Settling Old Debt with Northland Group and LVNV Funding
My financial troubles started in '06 at which point i could no longer pay my debts, including a personal loan and a couple cards. I won't bore you with details but I still haven't made any headway towards paying off this debt. No payments have been made and no contact has been made between myself and these creditors. At this point I have over 30, 000 in debt, most of which is student loans. As i understand it, the statute of limitations on my credit cards and personal loan has come and gone, so I don't have to worry about being sued. I think much of this debt should come off my credit report in the next year or two if I just sit tight. Please correct me if any of my assumptions are incorrect. Recently I received a letter from Northland Group Inc. informing me that I owe lvnv funding llc 1, 015.00, (citibank being the original creditor). The letter goes on to say that if I were to pay them 152.28 they would send me a letter confirming that the debt has been resolved.
I was wondering if it would be in my best interest to take this offer at this point?
—rande
Northland Group regularly collects debt on behalf of LVNV. Both companies can be considered debt collectors in their own right, but LVNV Funding is often viewed as more of a debt buyer.
Update as of 6/2018: Northland Group recently changed their name to Radius Global Solutions.
Resolving debts with a collection agency like Northland Group or LVNV Funding
I am responding to your question about settling with LVNV Funding, through their collection agency Northland Group, while considering others will be reading this page later. As a result, some of what I am sharing will be general information that is mixed in with feedback specific to your offer to settle from Northland Group.
Citibank (and many other credit card issuers) regularly sell off debts that go unpaid more than 6 months. Your Citibank credit card sounds like it has gone unpaid for 5 or more years. If you are only now hearing from Northland Group with an offer to settle the Citibank account (on behalf of its owner LVNV Funding), I really doubt that LVNV bought the debt from Citibank. It is more likely that your Citibank credit card was sold to a different debt buyer originally, and maybe even exchanged hands several times, before landing with LVNV Funding. This is not uncommon. It also means, if my assumption is accurate, that LVNV will have paid bargain basement pricing to purchase the right and ownership of your Citibank account.
- What are your future credit and financing needs for the next 1 to 2 years while you are waiting for the Citibank charge off entry on your credit report to fall off from age?
- Is LVNV reporting this collection account on your credit report too?
If you do have immediate or near term future credit goals, and with as much debt you mentioned having that has not been paid for years, settling with Northland Group, even if LVNV is reporting a collection item on your credit report, will have little to no value to your credit report. However, if you take a more broad approach to the outstanding debts, like settling other revolving consumer debts (credit cards and personal loans) with other collection agencies and debt buyers, than settling the old Citibank credit card with Northland Group would make sense.
If you do have other credit goals, and are interested in what it would take to start to improve your credit report, and get your debt to income ratio on your credit report in line with what lenders look for, post your other debts, balances owed, and who is collecting on them, in the comment section below (this goes for anyone reading this page too). I will give some targeted feedback to help you.
What is a normal settlement offer from a collection agency like Radius Global Solutions?
The settlement offer letter you received is not all that normal. I am pointing this out for later readers. The amounts you shared mean Radius Global Solutions is offering to settle with you for about 15% of what they say is now owed to LVNV. That likely has more to do with them recognizing the debt is past the statute of limitations in your state to legitimately sue you in order to collect. T
his also means you could just tell them to pound sand (figuratively).
A typical target for settling a collection account with a debt buyer like LVNV, or with a collection agency like Radius Global, is going to be multiples of that percentage when there is still room to sue and get you to pay.
Is it a great settlement offer? You bet it is. Should you take them up on it? Maybe not.
Settling with one collection agency can wake up other debt collectors.
With someone in your situation who has many debts outstanding, and in the hands of debt collectors, settling one account may breathe new life in to the collection efforts on your other old debts. This is not always the case, and certainly less so if your other collection accounts are past the SOL to sue, but this is a legitimate concern.
If a collection agency like Radius Global, or a debt buyer like LVNV Funding, is showing up on your credit report now; and you settle with them; and that settlement is updated and reflected on your credit report; other collection agencies paying attention may come out of the wood work. For you, that could lead to receiving more debt collector phone calls, and receiving debt collection letters, where all of that had mostly died down to this point. For someone who is not past the SOL with some of their collection debts, it can mean breathing life into debts that reach the point of aggressive collection actions, where that may have not been the case otherwise. If you’re going to potentially call attention to yourself by settling one debt, it is best to have a plan in place to resolve other debts that are not yet past the SOL to sue you.
Based on the little information I have to go on, if I were in your shoes, unless I had some specific credit goals I wanted or needed to accomplish in the next 2 years, I would not take Radius Global up on the offer. If I did have some goals in mind, like qualifying for a mortgage, I would first want to have a strategy for all other debts in place, and not just settle the LVNV account because it is a great offer.
For readers who are not past the SOL to be sued for collection, settling with Radius, LVNV Funding, or any collection accounts for that matter – when set beside credit goals like qualifying for a home loan, refinancing a mortgage, accessing new student loans – settling these types of collection debts for less, and getting a zero balance owed reflected on your credit report – makes a ton of sense.
You shared that much of the 30k in total debt outstanding is from student loans. Part of any strategy would be to look at bringing the student loans out of default if they are government backed student debt. Those are not going to go away regardless of whether they are on the credit report or not. Ignoring them for now if you cannot get them out of default can make sense from a pure monthly budget, and being light on cash flow perspective. But long term avoidance on government backed student loans is not a good idea. You could end up having tax refunds held back and other surprises later on.
If you can answer my question in the comments below, I can offer additional feedback. Anyone reading this page can post questions and specific details about dealing with Radius Global Solutions or LVNV Funding for feedback.
If you would like to talk over your situation on the phone you can reach me at 800-939-8357, choose option 2, or submit my consult request form.
About Michael BoveeMichael started CRN in 2004 with a mission to provide people in need with detailed debt and credit help and education. Michael has participated as an expert panelist in federal consumer protection rule making, collaborated on state law changes governing debt consolidation, has worked as an expert witness in court matters related to the debt relief industry, and is a regular contributor to several personal finance websites.
Hi! I received a settlement letter from Radius and it list the account balance and next to it the settlement amount
When I went online to pay it doesn’t show the settlement amount it shows original amount- Do they need to update their website or will the letter suffice as arranged settlement? I would feel more comfortable paying online instead over the phone but the online amount showing is higher
Please advise
If I have a letter outlining the settlement, and I am paying it by the due date, I would be okay with that. I would also be okay paying by phone.
Is Radius collecting a debt for LVNV?
Wow – this was very informative. Thank you for that. We live in Texas and received a letter today from Radius Global for an offer to settle a $999 debt for $349. This was a debt to Synchrony Bank for an Old Navy account where the last payment was made in October 2013 and it was charged off in March of 2016. (Not proud of it – my husband and I were both unemployed for a lengthy period of time.) If my calculations are correct, this debt is roughly six and a half years old.
We have been working for awhile now to repair credit and the last thing we want is for this to be reported. (It may be too late but not seeing anything right now.)
Do you have any thoughts on the matter?
Thanks in advance…
If it were me, and the debt was passed the SOL to sue me in my state, and either not on my credit, or 6 months (like it sounds) from falling of my credit, I would just let things lay.
I’ve been served on Saturday in Texas by lvnv funding .I owe credit one bank but have not worked in a year and half. The amount of claim is 2200.00 dollars which 500 is lawyer fees. Papers say I have 14 days to reply should I contact lawyer for settlement or take to court for a settlement there. I do not have any lump sum to give but may be able to pay a little a month. If I show up in court to give a response would I be charged court costs fees as well . Thanks for any help you give
Check out more details about settling when sued. If it is workable, I would defend the suit to buy time to save up and settle out of court.
I have to appear at court to file a written answer what or what shouldn’t I say to help me to try and buy myself a little more time to save up money to settle case if law firm wants to continue with the suet. I have limited funds for a lawyer. I hope they don’t have all their paperwork or don’t show. Please help
I would still encourage you to consult with an experienced debt collection defense attorney in your state. Where are you located? I can email you contacts to some who offer a no cost initial consult if you you like?
It can help to go look up similar cases that were defended in your court and read through the court filings. The process will not seem as foreign to you after that, and it could lead build your confidence about how to proceed.
I have a judgement for a credit card debt dated back in 2009. I’ve had health problems, and was unemployed since then; therefore, unable to pay it off. Two weeks ago 11/2016 I started a job, and right away a debt collector (LVNV FUNDING, LLC) has being calling me, even at work and very unprofessionally threading to garnish my salary.
Due to the amount of years of this debt, and my financial situation not being the best, do I have any choices to handle this situation before they contact my job to garnish my wages? I could even get fired if they force my company to garnish my salary.
If it is a legitimate judgment, LVNV can look to garnish your wages, levy your bank account, or lien property, as is allowed by your state.
The better outcome, unless you are exempt from wage garnishment, is to negotiate a lump sum pay off for less than the balance owed, or proactively set a payment plan you know you can succeed with. That way they leave your employer out of it.
I have a judgment from LVNV Funding. It’s for $23,000! I think it was a credit card debt. That was put on me in 2012. I was never served and I just found out about it when I got my credit report 6 months ago. It was filed in Florida. I now live in Maryland. My only income is Social Security disability. I believe it’s too late for a motion to vacate. I want to get a USDA mortgage within a year so I’m considering settling. I’m scared and don’t know where to start.
Should I make an offer or let them make an offer? Does it matter what state I hire an attorney in?
You may not need an attorney, or at least not yet. Can you pull together 30 to 50 percent of the balance owed in order to settle?
My husband has a judgement against him from a really old debt, about 8 years ago. The debt was sold to LVNV Funding. We have not heard anything concerning the debt for a long time. However I would like to negotiate a settlement with them and pay the judgement and get it removed from our local court . How should I go about contacting them and negotiating with them?
Judgment debts can be negotiated and settled for less with LVNV. You often will have to work that out with a third party that LVNV places your account with. My feedback will change from one collector to the next. Give me a call at 800-939-8357, ext 2, or fill in the talk to Michael form in the right column of this page so we can email each other in order to schedule a time that works to connect on the phone.
I received a letter from First National Collection Bureau, Inc and it says the current creditor is LVNV Funding LLC. This letter is for a debt that is over 7 years old and is not even showing up on my credit report. They have been mailing letters to my Mother In Laws home in Ohio and I live in California and have for many years. It says that unless I notify them within 30 days and dispute the validity of this debt they will assume the debt is valid. If you notify this office in writing within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of the debt or any portion of it this office will obtain verification of the debt or obtain a copy of a judgement and mail you a copy of such judgement or verification. But at the end it says they will not sue me because the debt is too old. It does not say when the debt was from I think I remember having this account over 7 years ago. I have not contacted them but should I send them a letter to have them verify the debt even if it is so old and not on my credit report or should I talk to an attorney?
That catch all language that First National used is found in most collection notices in use nationwide. It is there as a CYA for the collector.
If the debt is more than 4 years unpaid it is highly unlikely that LVNV Funding will sue, as that is now time barred in California (4 yr SOL). The debt is further too old to appear on your credit reports in anyway, which qualifies this as zombie debt.
If you want collection notices and calls to stop I would suggest responding with a cease communication letter sent certified mail.
LVNV sued me over a debt owed originally to a furniture store. They won, and there is now an Abstract of Judgment against me. The amount is for $5800. That was more than 10 years ago and the judgment no longer appears on my credit report. However, it is still held against me (Lien) in that I have to pay it before I can sell my home. I haven’t heard anything on this debt for quite a while but, last month, received a letter from a law office/credit collector reminding me that they can have the judgment put back on my record and that I should contact them and set up payments for the debt – which they claim is $12,000 now. This is not the same firm that handled the suit for LVNV and sent me letters and settlement offers in the past. BTW, the last settlement letter I received from the original law firm was for $6912.00.
Should I contact LVNV, the original collection office or the current collection office to negotiate a settlement? How do I ensure that the Abstract of Judgment is removed so that I can sell my house? I am not sure in which order to do things.
You will likely have to negotiate the settlement with the collector LVNV sent your account to.
A product of negotiating your judgment will result in the court being updated that the judgment has been satisfied. The court record is what matters. Title will clear with that.
Be careful what you say to the debt collector. If you want help with this you can call me at 800-939-8357, option 2 rings to me.
Thank you for your reply, Michael. Unfortunately the only way I can see my fiance coming up with this money is through a personal loan. Because it is 8 years old it has fallen off his credit and he has a 640 which isn’t great, but isn’t terrible. . He has another debt with a credit card and due to his financial status and the money he spends on his insulin monthly, that collection agency said he qualified for a low payment of $33.17 a month. If we cannot get a personal loan to make the $4300, do you think he can ask for a low monthly payment like the $33 even if he is stuck paying it off for many years to come or until he can come up with the money and ask for the original settlement deal? Also we want to see the original judgement so should we ask for that first to buy us time to see if he can get a personal loan?
Thank you so much for you help.
Seeing the judgment does not really buy you time at all. It just is what it is.
If it were me I would not want long term payments. I would save up to settle in a single lump sum or close to it. Let me know what comes of the personal loan and how long it will take to save up if that does not go through.
Hello. Early 2015 I was served attached work with a summons from a law office representing LVNV Funding for a supposed Chase Bank debt. I filed an answer, affirmative defenses, requests for documentation and had a few hearings in court. The only verification that I received regarding this said debt was statements. On the statements it listed that that abide by the State of Delaware laws and therefore, the statute of limitations based on the terms and conditions of Chase Bank and those statements, the said debt should have been uncollectable. With all my argument and documentations including that I have been the victim of fraud, unfortunately, the law office requested a motions for summary judgment the judge decided to grant the law office the motion for summary judgment. I am not really sure what process is next, but I would assume the law office would need to to request a garnishment or something? Any way, I know that these collection companies tend to purchase these debts pennies on the dollar and Justin wondering how you recommend going about this? Prior to my last hearing, the lawyer representing LVNV Funding, stated to me that the header lawyer would like this situation out of her hair and thought it was going back and forth and taking too much time. I told the lawyer’s to have the head lawyer contact me and we could discuss a dismissal. That nevertheless occurred, so I reached out prior to submitting final documentation and the head lawyer requested I call her via email the next day. I die so and lift a message but did not receive a phone call back. I definitely don’t want a judgement on my report an definitely don’t want to be garnished. IAt this point, I amwilling to settle as my time and everything else is worth more than this stress. In addition, I no longer reside in the state that I was served. So, my question(s) is should I settle with LVNV Funding directly versus the law office and request to have this said debt never collevted again and even removed from any reports, if reported or, what do you recommend?
Thank you in advance!
You will likely need to work out the settlement with the attorney for LVNV. The attorney will not be able to impact how LVNV reports on your credit, but once an agreement with LVNV is made and pai, LVNV is good about updating credit reports to reflect a resolved collection account.
Now that the judgment is part of the court record it will show up on the public record section of your credit report. Once you pay any settlement agreement you can expect the court record to be updated to show the LVNV judgment as paid or satisfied.
Your credit will begin to bounce back from there.
How much is the debt at issue?
Hello,
My fiance received a letter from LVNV for an old debt of 21,581.93. He bought a bike and cosigned for his friend to get a bike. His friends bike was stolen and he never reported it so that payment went into default. My fiance apparently stopped paying on his bike at some point in time too. The original debt collectors went to his parents house in attempt to repo the bike and later to summon him to court. My fiance claims none of this happened although I do not see his parents lying about this. Anyways, he obviously defaulted in court from lack of appearance and therefore that is why the debt is so high. LVNV is willing to settle for 6 payments of $719. They stated they cannot sue him nor report it to his credit? While I know he cannot afford $719/month for 6 months, we are trying to buy a house within a year and therefore need to get this taken care off. My fiance believes if he ignores it then it will go away. foolish thinking. Since we have 2 children and if his wages start getting garnished I need to prevent this from happening. What do you think is the best plan of action. They are giving us 30 days to reply and we just received it yesterday. I stayed up all night researching for MI. LVNV said they will send us the judgement if we want and so that tells me the statue of limitations no longer applies because in MI after a judgement is made it is good for 20 years. Please help me with this. I am beyond frustrated with my fiance, but he is terrible with money so I handle all our finances. I just don’t want payday to come and he realize his checks are being garnished as a result from his lack of action!
That is a great settlement on a judgment debt Brittany. Is there any conceivable way you could raise the money? Even if you had to borrow from family it would be worth it. What if you pulled together close the $4300 total LVNV is willing to accept as settlement? You could make a counter offer.
LVNV Funding shows up on my credit report for 655. The debt is 12 years old and i don’t think its mine. I think its a relatives. how can i get it taken off?
You can dispute the debt with the credit bureaus as being too old to remain on your credit reports. You can also dispute it as not yours. Send any dispute in writing via certified mail.
The credit bureaus will connect with LVNV to investigate your dispute. From what you shared, if the debt has not been paid for 12 years LVNV Funding should not be on there at all. That is the direction I would take if it were me, but I might include a sentence about not being sure the debt is even yours.
Let me know what the result of the dispute is. If the old collection is not removed from your credit reports I can help you from there.
I had a credit card that I quit paying on during a long unemployment in 2005 Balance of 1700. Sometime later it was picked up by lvnv and they sued and had a judgment of 3800 and collected just over 600 from garnishing mine and my kids bank accounts in 2011. We received a letter in march of 2015 saying balance is now over 6000.I just couldn’t afford to do anything about this before. Now I am finally able to refinance my mortgage but have to settle this first What is the best way to deal with them and pay as little as possible. The bank said I could roll this into the loan if we can settle. Thanks for your help.
Give me a call to discuss some strategy Bob. You can reach me at 800-939-8357, choose option 2.
My husband had some financial troubles years ago. We’d cleaned up his credit by getting his student loan out of default and his score is now greater than 700. He’s had a couple of small debts in collections that we paid, without checking his credit report first. Now he’s just received 2 letters from Resurgent with LVNV as owner showing amounts owed as $12,000 and $19,000. He does not recall these debts but that doesn’t mean they weren’t valid at one point. They are nowhere to be found on his credit report and knowing his financial timeline are both greater than the 6 year SOL in Vermont and since they are not on his credit report likely even older. So do you recommend just sending a cease communication letter, or is it worth sending a debt validation letter first? Thanks for your good advice!
I would only send a cease communication letter when I am certain the SOL to sue is passed. I would not waste time with a debt validation letter if the debts are as old as this.
Thank you very much for your quick reply! I guess we are not 100% certain that the SOL is past, but is it safe to assume that since it is nowhere to be seen on his credit report? With the SOL in VT being 6 years and the credit reporting 7.5, I’d think if it’s not on his credit report it means they are greater than 7.5 years old, which then means the SOL is past. And the original debt was from Providian and Bank of America, I assume they’d report it, wouldn’t they? My husband has no records and doesn’t recall these specifically, but lost everything including multiple businesses 8-10 years ago and so there’s no way to know for sure. I guess that is my long-winded way of asking should we just ignore these letters? I assume they will continue contacting us. Is there a reason not to validate the debt, just to be sure the SOL is past and go from there? Thanks again, really appreciate your help!
Based on everything you shared with me I would suspect the SOL is passed. And in that case I would send the cease communication notice to Resurgent/LVNV, or perhaps request debt validation. Send either notice certified mail and keep a copy of everything for your records.
Resurgent will likely not contact you until they provide the validation, which may never occur.
Thanks again Michael! Will probably send a validation letter just to be safe. I will let you know if we ever hear anything back.
Hello!
Following up on my above posts from September…we did receive response letters to our requests for validation (separate letter sent for each debt). One response had some info, one with only a date the debt was acquired. Last payment on one was 11/2004. Date acquired for both is 7/2005. Both past the SOL. And neither is on my husband’s credit report. Both response letters stated “should you desire to pay on this account please contact us…”
2 weeks later (so just last week) we received additional letters stating: “We have reviewed your inquiry regarding the above referenced account. However, the information provided, along with our review of the account, is insufficient to support your claim. If you wish us to further investigate your dispute, please contact us directly so that we may discuss the necessary details. If we do not receive additional information on this account, we may resume collection efforts.”
So at this point I trust it is safe to send cease communication letters? I know that these may pop up again eventually if Resurgent/LVNV sells the debt to another collection agency, correct? But we’d just go through the same process?
Thank you very much for your time!
Thanks for following up with that Chloe. If it were me I would send a cease contact letter certified mail. You are correct about perhaps having to repeat yourself to a later debt collector.
Thanks Michael!
What do I need to say in the cease contact letter? Anything beyond that I am requesting that they cease communication in regards to this debt? Should I include something about it being past the SOL?
If it were me I would say something like:
I am writing to request that you cease all forms of communication with me. While I question whether the account is even mine, the account at issue is passed the state statute to legitimately sue.
I will protect my rights should you ignore this request, or pursue any additional collection efforts.
Kind Regards,
Me
Great, thanks again for your help with this!
Hello,
I received a privacy notice from Gamanche & Myers. I have been living in Arkansas for the past 5 years, previously resided in Texas.
I had a couple of credit cards I could no longer pay on 6-7 years ago. I am worried by contacting this law firm I may open a can of worms. I have googled Gamanche & Myers and found they have sued over debt.
Any advice?
What is your goal for resolving the debt with Gamache and Myers? If you want to settle the debt you will want to be careful with how you go about it.
If you are simply trying to bide your time until the collections drops off your credit reports (which should be really soon), and you are certain that it has been 6 or 7 years since you last paid anything on the account, there is not much Gamache and Myers can do to try and get you to pay. The SOL in Arkansas is passed. If they do sue, your defense is that the debt is time barred.
Please give me the bottom line on these people. Sherman Acquisitions was successful in getting a judgment on me in 2005 for a little over $5000.00. Soon after they would harass me and my elderly parents. In 2013 they garnished my checking account (wiped it out completely). I was able to prove that none of the money in the account was earned by me but by my husband. They had to restore every penny. I tried to settle with them then but they wouldn’t accept my offer. This debt is now in the hands of LVNV Funding, which I believe is a subsidiary of Sherman Acquisitions. What is an acceptable offer that may be entertained by these people (besides 100%)? I would like to get this monkey off my back but I find them to be unreasonable.