Aren't third party collection agencies FUN?

[Systematic Chaos]

I'm sitting here shaking my head in total disbelief and laughing inside because of this letter I got today. There's a collection agency that is trying to get me to pay on a debt that's now 12 years old and hasn't registered a blip on my credit report in AT LEAST 3 or 4 years.

While I'm ashamed to admit that in my early 20's I completely destroyed my credit. I feel that I MORE than paid my due with the years I spent unable to do anything involving credit except maybe joining a record club.

This past two years I have made every effort to repair my credit. My student loans have been out of default and I am timely in paying my present set of bills.

According to everything I've gleaned from the internet this afternoon, the Statutes of Limitations have long since run out on this credit card debt in question, and therefore there is virtually nothing this third-party agency can do except intimidate me with BS. So, I constructed a "Notice of Refusal / Order to Cease and Desist" that will go out in the mail via certified letter no later than Friday. I'm fairly confident that will shut them up. And, if it doesn't, I will simply continue to pay on the things I owe (on edit: with the exception of this "debt" in question) and close each and every account as soon as my balances are zero. I lived without any credit for over ten years and if I have to I'll do without it until I croak.

Anyone else out there been through what I have? How have you dealt with it?

On edit: added a few words for clarity

[unblock]

1. i'm confused

"I lived without any credit for over ten years and if I have to I'll do without it until I croak."

is your intent to clean up your credit and then not use it?

[Systematic Chaos]

2. What I'm trying to say is

that if everything I've tried to do this last couple of years to restore my credit is going to be destroyed by something that should, according to my understanding, remain buried in the past, then there's no way I'm going to continue to play the game.

As I stated in my original post, I believe that the Statute of Limitations has run out on the debt in question, and it currently is not an item of concern on my credit report. Therefore, I don't see anything this collection agency can do except harass me and hope that they can intimidate me into paying them something on a very old debt that they probably bought for less than 5% of its original value.

I just hope I'm right. I'll know for sure in 30 days, by which time this company is expected to respond to my Notice of Refusal.

[unblock]

3. statute of limitations vs. credit bureau limits

the statute of limitations determines how long you legally owe the debt. that is, a creditor can sue you for payment, until the statute of limitations runs out.

completely unrelated to this, credit bureaus have time limits on negative items that can appear on your credit report. usually the limit is 7 years past the due date. there are exceptions, e.g., bankruptcies can stay on for 10 years.

if they're calling you on a 12 year old debt, that item cannot appear on your credit history. if you're trying to repair your credit, it's worth your while to get a copy credit report and scan it for mistakes. the bureaus rely on merchants to report accurately, YOU are the only fact checker in the process. dispute anything that's wrong.

heck, while you're at it, you can even dispute some things that are right. the merchant has 30 days to prove their side, or else the negative item comes off. big companies (credit cards, e.g.) will always meet the 30 day deadline, but smaller operations might not. heck, the smaller operation might be out of business.

back to the statute of limitations. this varies by state. your state might have a statute of limitations of, say, 15 years. this means that even though the item drops off your credit report after 7 years, they can still collect and sue for another 8 years.

the good news is that delinquencies are only kept for 2 years. so pay everything on time (actually, no more than 30, or in some cases, 15 days late) for 2 years and at least that portion of your report will be clean.

finally, once you've paid off an account, DO NOT CLOSE it. part of your score is the percentage of available credit used. unused open credit is a good thing. if you close an account with a $0 balance, all you're doing is lowering your available credit, thereby increasing the percentage of remaining credit used. this hurts your score.

a good reason for closing an account would be to help control the temptation to (ab)use it, if that's a problem for you. another good reason would be if you really do have too much available credit, enough so that THAT is hurting your score. but that takes a LOT.

good luck!

[Systematic Chaos]

4. My state's statute of limitations (Nevada) is only 10 years

and that is from the time of the original default, which happened in early 1992. So, they're SOL by a year-and-a-half if I understand correctly.

I also understand that ANY payment I make now towards this debt will resurrect it for the purposes of credit reports and so on. So, unless this company actually plans to sue me (which is 99.9% unlikely) then my best recourse is to do absolutely nothing until that time above and beyond submitting the letter I've written.

[unblock]

6. actually that's not true.

credit bureau time limts from from the due date, NOT the last payment date. the only exception to this is tax liens.

sly merchants do often reactivate your account and report to the credit bureau, hoping to put extra pressure on you, but they're wrong. dispute the item with the credit bureau and it WILL come off.

having said that, if they are in fact, past the SOL, then you're right, they are SOL. ;) don't pay them anything simply because legally, you don't owe them anything anymore.

what the SOL is saying is that if a creditor doesn't collect or sue within 10 years then they've forgiven the debt.

[Booberdawg]

5. I had something similar happen to me several years ago

I think someone is blowing smoke up your ass.

My situation was actually some credit card checks I had written, then I had to close the accounts when I thought I had lost my purse. Anyway I had gone to the places I wrote these checks and told the checks were going to be returned so there was no "bad credit" involved on my part to begin with.

SEVERAL years later I got either a letter or a phone call, can't remember which but I did talk to him on the phone and he insisted I had a bad check. Well - I still had the same checking account for 15 years so I knew that wasn't the case. He threatened me with legal action and double fees and fines and I asked him for proof. I sent a very aggressive letter to follow up our conversation. I got it - it was like 5 years old?? He wouldn't use mail (mail fraud?? ahem??) but faxed me copies of the credit card checks. Oh, I lived in Iowa, the check was written in Nebraska, and he was working in Illinois??? WTF??

I called him back and told him I thought he was blowing smoke up my ass. He blew a gasket and told me how sorry I was going to be and I'd be smacked with legal action and fines and my credit would be ruined. It didn't seem to bother him I didn't OWE the fuckers?? I told him to shoot his best shot and he hung up on my.

Never heard another word from him.

I think that debt of yours from 12 years ago has been long written off. There MUST be a statute of limitations too. I think someone has a stack of old debts and is trying to make a few bucks by trying to collect old debts. Send out your letter but I'd just ignore them after that.

Linda