I am writing this for a friend who does not want to post this. I signed up today. I am posting on behalf of her and not touching her post. Just copied and pasted.
In 2005 I left San Francisco and moved to a foreign country and then moved back to a different US State in 2009 and moved back to a foreign country again few years later. I left with $90K debt to many credit card companies. Some creditors, I owed more than $25K. I never filed for bankruptcy.
I have not done anything financially/no work/business/job,no CC, no nothing after 2005 and/or after 2009 in the States. A month ago I checked my credit report and saw I had no bad accounts, all erased AND my credit scores from Experian and Equifax were EXCELLENT. I was surprised, so I applied for store charge card to rebuild my credit and got approved!
Yesterday, I received a letter from a lawyer/collector stating that I owe my landlord about $5K from 2005. I do NOT owe this. I was month to month, left without move out notice because of my conditions at the time and they could EASILY use my deposit towards it if they wanted to. The letter says approximate move-out or judgment date and judgment amount $$$$, if not paid it will be submitted to a credit reporting agency.... signed by a collector with a name and the law office name. BTW, the date for move-out or judgment date is NOT same as the civil case date. It is few months after it.
Today, I checked county clerk website and saw that I had two civil cases against me. One from the landlord (Unlawful Detainer - Residential), other from a collector (Account Stated). Landlord filed the case in 2005, few days after I left. Collector filed it 22 months after I left the country.
I recently got married and I am planning to move back to San Francisco with my husband and will get a mortgage, car loan and etc. I don't know if I can get it but I will try.
I read some stuff online but it is difficult to pinpoint a case exactly like mine.
Now, the questions are:
1- How does Statute of Limitations work in California?
2- What is "tolling" a debt and does it apply to me in this case?
3- Obviously, I did not even know I had cases against me until I checked it online. No one served to me summons or anything like that and/or to anybody I know. Can I have a case against me without serving me?
4- Civil case means, they sued me?
5-WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE such as "don't own anything under your name, do not open a bank account, etc. etc when you go back to the US?" Paying the debt is not an option.
Thank you!

