Collection agency

I left America 12 years ago and now a creditor has phoned my sister in Texas demanding that I pay $10,000 or a warrant will be issued for my arrest. I have no intention of living in the US again, but I do have a bank account where my paycheck gets deposited monthly. What do I do?

Hi!
Welcome to the forums!
Please don't create multiple threads. Admin has merged your posts as of now. It gets difficult to manage them. Anyway, coming back to your question, I think you should ask the collection agency to validate the debt. If they can't validate the debt, then send a cease and desist letter to the collection agency. By federal law, the collection agencies can't threaten consumers when collecting debts. So, this particular agency has violated the FDCPA law. You can take legal action against them. The SOL period in Texas is 4 years. So, clearly the debt has expired the SOL period. Now, the collection agency can't sue you.

You've mentioned that you left America 12 years back. In such a situation, I guess the debt that you’ve mentioned here is more than 12 years old. If you haven’t paid the debt for the past 12 years, then the creditor can’t file lawsuit against you to recover his dues as the SOL period in Texas is of 4 years. The next time when the creditor calls your sister, she should inform the creditor about the SOL and ask him to not call her any further regarding the debts. Moreover, as per FDCPA, your creditor can't contact your relatives in order to recover his dues. Thus, it is illegal for the creditor to call your sister in order to recover his dues.

The credit CAN sue you....it would be your defense that the debt is out of SOL and time barred. Also you cannot ask over the phone that you not be called.....those requests have to be done in writing per the FDCPA.

Actually, if you left the country before the states SOL had expired, the SOL would have tolled. If you were to move back to the state you left, SOL would pick up where it left off. As you have indicated you have no intention of returning to the USA, then your sister can send full caese comm's to the creditors so they no longer contact her for your debts.