Tips when dealing with CA's

Here is some info I found on a website, some of this stuff I did not know.....like about not giving a check by phone, I am guilty of doing that.

The website I found this on is: budhibbs.com

ATTENTION CONSUMERS!


If you are CONTACTED by a Debt Collector:

NEVER give them your banking or credit card information. They will take much more than you authorize.

NEVER do 'checks by phone' as debt collectors could empty your bank account, you have no recourse.

NEVER send them money via Western Union.

REMEMBER: Debt Collectors have NO power and NO authority and should NEVER be trusted. They will lie and cheat you to get at your money. If it's NOT in writing, it's NOT a deal.

BEWARE: Paying a debt collector will NOT get an account removed from your credit. They do NOT have that ability.

RECORD conversations with debt collectors (where legal) so they can be held accountable for breaking the law. Make sure taping is legal in your state first.

Collection Attorney Complaints can be handled by filing complaints with the various states bar ethics committees.

Is the debt still within your state's statute for collection? Statute of Limitations:

State
(in years) Oral
Agreements Written
Contracts Promissory
Notes Open
Accounts
Alabama 6 6 6 3
Alaska 6 6 6 6
Arizona 3 6 5 3
Arkansas 3 5 6 3
California 2 4 4 4
Colorado 6 6 6 6
Connecticut 3 6 6 6
Delaware 3 3 6 3
D.C. 3 3 3 3
Florida 4 5 5 4
Georgia 4 6 6 4
Hawaii 6 6 6 6
Idaho 4 5 10 4
Illinois 5 10 6 5
Indiana 6 10 10 6
Iowa 5 10 5 5
Kansas 3 5 5 3
Kentucky 5 15 15 5
Louisiana 10 10 10 3
Maine 6 6 6 6
Maryland 3 3 6 3
Massachusetts 6 6 6 6
Michigan 6 6 6 6
Minnesota 6 6 6 6
Mississippi 3 3 3 3
Missouri 5 10 10 5
Montana 5 8 8 5
Nebraska 4 5 6 4
Nevada 4 6 3 4
New Hampshire 3 3 6 3
New Jersey 6 6 6 6
New Mexico 4 6 6 4
New York 6 6 6 6
North Carolina 3 3 5 3
North Dakota 6 6 6 6
Ohio 6 15 15 -
Oklahoma 3 5 5 3
Oregon 6 6 6 6
Pennsylvania 4 4 4 4
Rhode Island 15 15 10 10
South Carolina 10 10 3 3
South Dakota 6 6 6 6
Tennessee 6 6 6 6
Texas 4 4 4 4
Utah 4 6 6 4
Vermont 6 6 5 6
Virginia 3 5 6 3
Washington 3 6 6 3
West Virginia 5 10 6 5
Wisconsin 6 6 10 6
Wyoming 8 10 10 8

I hope this is helpful info.

Great TMD, thanks for posting that!

~Mary

Great, this is very helpful information. Most of the people are not aware about the duration of statutes in a state. Unknowingly, they start paying the debt and come under legal collection period. Now, they can't skip it until the statutes expires again. The companies want people to make such mistakes.

People should not be stopped from taking their debt responsibility if they want to pay it. But, before they do so, they should know all aspects related with it. Sometimes, after making a payment, they are unable to continue it. Since the SOL has been renewed, they can end up in problems. Awareness on the SOL period is a must before making any payment decision.

I do have a question though, which has been probably answered numerous times here, but I do want to get clarification: let's say, for example, that I have a medical bill that is reported on my credit as being 5 years old (I live in California, so that puts it out of the statue of limitations). If I was to pay it, in one payment, would it be reported as "paid collection" or what have you, and also, would it come off at the 7 year mark, or would that 7 year reporting period begin again because I made a payment? Thanks guys in advance

~Mary

From what I've read, one of the worst things you can do is pay because this gives the OC an opportunity to start the 7 year clock on you again. As a matter of fact, (someone correct me if I'm wrong), just contacting the OC can start the 7 year clock up again. I may be wrong, but unless you can get them to give you a favorable notation on your credit report, you just might do best to leave well enough alone. You've have the SOL on your side, it's a medical debt and it's 5 years old. If this were baseball, you'd have 3 balls and no strikes. The rule in baseball is to not swing on a 3-0 pitch unless you're sure that the pitch is gonna' be one that you can drive. LOL! Baseball analogy, but it works. You're ahead in the count. I know you wanna' hit, but sometimes a walk is as good as a hit.

Damn....that is a bummer! I want to pay them, now that I am coming to the point where I will be able to, but if I am going to get screwed like that, it makes me not want to touch it. Gonna have to think on this one....thanks for the info, notell

~Mary

Your medical bill is reported in your credit report as 5 years old. As per the state laws, it is out of the SOL period. This means that you can't be legally forced to pay the account. In other words, you can escape this debt without paying it. But, if you pay it in one single payment, you will have an improved file as this account will be marked as 'paid collection'. Anyone viewing your file will understand that you had an account in collections, but you took the responsibility and paid off the account.

There are two situations for an account to remain in your credit report. One is when you pay the debt completely and the other is when you have not. In case you have paid the account, the information can remain in your file as long as it can. This won't hurt your ratings because it is reflecting your actual credit history and your payment made to the account.

In the other case when you fail to pay the debt, the negative information is legally required to stay for 7 years from the original date of delinquency. In case, you pay the account somewhere after the expiry of the SOL, the account will still be calculated for that 7 years only. In your case after you have paid the medical bill, this account will be shown as 'paid collection' for 2 years and then will be removed from your file permanently. FCRA laws say that accurate negative information must stay in the file for 7 years only. Since this account took a negative turn from the beginning, 7 years stay applies on it. So, combining everything, your account will be giving 2 years of positive view after 5 years of negative view and after 7 years term, it will be removed from your file.

Hi John,

Thank you so much for that post. It cleared up every question that I had regarding this! Looks like I will be sending validation letters and paying these debts! Once again, thanks, your posts are always very helpful!!

~Mary

Thanks Mary for the appreciation. If you have any queries that will help you in decision making, just put it in the relevant section of the forum. We will stand together and get to the base of that problem and then solve it.

So using this example would the best bet be to wait till the account is 6 years and 11 months then pay it and have it show only for another month?? Can the status be changed to "Paid Cahrge Off when the payment is received, and THAT show for an additional 7 years, as the date of payment would become the date of last activity. I previously paid a charge off, and was told the "PAID CHARGE OFF" status would remain for 7 years from the date of the update to the new status (paid charge off as opposed to open charge off)

Hi Clay,

I am sorry but I didn't clearly understand your situation regarding charge off. Can you please clarify it once again so that I can shape up the exact answer?

I have a charged off credit card and the last payment was paid in 1999. Has the sol ran out? They are calling me each day and demanding payment. I have a lawyer now and they told me to not make a payment to them. Thanks.

The SOL for Tenessee is 6 years on everything.

I work for a collections agency, I'm sure that is aparent to anyone who read's my posts. So I'm going to hit these one by one.

"NEVER give them your banking or credit card information. They will take much more than you authorize."

It is illegal to take any amount more than a debtor is authorizing. It is illegal to take any amount of money the second before a debtor authorizes it.


"NEVER do 'checks by phone' as debt collectors could empty your bank account, you have no recourse"

See above response to the first NEVER.


"NEVER send them money via Western Union."
Sending money by western union gives you a tracking number and a reciept. Depending on the type of debt (I deal with Pre-Charge off credit cards and my advice is for precharge off only on this instance) you are going to want your payment to be recieved before you get hit with another late and or intrest fee that could charge you anywhere from 10-200+ dollars.

"REMEMBER: Debt Collectors have NO power and NO authority and should NEVER be trusted. They will lie and cheat you to get at your money. If it's NOT in writing, it's NOT a deal."

If it is not in writting then it didn't happen. You are going to want to have access to a fax machine, if you are able. Or you are going to make sure you aren't throwing away mail that might otherwise be thought of as junk mail.

"BEWARE: Paying a debt collector will NOT get an account removed from your credit. They do NOT have that ability."

Unless they have bought the debt. In most cases only the client, the company you owe the debt to, has the adility to have it removed only.

"RECORD conversations with debt collectors (where legal) so they can be held accountable for breaking the law. Make sure taping is legal in your state first."

Also check the law to make sure that you do not hve to make the other party aware that the conversation is being recorded. Most recordings are thrown out of court because a party is not notified that they are being recorded.

Not all collectors are spawns of satan out to eat you alive for you failing on your obligation. Please read the fdcpa it is an important resource and guide for anyone wanting to honor their debts and even for those trying to avoid their responsibilities.

If you are swiming in credit card debt and are sarting to drink the water and drown then I suggest contacting a credit counseling service. But do your research before signing on. You want to go with a company that has a good reputation. You also want to be sure that each of your creditors accepts the proposal sent to them or you will be kinda screwed sending in the minimum payments only.

Keep in mind that just because your debt has expired within the SOL doesn't mean you don't owe the money still and it could stay on your credit report for as long as your states allow. It just means that a collection agency can't activly hound you to honor the obligation that you initiated.

Good to hear from you, FYI. You might have read other collectors posting here. They showed their dirty side in some of the threads here. You sound a good man and professional in your collections. Hope you will offer sounds justifications.

Since you have been in this forum for quite some time, you might know that no one tries to escape paying their accounts. All we need is legitimate debt information in writing before paying them. We will become sure that our money is going to the right place and not in their pocket. There should no problems for them to identify properly if they are making a genuine collections. Just don't like the idea when a collector denies putting an account in writing and then starts harassing people. What's your take on this issue?

Hey, FYI!! Where do you guys get our SSN numbers and all our other private info from if theres no account to start with? You probably dont scam people, but COLLECTCORP makes their money this way. I still have no Idea where they stole my ID from.

Is there any way we can hide our info from these fraud artists?