerce you into subscribing to some credit monitoring or ID protection in order to get your "free" credit report
• Don't contact any lenders on the report until you are prepared to pay the full amount in cash. Contacting them might reset the clock on how old the debt is any might make it harder to settle later.
• Don't offer to pay the full balance up-front. Most likely the debts have been written off and can be settled for pennies on the dollar.
• If you do settle a debt, get EVERYTHING in writing (e-mail is sufficient) and make sure your payment is for "settlement in full". Debt collectors are notorious for taking a payment and applying it only to late fees and other extraneous charges that do nothing to reduce what you owe.
• Don't give electronic access to any bank accounts under any circumstances. Pay everything by paper check (and keep copies), wire transfer, or prepaid debit card. You don't want to give them the ability to take more than what you agreed to.
• Don't feel legally obligated to pay old debts. If you want to settle to clear your conscience, that's fine, but it's likely that the debts have been written off and are just a part of the business of lending money. Banks expect a portion of borrowers to default, so you're not harming anyone if you don't initiate contact after they've started ignoring you.