Collection Agency Calling on 10 year Old Debt Past the SOL in California and Kentucky
in 2001 i lived in California and had a small credit card. i was hurt on the job and unable to pay. Today 1/09/2012 i live in Kentucky and a collection agency just contacted me.
Do they have to go by California law since that's where the debt came from. or since i live in Kentucky, does that change the whole process?
I lived in California 2001 had small credit card hurt on job unable to pay 10 years later collector me in Kentucky what can I do?
—kelly
Short answer
This is what gets called zombie debt: an account outside the statute of limitations for anyone to sue you over it, and old enough that it should no longer be showing on your credit report at all. With a 4 year limit on open accounts in California and 5 years in Kentucky, a lawsuit is unlikely.
Key points on this page
- Zombie debt is a debt the owner can no longer take to court, and that should have aged off your report as a charge off or collection.
- You can unknowingly reset the statute of limitations by admitting to the debt, or by making a partial payment.
- On open accounts such as credit cards, the statute of limitations is 4 years in California and 5 years in Kentucky. A move between states can pause the tolling.
- Caution: if you are not certain the debt is past the statute of limitations, a cease communication letter leaves the collector no way to proceed except by suing you. Consider other ways to resolve the debt first.
- To stop contact on a debt you know is time barred, send a letter stating that you dispute the debt and demand the collector cease communicating with you in any way. Send it certified mail with return receipt and keep the green card.
- If the same agency keeps contacting you after that, speak with an attorney experienced in collection violations. Many take these cases on contingency and are paid by the other side. Also check that the account left your credit report 7.5 years after the date of last payment.
The debt collector is trying to get you to pay what is likely a “zombie debt“. Zombie debt refers to a debt that is outside the statute of limitations (SOL) where the debt owner can access the courts and sue you in order to collect, and the fact that after 10 years, the account should not be appearing on your credit report as a charge off or collection. The debt is essentially the walking dead.
There are instances where you can unknowingly reset the SOL on a debt by admitting to the debt or making a partial payment.
There are also instances where the tolling on the SOL is paused due to the move you mention you made. With the SOL of 4 years on open accounts (credit cards) in California, and 5 years Kentucky, I find it unlikely the SOL can be established as still an active concern, and I doubt you will be sued. If you were sued, I would encourage you to connect with a consumer law attorney and discuss the situation at that time. In fact, I want you to be aware of a few things that may lead to you contacting an attorney with debt collection violation experience.
Debt collectors should follow up phone calls with a collection letter.
This collection letter will give you the address you need for the agency in order to send them a cease communication letter. It does not have to be a fancy or long letter. Just be sure it states that you dispute the debt and you demand that the collector cease communicating with you in any way. This means this particular collector should not be attempting to contact you again. Be sure to send the letter certified mail return receipt in order to get the green card back that proves the collection firm received it. If collection attempts by the same collection agency continue after that, you should connect with an attorney with collection violation experience and discuss how he or she may be able to assist you. Many attorneys with experience in this area of law will not charge you a retainer or request any fees from you if they represent you in this situation. They work your case on contingency, where if they are to be paid, it will be by the other side.
If you continue to receive calls on this debt by this, or any other collector, I would encourage you to reach out to an attorney. I can help you locate one if you post the name of a large nearby city.
I encourage you to check your credit reports if you have not done so recently and be certain that this negative account has been removed after 7.5 years has elapsed since the date of last activity (last payment). Any collection agency reporting related to the account should no longer remain on your report either, but collection accounts do often reflect a more recent and therefore inaccurate date of last activity.
Sending debt collectors a cease communication letter if the SOL has not expired.
Anyone reading this who is not certain that the debt is outside the SOL for legitimate collection efforts using the courts, who sends the cease communication letter in an attempt to stop collection calls and letters, will be leaving the collector no alternative to communicate unless they want to proceed with collection by suing you. There may be better methods for resolving the debt you should consider instead.
Any reader with questions or concerns regarding debt collection and the statute of limitations can post them in a comment below for feedback.
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. He is available to speak with you about your financial struggle and helps people resolve their debt problems daily.
zombie company trying to collect on 13 year old pizza debt of about 20.00$ they just started calling me 2 weeks ago. I told them to kiss my ass so now they said they will turn it over stating refuse to pay.should I be worried or tell them again.
I just posted a video about this little trick debt collectors use when they say you are refusing to pay. Watch that back.
Hunt & Henriques Attorneys At Law 151 Bernal Road , Suite 8 , San Jose , California 95119-1306 ,
Phone : 408-362-2270 .
Did The Following Fraud :
Orchard Bank Card ! This debt was paid in full on 2/17/08 via Account Secure Plus ( card protection insurance ) due to the death of my husband .
A contractor was working on my vacant house and was served a court summons that was filed against me on Dec. 10th 2009 for my bank card that was paid off . There was No court date on that summons and when I called to find out what was going on , that same day ….the court said a judgment was entered on me for failure to show up in court . The hearing was 4 days prior to the summons being handed to my contractor , I never knew or received any notice about any of it and that judgment is still sitting in the court . Apparently no one pays attention to card insurance at all after a card is paid off due to circumstances beyond ones control .
I am 70 and tired of threats by mail , harassment and the phone calls . The above law firm has been dealt with by many attorneys to withdraw illegal judgments against innocent people .
Have you consulted with an experienced debt collection defense attorney about any options?
Have you filed a debt collection complaint with the CFPB?
How can I assure that I will get proper credit for paying money to a debt collector? I have several debts from credit cards because of economic hardship. I want to pay them off and judging by the way things are going it looks like I should be able to. The problem is that debt collectors send me letters with up to a 50% discount on the original debt, but they don’t list which debt they are collecting for. So how do I know they aren’t just making it up. How do I know that they really own the debt and how do I make sure that when I pay them that I will get proper credit for satisfying the debt. I’m afraid that I will pay the debt and then years later some other debt collector will come along and try to collect for the same debt after I paid it.
One thing I forgot to mention is that if I try to contact them I’m afraid I will restart the time for the Statute of Limitations. Obviously these guys know all the tricks. If I try to contact them they will say that I was trying to negotiate with them and therefore restarted the SOL.
Who is the collection agency you are dealing with that is not properly identifying your account?
When did stop paying on these accounts?
What state are you in?
Is there any way to stop the cycle/death loop? I have a zombie debt that I don’t own and no company has ever been able to make good on. It seems they sell me to another bidder every six months and the process of cease and desist letters has to start all over again. They claim the original debt was from 2006, Texas SOL is 4 years, that’s about when the calls and “criminal litigation” threats started. 6 years later I’m still in the death loop. Any suggestions?
Who is the collection agency you are dealing with now?
You may not be dealing with a new agency every 6 months, but a scammer willing to ignore cease communication laws.
I just recieved a phone call from a company called representing Unified Processing Services. The company representing them was calling to verify address as well as work address so they could send me a summons for court on an outstanding debt. When I asked what it was for he said he didn’t know but would give me the number to Unified so I could talk to them directly and gave me a reference number. When I called they stated it was for an account in 2003 with Sprint totaling $1,353.oo I have not had Sprint since February of 2002 when I moved out of the state of Virginia to North Carolina. So here we are 14 years later and they are saying they are taking me to court. When I asked her about the Statue of Limitations she said Sprint had kept the account open and had been trying to contact me for all these years. Which I find hard to believe, unless it was through another collection agency. I asked her to email me the documentation for the charges. I have yet to see any email come to me. She said they could settle the account for $502. I told her if I decided to settle I would not be able to pay it all at one time. She said they could split it into two payments since I had never recieved notification in the mail from them or Sprint. Something doesnt smell right here. Would the SOL be in my favor on this one?
The SOL would certainly apply. I would smell something too. Read my article about scam debt collectors and follow those suggestions that make sense for you.
Hi there, my husband received a call today and texted me the phone number of the debt collector who called him looking for me. I called the number as I’ve paid off anything negative on my credit report and was curious what this was about as my husband was very upset saying I needed to be home within an hour as I was getting served. I called immediately and some guy answered stating he was in the legal office and wanted to know if I was home so they could serve me. I told him no, I’m out of town and he asked where so they can serve me there. I told him, that I want to know what this is all about as I’m not disclosing any of that information until I get more details. He asked me what my ss# was and it matched his records. He stated my name (maiden name) and then my married name plus my husbands name and said I owed Kay Jewlers credit card which I haven’t had in over 12 years. I’m a FL resident and was told years ago it was charged off and showed $0 balance. About 12 years ago an ex stole my credit card(s) and I called the companies to let them know and to see if I needed a police report but was told at that time since he was an authorized user I couldn’t do anything because technically he was authorized. Long story short, he was a liar and a thief I was 19-20 and broke up with him after all of this. I found out later he was in jail for similar things and had a 10 page wrap sheet. Anyway, I proceeded to explain this to the guy from the collection agency and he just kept interrupting me and said I need to pay or return the merchandise!!?? I told him that I did not make the purchase and I don’t have the merchandise and have no idea what was bought. I asked him not to call my husbands number as this has nothing to do with him as we have only been married 2 years. I told him he is in the military in training and can’t be bothered with these calls. He had an attitude and said yeah and if he doesn’t pay and we sue he will be discharged dishonorably. That made me furious and I wasn’t even able to let him know I haven’t been able to work over 1.5 years due to disability and don’t have income as I’m waiting on the courts. He hung up before I mentioned that. It was maybe a $500 credit card but said I owed $3,000. That’s hard to believe.
Can my husband be responsible for this? Can he make that kind of ungrateful threat about him being discharged? My poor husband is already footing the bill for everything now and we can’t afford to pay $3,000 and especially on something I didn’t charge which I know, unfortunately, supposedly I’m responsible for since I was the primary card holder. I was so upset my blood pressure shot sky high and my husband is worried sick that his career could be in jeopardy and I could go to jail (served) that was his words but he over reacts at times.
The CC was opened in Florida and we are FL residents.
I plan on calling back tomorrow and ask to speak to someone different. Will me being unemployed and in the middle of filing disability help them put things off? If it goes to court and a judge sees my past=clean vs my ex of many moons ago and see he’s s con artist, wouldn’t that count for something? I’m the victim here. I had the card paid off, he knew it, stole the card and charged God knows on it.
If this is for FL and the last payment was over 9-12 years ago can they still sue me? I don’t care about calls, those can be ignored but I’m terribly scared of going to court. Why would my husband be involved when he didn’t even know I existed back then? I hope you can help me as all this is new for me and I’m already dealing with health issues. I just want some piece of mind and some light shed on the subject. Thank you.
You and your husband will want to read my post about dealing with debt collection scams. You are being victimized. I would encourage you to follow all of the steps I outline in that article. And I would not take any threat seriously moving forward.
My son had borrowed money from CheckandGo in Alabama in 2010 400.00. He could not pay it so I paid an amount around 550.00 in 2010 at checkandgo. He got a call out of the blue yesterday from a collection agency saying he owed 1700.00 but would take 500.00. I called them and they were brutal and rude. I was check Alabama sol and it is 3 years. He has NEVER received even any mail since 2010. What should he do?
What is the name of the collection agency you are dealing with?
MCM sold my debt to another collection agency. Per my credit report the date opened was 9/1/2009 and as of October 2015, it has fallen off. I’m in Arizona and the SOL is 6 years. on the letter the new collections agency sent me,it states, “The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, our client will not sue you for it.” Even when MCM was sending me collection letters, they said, “The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, our client will not sue you for it, we will not report it to any credit agency, and payment or non-payment of the debt will not affect your credit score.” I just checked my credit report and nothing has shown up. However, I did start to make payments on it last year but the collection letter still states I won’t be sued. And I believe it can’t be put back onto my credit report correct? Did I just restart the SOL? They keep calling me on this trying to collect. Should I just leave this alone?
If you started making payments on the old collection account that had passed the SOL to legitimately sue, you could indeed have restarted the SOL to sue. And if that is the case I would not ignore this.
Your payment would not restart any credit reporting limits, so you are good there.
I have received a demand for payment and have 60-days to go before this debt falls under the statute of limitations. What is the wisest choice for me? Start asking a bunch of questions to validate the debt, or let it quietly sit.
Who is it that is trying to collect? If it is not someone known to sue I would sit. If it is someone who regularly sues in your courts I might look to an administrative time drag like requesting validation.
Greetings Michael,
I have a credit card debt that is past the California sol. If I send the debt geek (MCM) a cease communication letter, is there any benefit or detriment to telling them in that letter that the account is beyond the sol for CA? Is that an acknowledgement of the debt so they could potentially try to reset the sol? The debt is over a year past the sol at this point.
Hope you had a great holiday!
Thanks.
Midland Credit is typically going to know that your account is outside of the SOL to sue you. But point out the expired SOL in your cease communication should not hurt you or reset the SOL. Just be sure you are sending a general cease communication notice, and not some mumbo jumbo letter that includes anything but the fact you would like all communication to stop. Send certified mail and keep a copy for your records.
If you are thinking of going for any home loan financing between now and when Midland Funding will drop from your credit reports, you may want to rethink your current approach.
As with anything where you are concerned about your legal rights, contact an in state attorney for a consultation (talk to one with debt defense experience).
Hello.
I have a debt for dillards that is NOT on my credit report. It has fallen off about 3 years ago. However, someone at Thomas and associates in California has now brought the debt. They are now calling multiple family members.
How do I get them to stop calling my family members and leave me alone as this debt is not even on my credit report???
Call 866-393-5918 and talk to an experienced debt collection violation attorney in California for free. Find out what they recommend and post an update.
Hi Michael,
I went to school for a Graduate Degree – MBA in San Jose, CA. I started in Jan 2013 and left the school around 1st Sept 2013 after taking a semester break.. I paid all my fees in full when I was attending classes. Since it was getting expensive to travel to San Jose, CA (I was living in Atlanta, GA at that time). The school stuck a $200 technology fee + $50 Registration fees on 12/06/2013 even when I didn’t Add/Drop any classes. Since two years, they have been contacting me via email or mail. Recently, they sent a letter asking me to either pay up or they will leave a derogatory remark on my credit report. Can they do that even though I didn’t attend school? Can I sue them for harassment? My current status is that I’m on H1B Visa and my green card process is under way.
Are you saying the fees the school is assessing are bogus to start with? Have you ever disputed the debt or fees with the school in writing or verbally?
Hi Michael,
I recently received a collection notice for an account that I believe belonged to my ex wife before we were married. The notice is addressed to me. The amount owed is around $3500. I check all 3 of my credit reports every year and have never seen this account listed at all, let alone as delinquent. On the notice I received, the creditor is listed as lvnv funding, the original creditor was listed as citibank/sears, and the notice is from first national collection bureau. The notice says due to the age of the account, they cannot sue for the debt and the creditor (lvnv funding) will not report it to any credit reporting agency. I believe my ex wife stopped paying on the account in 2006, and we were divorced in 2007, so I think the debt would have been past the 7 1/2 year mark anyway. Hopefully this is enough background info for my question. My question is, can this now be reported against my credit by first national collection bureau? Should I write a letter disputing the debt, should I ignore it since it’s so aged? My most recent credit reports from this past weekend don’t have a any delinquencies or judgements listed, and I would really like to keep it that way. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Kris
A debt this old is likely passed the SOL to sue in order to collect, and also too dated to legitimately appear on someones credit reports. The fact that the debt at issue was never yours to begin with makes all of this doubly so.
If First National Collection Bureau were to show on your credit reports post an update and lets go from there.
You could send them a cease communication letter and also let them know they are contacting the wrong person about the debt, it is not yours. If you do decide to send a letter to FNCB sent it certified and keep a copy of everything for your records. If they respond to your letter in anyway post an update.
I had a vehicle repossessed in Jan 2008 and subsequently sold at auction in Mar 2008, leaving a balance of almost $6000. I initially got a bill and did not have the money. I recall receiving phone calls and a letter from a collections agency…then nothing I have lived at the same address the entire time and have heard nothing. Then out of nowhere I received a summons dated August 2015 stating a judgement will be made against me if I do not respond. I’m wondering what my options are? I have heard nothing and honestly had forgotten about it. I have bought vehicles since that time and didn’t even realize it was still on my credit score. I’m trying to clean up my credit and really don’t have the money to pay off this debt, but do not want a judgement against me. If I ask for a settlement, are there payment options or is it dependent on the company summoning me? Can I ignore it since it’s outside of 7 years?
What state do you live in? What is the name of the plaintiff that is suing you?
The repossession may have happened long enough ago that the lawsuit can be dismissed for having passed the statute of limitations to legitimately sue for collection. You do have to formally put this in front of the court by filing an answer and raising that defense.
I have been served a summons for a Chase credit card that has been passed the SOL. In my state the SOL is 6 years. The collection attorney’s office has mailed me paperwork stating that I paid in 2011 but my credit report is stating that the last payment received was 2009. I have since filed a response with the court and also mailed a letter to the collections attorney. This has obviously been a case of re-aging. What is my next step prior to going to court to avoid this suit?
The suit is active so there is nothing to do to avoid it. It will be up to the debt collection attorney to prove the debt is not time barred. You will want to stay on top of this. Have you consulted with your own attorney?
Who is the plaintiff and who is the collection law firm handling the case?
Hi Michael. I’m just curious about something and hopefully you might be able to enlighten a friend and me a little. My friend had a debt with a credit card company and they sold it to collector. It has since passed beyond the 4 year statute of limitations in our state. She noticed on all the requests the collector sent after the sol had passed had the statement ” The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, we will not sue you for it.” Now today she has received yet another request for payment from the same collector for this same account and this statement is missing. We are just wondering, can you think of any reason why it might have been omitted on this latest request?
Thanks for all your information and your time to freely share it. It is a blessing to us in the general public to have a source of knowledge and information that we can trust.
There are many reasons I can come up with for that disclosure to missing on the second collection letter. Here are a few:
The disclosure was never required in your state, and that was figured out and deleted from the follow up letter.
A bulk mailing glitch.
Human programming error.
A recent court decision that caused the collector to change its letter and collection notice practices.
Who is the debt collector? What state are you in? Was there any communication with the collector between letters they sent?
I thought I sent you a response a couple of days ago but apparently it didn’t go through for some reason. Sorry about that. The collector is MCM, California and no communication ever with them.
Thanks!
California has a newer law, the Fair Debt Buying Practices Act. The Act applies to debts purchased after January 1st 2014. I cover some of the major highlights of the FDBPA on another site: credit.com/2013/11/new-debt-collection-law-means-for-you-71019/.
The relevant sections of California’s law read as follows:
(2) When collecting on a time-barred debt where the debt is not
past the date for obsolescence provided for in Section 605(a) of the
federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681c):
“The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the
age of your debt, we will not sue you for it. If you do not pay the
debt, [insert name of debt buyer] may [continue to] report it to the
credit reporting agencies as unpaid for as long as the law permits
this reporting.”
(3) When collecting on a time-barred debt where the debt is past
the date for obsolescence provided for in Section 605(a) of the
federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681c):
“The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the
age of your debt, we will not sue you for it, and we will not report
it to any credit reporting agency.”
This is pure speculation, but it is possible the Midland Credit Management started out with the disclosure on debts purchased prior to 1/1/14 with an abundance of caution, and later decided pre 2014 portfolio purchases did not require it, or developments in your state since enactment suggested the disclosure was something they could leave off.
What is the goal for this account?
I have a credit card dating back to 2000 (a citibank mastercard) and I had an unspecified amount of money left on it when I moved to England 10 years ago. I have recently been contacted by A L & Associates (debt collection agency?), who rang my brother and told him to tell me to ring them saying I need to pay $5000 to settle with the credit card company for the unpaid debt. As this is 10 over years old, am I still liable to pay it? I know the unpaid amount was no where near $5000 when I moved but I’m not quite sure how much was on it. They say I have a court summons regarding the debt…. Am I legally responsible to pay this debt after 10 years? I know that this company bought this debt from the credit card company. Any advice would be greatly received, thanks.
It is not as much a question of if you are legally responsible for a debt after 10 years of nonpayment as much as there is little debt collectors can do to force collection through legal channels after so long.
The threats of suing you now are a concern to me. I now suspect you may be dealing with a debt collection scam. Read that article and get a good sense of why I suspect that, and some things you can consider doing from here.
Hi, thanks for that. I just phoned the court house in the county where I lived in tx, and they don’t have any record of a court summons for me… does that mean this IS a scam? The company who contacted me is based in California, they couldn’t have a summons there could they? However, if its genuine, could they sue me when I’m not living in the country? I have an email they sent me with, a contract they want me to sign saying I’ll pay $5000 as a settlement, its done with ‘docusign’. Thanks for all your help, I’ll pay if its real but if not, no thanks!
Read that scam article I linked to in my above comment and tell me if any of that sounds familiar.
The docusign bit is not typically something I see with a scammer, but they are getting more sophisticated.
Hi Michael, yes some of it does sound familiar, we were doubting there legitimacy pretty much from the beginning… they told my brother I could have problems getting back into America or even problems at the UK embassy… when I confronted them on this, they backtracked their statement. Also, they had a sense of urgency about them and wanted me to agree to some sort of payment straight away and said if I didn’t pay, I would be summond to court and my credit rating would be affected, but if I paid straight away it would be cleared from my credit report. Also, they have a couple of different addresses (one is actually listed as a post office in CA) and you can’t find them on Google, they gave me their website which is very basic… https://www.abel-lyonn.com/ the website name doesn’t match the company name of ‘A L & Associates’ I don’t know if all these things add up or not, but they did call me tonight, in England at 11.30 pm :/ thanks again
It all adds up to appear as a scam to me.
Hi Michael. We are still getting phone calls, and they keep offering us reduced amounts to settle the debt. They have now told us that it is about to pass the statue of limitations, and that a payment had been made 6 years ago (that we never made, and have no record of being made). I have asked them to prove chain of debt, and they said that they weren’t allowed to. Is there anything we can ask them that they can give us to prove their ownership/ legitimacy of the debt. Thank you for your help
File complaints with the CFPB. Next time they call let them know you filed the complaints and that you will wait to hear back from the CFPB about how they responded.
How long after the statute of limitations expires until a debt is considered “zombie” debt and how long are they allowed to continue to try to collect? I have an account that passed the sol more than 6 months ago and the company that bought the debt is starting to call me again on it.
Zombie debt is generally understood to be collection accounts that are passed the SOL to legitimately sue you for collection in your state, and that can no longer appear on your credit reports.
The SOL to sue in court varies by state. What state are you in? What type of debt is it that you are dealing with (credit card, personal loan, deficiency balance from a repo, etc)?
There is no hard stop date limit that causes a debt to disappear like you may be thinking. Debts passed the SOL to sue, or to appear on your credit reports, can still be collected. Debt collectors can still call you and send letters. But you can put a stop to that.
it’s in CA and it is credit card debt. Are you referring to a cease communication letter to stop them calling/contacting me regarding the debt? If I do that, won’t they most likely just sell the debt to someone else and I have to start dealing with it all over again? Do you have a good source for a cease communication letter format?
Thx
The SOL to sue legitimately in California is 4 years. Credit reporting limitations are for 7 and one half years starting from when you stopped paying the account.
I would not say it is most likely that your account is resold after you send a cease communication letter, but it certainly can and does happen. You will want to send additional cease communication letters if that happens.
There really is no need for a template letter. You simply write to the debt collector using certified mail and say “I am requesting you cease any and all forms of communication with me”. Anything much more than that is overdoing it. Make sure you identify yourself and the debt at issue clearly in the letter.
also one last thing…if the SOL has expired, in CA, is there any chance that anything I say or do could restart the SOL?
In some instances a written acknowledgment of the debt can reset the SOL to sue in California.
In 2014 I received a 1099C from Chase on an account that I had with them that was charged off. If they send the 1099C it is a debt cancelation form indicating I have to show that amount to the IRS as income. If they sent me the form, they have effectively forgiven (cancelled) the debt. How are they still able to show it each month on my credit report as a charge off, instead of a closed account? I know that it falls off the credit report after 7 years but if they have cancelled the debt shouldn’t it be reported as such?
Thanks for your input.
The cancelled debt and 1099c is to meet IRS guidelines. The credit reporting of a charge off, whether forgiven or cancelled, is still legitimate.
I regularly speak with people who circle back and pay or settle with Chase on old cancelled debts that are not old enough to drop from their credit reports. The main reason is in order to qualify for a home loan or refinance.
Portfolio Recovery just called me to collect on a debt that fell of my credit report in 2012. I live in TN. I told her I wasn’t about to pay them a dime because that debt was beyond sol and she should read up on fair debt collection practices. She assured me she knew all about it. I’m going to send a c&d, and I told her if it reappeared on my credit report I’d find a lawyer. Anything else I should know about or do?
If you send the cease communication letter to PRA be sure to send certified and keep copies. If they do call or write to you again after that, post an update and lets go from there.
Debt collectors are not violating the FDCPA by contacting you after the SOL expires (whether credit reporting limits reached or they can no longer legitimately sue).