The telephone game strikes again! Your debt will not disappear after 6 years

On a weekly basis I normally get this statement from someone “Blair, I am just going to hang on until I’ve had my debts for 6 years and then they will fall off my credit bureau”. “Oh, and look at that pig flying over that building”

Bad debts will NOT fall off of your Credit report. Period.

Do you remember playing the telephone game when you were a kid? Remember, at the front of the line one kid would whisper something to the next kid, then that kid would whisper it to the next, and so on… by the time you got the end the words that the first kid whispered are now completely different. Purple Monkey Dishwasher.

Like the telephone game, this myth is based on a partial truth…

If you happen to look at your Equifax or Trans Union report, near the end of the report you’ll see the following…

Judgments, Seizure of Movable/Immovable, Garnishment of Wages – The above will automatically purge from the system six (6) years from the date filed. (emphasis mine)

People interpret the statement as saying “Any bad debt you have will automatically disappear within six (6) years”.

Here goes that telephone game again. Nowhere is there anything written about a bad debt. Instead, the statement is saying based on acts of finality. That is to say Judgments, Seizures, and Garnishments are all actions available to your creditors in order for them to recoup all or part of the money owed to them.

It’s important to understand that the purpose behind the six year purge is to remove the ‘actions’ that lead to the clearance of the debts. If a debt is cleared, then there’s no need to list the action (judgment, seizure, etc.) permanently.

However, if a debt remains, or there was never any act of finality taken in the first place, then there is nothing in the above statement that even comes close to suggesting that a debt will disappear after a certain number of years.

Creditors would be opening up Pandora’s Box if their standard procedure was to simply allow debts to disappear over time.

So what solution do you have? The debts must be dealt with… no matter their age.

If someone is struggling with debt and wants to learn about available solutions to them to receive debt relief in Victoria, it’s best to speak with someone who is truly looking out for their interests.

4 Pillars Victoria represents the Debtor and only the Debtor.

We are interested in finding a solution that is most likely to help them succeed in getting out of debt and staying out of debt.