My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Colorado
Hi there, I've been reading most of the day and am slightly more confused then when I started I think.I'll see if I can lay out my situation clearly:
For starters, I just received an 'Alias Summons' Friday night out of the blue. According to the summons, a company called North Star Capital is trying to collect a credit card debt that, I assume, they bought from Capital One, for an amount totaling $2334. The problem is that I've never had a Capital One credit card, and I've never seen a single thing on my credit report stating this debt. I even bought a new home last year, and this was never anything that showed up, even in that process.
Since today was the first time the Courts were open, I started digging into this. I found out that they claim that they served, or attempted to, summons to my previous address, which I never knew about... which I find hard to believe. This happened in another county from where I bought my new home recently. Attempts to call the collection agency, Capital One and the attorneys office representing North Star all were pointless, most of the time resulting in them hanging up on me when I pressed for information. However, I did get a small amount of info from Capital One and North Star (before they transfered me to legal and hung up):
- Account opened on Nov 12, 2001
- Account closed on March 3, 2003
- Last payment on account was July 18, 2002
Things noteworthy: in 2001, I lived in FL... either Miami or Orlando (I moved roughly around that time)
Ok... after reading up and searching the forum, I figure I have two options:
- Dispute the debt as mine, file Police reports, and go through a long drawn out headache.
- Use the Statute of Limitations and possibly be done with it.
Having looking up that SOL, I see that Florida SOL is 5 years, and Colorado SOL is 6 years. Assuming a Credit Card is an Open Account.
Fast forwarding to where things go fuzzy to me... (more than they already are). I go to the original County Clerk where the original summons is "supposedly" undelivered to me and get a Register of Action, which has these entries in it:
- 6/30/08 - Summons and complaint filed
- 9/17/2008 - Notc of Dismissal - Fail to Pros
- 9/17/08 - PFTA - Party Failed to Appear
- 9/22/08 - Motion for non dismissal
- 9/22/08 - order for non dismissal
- 9/22/08 - Granted with amendments (assuming for order of non dismissal)
- 11/18/08 - Summons issued (Alias summons)
- 11/18/08 Return date on summons - CONT-Continued by parties
- 11/21/08 - Review - HELD- Hearing held
- 1/22/08 - Return date on summons - PFTA - party failed to appear
- 3/10/09 - Review - HELD-Hearing held
- 3/10/08 - Notc of Dismissal - Fail to Pros
- 11/25/09 - Summons issued (alias)
- 1/27/10 - Return date on summons - HELD-Hearing held
- 2/19/08 - Review - HELD-Hearing held
- 2/19/10 - Dismissed without prejudice
- 2/19/10 - Case closed
- 4/7/10 - Motion to change venue
- 4/26/10 - Order granted (order to change venue)
- 10/6/10 - Certificate of change of venue filed apparently
- 2/4/11 - I finally receive an Alias summons at my front door
So, I guess my questions are as follows:
- Should I go the police report route and claim identity fraud? Does this put me in a bad situation come March 3rd, 2011 when I have to show up for court? In fact, would this even do anything? Would I be right back at another court date 1, 2 or 3 years from now? Would this put something negative on my already excellent credit report.
- Should I just walk into court, and ask for this to be dismissed "with prejudice" based on the SOL expiring? And if so, how does the Alias Summons effect things? I am assuming, and it's a big assumption after reading everything, that since there was a "Dismissed without prejudice" showing up, that the SOL still puts the debt claim at not quite 9 years old?
Is there anything that I'm not just thinking of? Are these both dumb options? After talking with the lady in the Clerks office, it seems as though the March 3rd meeting is just me and the lawyer in a courtroom, without judge, trying to come to an agreement, which I see ending badly. I'm simply not paying for someone else's debt, nor do I feel I should have to. I'm open to any opinions. Sorry this post might be a little bit long, but figured any info is good info, within reason of course. Thanks for your opinions in advance, the reading I've done so far on here has been valuable!

I'll see if I can lay out my situation clearly: