My question involves collection proceedings in the State of:
South Carolina or
North Carolina
Currently reside in SC.
Account opened while residing in NC several years ago.
Major credit card company (I'll leave the name out, but they're huge nationally and you see their commercials all the time) has charged off 1 installment loan, and 3 credit cards.
I have been contacted via phone stating they are an attorney's office and want over $1,000 (roughly 50% of the balance they say is owed) in order to prevent them from going to court and seeking a judgment. Stated that would involve sending the sheriff out to serve summons, then getting the judgment, then the sheriff to come out again and evaluate what property I have to assess liens onto or garnish wages, checking/banking accounts, etc.. I informed them I could not, and foresee no way I could pay them. For clarification I asked if they were making me a settlement offer and was told "
No, it would be a down payment and the rest would be arranged for in monthly payments." Was told I had X number of days to call back with reply.
Now, here's where I'm not sure how to proceed.
First, I pulled my annual free credit reports from the 3 bureaus and here is what I found out from the Equifax report (and info. is same on the other two where available).
- Date opened was Jan 2002
- Last Payment 4/2005
- Date Reported or Last Updated 5/2008
- Their name (two names she said was the attorney's office) is listed in the Regular Inquiries column of TransUnion. Requested 5/12/2008. Their address is in NC. I found their website that matches the address on the inquiry and they serve NC, SC and TN. The do "Creditor Collections" and have "Collectors on Staff". They also have Litigation Collections and more. The point is, it looks like a real firm.
- Date of first Delinquency 5/2005
- Charged off account. Closed.
We have never made a payment since, nor have we ever made any verbal or written agreements, etc..
MY Questions:
[Sstem from finding this link (
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebu...itations.shtml ) and visiting the SC and NC government statute links provided on that page]:
- Installment loan would fall under the "Written" column as linked above?
- 3 years is from the date of last payment? So, if it says last payment was 4/2005, then it is past the statute of limiations?
- According to the page linked above, it says one adds 6 months to the date of the last payment, then add the state's applicable SOL years. Is this right? I've not seen or read this anywhere else so far.
- If they were filing for judgment, which state would the do so in? The serve in both NC and SC. I live in SC, but the account originally opened in NC. The original creditor is listed as VA. I've searched my SC city's Common Pleas Court and do not see anything with my name. I note the only SC office location they have is in Columbia, SC.
- Depending upon the answers to the questions above, and understanding that I have NOT been served summons NOR has a judgment already been made, how should I respond or move forward? Do I call her back and say it's past the SOL? Do I not call and wait for another call? Do I do nothing over tthe phone, but rather wait for her to catch me on the phone and then ask for communications to be done via mail?
- If I get served a summons, and the SOL has passed, do I need a formal form or letter to reply to the summons with? Or do I just go stand before a judge?
Thanks for all the help.