Newbie-Help: Old 2001 Acct., and recent CA letter out of the blue...

Demand validation of the debt and do it now certified return receipt mail. If they enter anything on your credit report that they can't back up you can sue them. You can also challenge them by disputing the entries with the 3 major credit bureaus

Validation includes the date the account was opened, statements from original creditor's bill showing how balance was arrived at and a contract. The only thing these guys have on you is a name and an amount and nothing else. They buy thousands and thousands and thousands of these "portfolios" which is basically just a list. Even if they manage to scare 10% of the people on the list into giving them money it's worth it to them.

Thank you for a reply, I do appreciate it.

It does indeed sound like something they "bought". After a lot of checking around for related info., it also does seem like the right thing to do first.....Demand Validation (without admitting any liability/agreement/etc.). Then wait and see.

Unless I should hear to do something differently, I was even lucky enough to be able to make arrangements to get to a Post Office this Friday, so I can even send it Certified RRR (as was also often recommended), and should still be just within the 30 period, since there will be proof of the Mailing Date.

I just want(ed) to make sure I didn't do something wrong on my end, to mess up my current credit, and fairly decent status that I've otherwise had for the last couple years.

If your last payment was in 2001 and you are a NY resident then this debt is past SOL and federal reporting period. Skip debt validation and move straight to a full cease comm. When they sell it off to the next JDB, rinse & repeat.

I missed the 2001 detail. I did find though that having backup such as proof of trying to get debt validation with no response from jdb did help me in getting the item removed from my credit report.

Yes, the Acct. was originally from summer of 2001. Only open for 2 months, then cancelled. Should have gone to collections no later than around the end of that year. No payemnt(s) made at any time.

In my searching, I saw a sample Debt Validation Letter, that also made a point of some info + warning about "trying to persue a time-barred acct.", or something to that effect.

That one seemed like the best way to go, if I understand everyting correctly. I'd be "protecting" myself with the Validation request....and at the same time making them realize I am indeed "aware" of the SoL.

If indeed no adequate Validation follows within the time period, or further contact from them, then I could send a "cease....Etc." letter.

I would think that should cover the bases, in a safe order.

validation serves three purposes--to make sure youre the party thats legally responsible for a debt, to make sure that the debt collector is legally entitled to collect the debt, and to verify the amount they claim you owe as being legal and correct. If the debt is past the statute of limitations, then why try to validate it now? Is it your intention to pay the debt? Or are you just trying to protect yourself from them? There isnt a thing they can do to you now unless you allow them to, so send them a full cease communication letter and be done with them. Or, validate it and pay the debt if they validate properly. Those are your two options. Mixing a validation letter with "dont contact me anymore" will waste your time and theirs. Also, youre talking about "the time period", there is no such thing. Unless youre in Texas, there is no time limit for them to reply to a validation letter. They could take a year if they wanted to, and it would still be legal.

They can attempt to collect until the cows come home, but they cannot sue you in court for a judgment if it is a time-barred debt, nor after 7 1/2 years can they report it on your Credit report(s), so it's as good as gone at that point.

If you send your dispute within the 30 days of the dunning letter, then they are barred from making *any* collection activity until they send you verification of the debt. But - correct, they can take their sweet time. But they can't attempt to collect.
If you want to force them to adhere to 30 days, then you need to send the dispute to the credit bureaus on whose report it shows. They have to remove it from your report if it is not verified within 30 days, extendable to 45.

Thanks to everyone who's replied. I think I've got those parts figured out now.

I am just curious about one thing though (just for the sake of knowing).

If this were to get paid (now), wouldn't that re-start or re-age the "clock" on the 7-1/2 year reporting period again?

yes, it would

Thanks....I had a feeling it would.

That's the craziness to some of this stuff. If it wouldn't restart the "clock", I'd be more apt to consider paying them.

But they were already able to list it for 7 years, until finally the time expired and it fell off.....and I was able to start getting credit. I sure as heck wouldn't want them to start that all over again now.

No...actually it won't restart the reporting clock. At this point, nothing you did would restart it. The only way to re-start federal reporting would be to bring the account current with the OC and then default again. Since the OC doesn't appear to own it any longer, there is no possible way for the reporting period to legally re-start.

BTW: NY is also one of the states where a payment won't reset SOL either unless accompanied by a written acknowledgement of the debt and written promise to pay. Your best bet is a full cease comm for this debt.

Thank you so much, all of those details are very helpful to me and good to know.