Question: My primary home was foreclosed on in May of 2011. The two lines of credit have been reported by the lender to Equifax as written off back in October of 2008. Some collection agencies are calling me now asking to pay for these line of credit. I must say this, I never used any $ amount from these HELOCs. That was the original set up of the loan. Please let me know. Can they ask for anything now?
Answer: Yeah this typical when you go through a foreclosure. A collection agency for your line of credit is assigned to handle your case. They will call you and try to work something out. Either a payment plan or work out a settlement. Whatever you do, don’t just ignore them and do nothing. Try to work with them.
Depending on where you live, the bank retains the rights to go after the homeowner for a deficiency judgment up to 4 years after the auction. Most of the time they file with the year if they decide to file at all. Most of the time they hire 3rd party collection agencys to try and collect the debt. If you never borrowed any money on the HELOC, then you don’t have anything to worry about. If you did borrow money against your line of credit, then you’ll need to work out some sort of pay off, settlement, pay plan, whatever you can work out and whatever they will accept.