🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3v9j07$p5c@CUBoulder.Colorado.EDU> jacobsd@ucsub.colorado.edu (Dru Jacobs) writes:
>>Kiwamu Asai \"Q\" <asai@ucsu.colorado.edu> wrote:
>>I need a help in straightening up my credit record. 

What, precisely, do you mean by "straigthening up" your credit report?
If you want to have the entries deleted, forget it.  You can have
incorrect information removed, but your questions implicitly acknowledge
that the debt is legitimate.

>>After I left the 
>>country 5 years ago, my old school sent an outstanding debt to the state 
>>attorney general's office.  Since I was out of the country, I had not 
>>received any notices regarding this debt.

They don't casually involve the Attorney General's office, and you
have a legal and moral obligation to inform all creditors of your
current mailing address.

If you didn't realize you had a debt (e.g., you left before being
billed by the library for a missing book) you can probably get a 
statement to this effect added to your credit report (under "consumer's 
comments").

If it was something like a student loan or any other debt you were
aware of (e.g., a parking ticket) before leaving the country, you'll
find very few creditors will be comfortable lending money to a known
debt "skipper."  This is probably the single worst thing you can do
to a creditor, since it effectively eliminates _all_ options for the
creditor.

>>general'f office tried to track me down, but no luck (obviously). 

So what?  If you knew you owned someone money, the burden is on
_you_ to keep in contact with them.

>>So they reported me to credit agencies.

The debt would have already been reported to credit reporting agencies.
The AG simply told them that _they_ couldn't find you either.

>>Since I was not notified about this debt at all by the school, 

Can you document this?  For instance, was the _first_ letter from
the school mailed after your documented departure from the country?

>>or the attorney general's office

Irrelevant.  The fact that a creditor isn't able to track you down
after you move has absolutely no effect on _your_ obligation to
repay the debt.

>>I feel that the actions taken by them are 
>>extremely unjust considering their impact on me.  

Irrelevant.  The actions you describe are all well within appropriate
federal and state laws, and whining about the injustice will get you
nowhere.

If you can _prove_ that you never received notice of the debt
(which will not be an easy task), you might be able to make some
extra-legal claims that will minimize the damage, but that's a 
very thin thread to hang your hopes on.

>>I would appreciate any information regarding what I can or should do to 
>>solve this provlem.

Pay the disputed amount immediately and in full.  You might feel that
the charge is unwarranted (e.g., if it's due to missing books that
you're sure you returned), but as long as there's an outstanding
debt nothing else will have any effect.

If you can prove that you weren't informed of the debt prior to
leaving the country, you can have that information put into the
credit report and (politely) ask the state to drop the item sooner
than legally mandated.

If you can't prove that you weren't informed of the debt, you're
basically stuck until the information "expires" in seven years.

-- 
Bear Giles
bear@fsl.noaa.gov