Statute of limitations in CA

Statutes of Limitation only prevent a creditor or collection agency from taking you to court. They can use any out of court means to collect the debt until you pay on it. If they sue you mention the SOL in your answer and the case will be dismissed.

Does that mean they can attempt collection indefinately? Or is there a way to get them to stop sending letters?

Check with your State Attorney General's office to verify SOL and then send something like the letter below. That way they will know they are wasting their time.

Your Name
Your Address
City, State Zip

Their Name
Their Address
City, State Zip

Date

Re: Account Number #____________________

Dear Collection Manager,

This letter is in response to your letter dated XXXX XX, 2010 (copy enclosed) regarding the collection on the debt account given above.

I'd like to inform you that I have checked with my State Attorney General and verified that the Statute of Limitations for this type of debt through the courts in California has expired. If you intend to take this issue to court, I shall inform the court that the debt is beyond the Statute of Limitations.

Best Regards,

Type your name

Thank you. I'll get right on it.

You owe a debt until you pay it. My advice is to send the letter to the collection manager and send an offer to make a settlement at the same time both via certified mail or fax so you know they got it. I'm sorry I didn't mention this option before.

The OC that he owed, gave up on collecting the debt long ago and sold it for pennies on the dollar.

So as some would argue - he doesn't owe the company that is trying to collect and now the debt is not legally collectible because it is beyond the SOL.

It doesn't matter. If an OC sells a debt, the person they sold it too steps into the OC's shoes and gets all the rights the OC had, including the right to collect on a debt. As I stated before, the expiration of the SOL does not change the fact that the original poster owes the money. It only prevents the Original Creditor or the Collection agency from going to court in order to collect, as I stated before. So the debt is legally collectible until it is paid.
Those who would argue that the debt is not legally collectible because the statute of limitations has expired or the OC sold the debt do not understand what SOLs do or the laws of agency.

sorry, OVLG, but I couldnt disagree more.

For one thing, youre all forgetting the most basic rule here--NO VALIDATION, NO MONEY.

Midland is a very shady bunch....how do we know they even have the legal right to collect on this old debt? What if they don't? if you send them money, you just did the same thing as going to your bathroom, dumping the cash in the bowl, and flushing. THINK ABOUT IT.....

As for statute of limitations, I do believe there is one, possibly two, states where the SOL expiration means the debt no longer exists, period. Aside from that, the debt IS still legally collectable, just not through the courts. But like I said, I NEVER advocate to ANYONE that they send money to a debt collector without first verifying that they have the legal right to collect the debt. EVER. And for good reason. Any yahoo can call you up and say "hey, you owe us this money". Its time for people to stop acting like a person has no rights if they owe a debt. If I owe a debt and you legitimately have the right to collect on it, then you should have NO problem producing the proper validation of the debt. If you cannot, then there is a reason for that.