Creditors and Collection agency time bound
Date: Wed, 08/24/2005 - 15:44
I have recently received a letter from a "lawyer" who is supposed to be representing a music rental center. He wants to settle a $2000 account for $700.00 however, this has happened back in October of 1998 and all the way to this point, the original company has not attempted to collect the debt. All of a sudden, this lawyer man calls me and asks me for money. Are they able to do this? the statute of limitations in california for things like this is 7 years and my question is, can the original company hold on to an account this long and then hand it to a collection agency / law firm for collection???
Thanks
:shock:
Hi SamSam Welcome to the forums. The statute of limitation in
Hi SamSam
Welcome to the forums. The statute of limitation in California on written contracts is 4 years and thus, your debt is past the collection period.
Speaking about the transfer of debt, the creditors usually do not inform the consumers about the passing of the debt. However, they should contact the consumers repeatedly before they actually hand it over to any collection agency.
If the said collection agency is trying to recover the debt from you, please use your consumer rights as per the fdcpa law using the debt validation weapon. Under this law of the Consumer Protection Act, they need to provide the complete details of your debt.
As your debt is already past the SOL period, you have the legal right to refuse payment. However, if you make payment to it, it will enhance your credit file. Debt in collection is a negative remark on your credit report and you should take active steps to improve your credit file.
Please ask them to validate the debt first before you enter into any sort of payment plan. If they fail to do so, you can take legal help and dispute it with your credit bureaus.
Please check your credit report first to confirm the latest standing of this account. You can order for a copy of your credit report from the three bureaus.
Regards
Roxette
Thank You
Roxette Thank you very much for the information. I myself didn't know of the statute of limitations being only 4 years.
I will definitely fight this.
This account has never showed up on my credit report nor have i been contacted for the past 7 years and all of a sudden i get a call from a guy posing as a lawyer (he wasn't it turned out later, just a collection agency) stating that i owe debt and he will put a judgment etc..etc..
Once again i love this site and the information contained within is very valuable. Keep up the good work
Thanks SamSam for appreciating the work of our community members
Thanks SamSam for appreciating the work of our community members. We hope to serve the needs of the people with the same passion for many more years to come.
Regards
Roxette