[tasha823]

Hello,

I was contacted yesterday from a collections agency. This was concerning a cc card open in 1998 & charged off in 2001. This debt started at $1000, then charged off at $1758, now this collection agency says he debt is over $6000 due to interest. I live in Florida. I attempted to get the debt verified for many years ( and received nothing). Two companies (one alleging to be a p.a & another a collection agency) played back & foth on who "owned" the debt even though the'r physical address were exactly the same. I have certified mail recepits that were sent to both companies (the 1st in about 2004 along with the verification request; the 2nd company in 2006 which contained request to verify & cesist & desist). Now the 1st company is calling claiming they haven't received anything & that they are "no longer" affiliated with the 2nd company. I have correspdonce from the 2nd company stating they were "representing" the 1st company. The 2nd company contacted approxiamtely a year ago after they received a "cesist & desist" now the 1st company has come back doing the same. I thought that the SOL was about 4 or 5 years in FL, why is a company calling for money after 7? What recourse do I have & should I be concerned with further legal collection action? Please advise.

[Happy Trails]

They continue trying to collect in hopes that you will pay something. They don't care about the Statute of Limitations. If they try and sue you, then you bring up the SOL as an affirmative defense.

Stop creditor abuse link:

http://www.worldlawdirect.com/articl...top_abuse.html

[usedbranflakes]

It's not harassment; they think they have the legal right to call.

I can't remember the code section, but in WV we had to turn off the clock for interest on a disputed debt until a verification of the debt was sent.

My Mom got a call about a 12 year old parking ticket. The collection agency didn't expect that my anal-retentive Mom would have a check from 12 years ago. They said it was the wrong check, even though it had the correct ticket number on it and city stamp on the back. She went to the mayor's office and would not leave until she talked to him and the agency both on the phone. Needless to say the agency quit calling her over a paid ticket. In fact, the article ended up in our local newspaper because they did this to too many people, and several journalists that had paid their fines and also had their cleared checks.

Eventually the city pulled the contract with the collection agency for overly agressive tactics. ...which ended up in a lawsuit with the agency against the city.

...these JDBs are sue-happy. Just make sure if they litigate that you have your defenses lined up. An attorney can help, but you have 3 that I could not fight if I were still a collector:
1) SOL
2) Failure to validate the debt
3) Failure to answer discovery (well, technically you haven't asked for this yet, but you would).

...and then they will sell the paper to some other agency/JDB.

[usedbranflakes]

...and it's legal (at least in WV) to collect on an old debt. I worked with a guy, we'll call him Bob, who was the head collector for a department store. He had been there 30 years. He knew someone by name and by face. Anyway, old Bob heard a name of a guy that wanted to buy a gun on credit. He knew the name and looked up the guy's old paper account from 22 years prior. It seems that the guy, as a young man, purchased an item and never paid for it. Old Bob remembered that and confronted the guy. They let him layaway the rifle and gave it to him on credit once the balance of the old rifle and interest (they only did a year before cutting off interest) was paid for. Funny enough, the guy had the cash for the old rifle and still had the old rifle.