Crown Asset Management is a medium size debt buyer in the US. At the time of this writing I would say they are in a growth phase. I run into them more the last couple of years because they are one of the main debt buyers bidding on marketplace loans. These would be loans you may have taken out with Upstart, Upgrade, Best Egg, Prosper and other similar types of technology platform lenders. They have historically been a purchaser of unpaid credit card debts too.
In this post, I am going to cover several ways you can think through dealing with Crown Asset, but first… what does it mean when your creditor sells off your unpaid balance? Simply that they have sold the legal rights to your debt, at a discount, to recover some of the losses quicker than if they dropped your unpaid loan into other collection buckets they could use.
There are different types of debt buyers. Some like Portfolio Recovery and Midland Credit will buy up debts and use their own internal collection personnel to call, write and text you. Crown Asset Management is not like that. They buy up your unpaid loan and then will typically place your account with a third-party collector who will then call, email and text you.
It can be confusing to learn that your delinquent loan balance was sold off to Crown Asset, but you are hearing from an entirely different collector saying they represent Crown Asset as a successor to your original lender. Just know that debt sales in the US are completely normal and can even present you with some opportunity.
Setting up affordable monthly payments with Crown Asset.
Many of the lenders I help people resolve debt with have hardship payment plans. These payment plans often allow you to repay your debt at a heavily reduced interest rate over up to 5 years. The lender may offer you that plan directly, or through a non profit credit counseling agency (one of the most popular forms of debt relief). But once Crown Asset has your account, your debt has gone unpaid long enough to no longer charge interest and fees. This means any monthly payment plan on the full balance you set up with Crown Asset will be at no interest already.
This makes Crown Asset Management not a great fit for repayment through a nonprofit credit counseling agency unless you are enrolling other accounts in your debt management plan, and like the convenience of including it in your plan. There really is no math or cash benefit to you when you repay the full balance back to a debt buyer in a DMP.
For the above reason, and because we can often settle our debts with Crown Asset for a good discount, and get ample time to pay, I am rarely a fan of paying the full balance back on these purchased accounts. There are certainly exceptions to this that I can talk with you about in the comments below, or on a phone consult you can schedule with me.
Settling your debt sold to Crown Asset Management.
Debt settlement is about as commonplace as it has ever been since I first started doing this work years ago. I generally find settling a debt with a debt buyer like Crown Asset to be the most advisable method to resolve an old bill, except when you are eligible to wipe out debts in chapter 7 bankruptcy.
How low a settlement can be negotiated with Crown Asset will vary. Here are some things that are going to go into what you can expect to settle for:
- Crown Asset may have sent your account to a different collection company, and who that company is can affect how much you can save and how long you will have to pay a settlement.
- Your balance being smaller than average, or much larger, can move the needle in either direction, on how low the settlement will go and how long the payments on the settlement can be.
- How long has Crown Asset had the account? Also, how long has the collection company had it?
- Did Crown Asset send your account to a collection law firm? Which one? Have they sued you yet? Is there a court judgment?
- Can you pay your settlement in a single lump sum or will you need time? How much time?
As you can tell, there are some moving parts to settling a debt with Crown Asset, but once I know more about your situation and the answers to some of these questions, how low a settlement can be, and how long you can get to pay it, becomes fairly predictable.
As I mentioned above, you can post anonymous questions about settling with Crown Asset in the comments below and get feedback on this page, or schedule a call with me to talk privately about your situation and get feedback about what settling with them is going to look like.
Crown Asset and filing bankruptcy.
All debts sold to buyers like Crown Asset can be discharged in chapter 7 bankruptcy. You do have to qualify to be able to file chapter 7. The qualifications for chapter 7 vary from state to state and from person to person. Qualifications are predominately related to how many people live in your household, your combined income over the past 6 months, and your assets.
I have a post up about the main debt relief options. Be sure to check that out to get a good idea of how each will impact you. There is a ton of misinformation about chapter 7 out there. Sure, it has its downsides, but for many of us the upsides are too numerous to ignore.
I can review your base line qualifications for chapter 7 during a phone consult so you can compare that option to others that may work for you too.
You can list Crown Asset as a creditor in chapter 13 bankruptcy as well. This will mean they get paid some, or all the balance owed in a 3 or 5 year period. It will depend on your debts and monthly income.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy, for most of us, will have more downside than up. Settling with Crown Asset, as well as other unsecured creditors, is often a better alternative to chapter 13.
When it comes to debt buyers, I can typically help you put together a plan of action that will work for your current circumstances. It is ideal to do that before Crown Asset sends you to a collection law firm.
Crown Asset has sued you or gotten a judgment.
Pretty much all debt buyers of unpaid credit cards and personal loans now sue to collect. Crown Asset is definitely a buyer that will take you to court. This is completely preventable if you are proactive in resolving a debt Crown Asset has bought. What if you could settle a Crown Asset balance for half the amount owed and pay that over a couple of years? Doing that before they send your account to a collection law firm is ideal and will typically save you more money.
Once Crown Asset sends your account to a law firm, even if they have sued or already obtained a judgment, you can still negotiate a settlement.
How low of a settlement to expect in this situation will depend on the things I mentioned above, but there will be some additional things to think through and plan around when negotiating with a collection attorney. If you are dealing with a late-stage collection event like this I highly recommend scheduling that phone consult with me. It is a free call.
Crown Asset and Credit Reporting.
When Crown Asset buys a debt from your original creditor, they will typically report the balance now owed to them to Equifax, Experian and Transunion. This will be a separate negative item from the charged off negative your original creditor is likely still showing.
Make sure that negative credit reporting entry from your original lender shows a zero-balance owed now that Crown Asset is showing a balance owed to them. You can have double negative entries on your credit reports for the same account, but not double balances owed for the same account at the same time.
Many of the larger debt buyers in the country now have pay for delete policies, where once you resolve the balance (whether paid in full or settled for less), they will stop reporting to the credit bureaus. Crown Asset, at the time of this post, does not have a published pay for delete policy. However, they must meet the minimum requirement for a furnisher to the credit bureaus, which is to update the credit reports that you took care of the bill and a zero balance is now owed. Your credit can bounce back very quickly after you resolve unpaid collection accounts (think less than a year for a lot of us).
What if you dispute a debt with Crown Asset?
Everyone has a right to dispute all or a portion of a debt they do not recognize. What if Prosper failed to properly credit some payments before they sold the account to Crown Asset? You can dispute the accuracy of the balance they say is owed.
What if you believe the account to be part of a fraud or ID theft?
What if you read the abundance of literature online that encourages you to always dispute or request validation of a debt?
Crazy stuff can happen with fraud and ID theft. You can fix that through a dispute process and formal ID Theft reporting.
Crazier stuff happens with much of the online advice to dispute, dispute… dispute. Be sure to watch some of my related debt dispute and validation videos. Pay close attention to the part where I talk about how disputes and debt validation requests can accelerate a lawsuit against you, or cause a suit where one may have never been in the offing.
Cease communication letters, validation requests, and disputes all have there place as super useful tools. They should never be used indiscriminately or without thinking through what their use can lead to.
As mentioned above, I reply to all the comments on this site daily. I can often provide useful feedback to you right here on the site. For those that would rather speak to me about your situation and goals, click the talk to Michael tab just below, or the get help tab at the top of the page.
Best of success with your Crown Asset goals!
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