Please tell me what the law is on old bills

There are varying levels of collection. At its basic level (phone calls & letters) debts can be collected on indefinitely, until a) they are either discharged, by payment or administrave order (like a bankruptcy); or b) they are cancelled by the owner; or both. In theory they can send you letters/call you forever. But they would, of course, have to follow all laws pertaining to collecting a debt. If you send a C&D to a CA, then they really cannot try to collect from you, without first "going to the next level."

The next level of collection involves the court, where they basically ask for the court's help in getting you to pay them. If they obtain a judgment, then they court will tell you to pay them; and if you still don't pay, then the court provides various means of enforcing a judgment (garnishment, levy, attachment, etc).

The court will only aid a creditor in collection under certain conditions. This is where your state's rules of civil procedure come into play; your state laws dictate how and when the court will "help out." The Statute of Limitations (SOL) defines how long a creditor has to sue you. SOL is generally between 3-10 years, but you would have to look it up (it varies by state, and by the type of debt it is).

If a creditor tried to sue you after the SOL, then you could raise that as a defense, and the court will dismiss the case.

The statute of limitations is the time limit to collect on old bills. It varies by state. The average is 4 years, but, as the previous post state, can be from 3 to 10 years. One state has 20 years.
What state are you in?

edited by FYI please ignore this post and poster.

No Nonsense! I missed you!

Your Internet turned off again? Didn't pay your bill?

Why doesn't a CA "man up" and validate a debt when requested? The validation that was requested because the debt they are trying to collect on may be 20 years old, or more, and there's a good chance it was paid off years ago or it may not even be mine? If it is a valid debt, they are entitled to collect on, there should be no problem when they receive a request for validation. All they have to do is provide the correct paperwork, proving the debt is mine, and if I am able to pay I will. If they cannot provide proper validation, then they can just move on to the next person they plan to harass.

This would not be some rinky-dink piece of paper, they created using MS Word or MS Excel, with my name, address, and an amount. That is not proper validation.

Why doesn't a CA honor a partial cease and desist request from me? You know, the one requesting you only communicate directly with me by USPS. That does not mean stop calling my home phone and start calling my cell phone or work phone. Or even worse, calling third parties divulging my personal business to them. Which you know darn well is a violation of the law that is the fdcpa.

You know, an actual law, not just something we all made up here in these forums.

So we might need the government to step in sometimes, in the form of a law suit for a CA's violating the FDCPA. Not to "bail us out", as you put it, but to hold the CA accountable for their chicanery!