l got a complaint notice beginning of august giving me 30 days to respond. it was for a credit card that was charged off 9 years ago. they took what l owed 9 years ago that was 400 and turned it into 1600. first called this lawyer who is suing and getting what account, there address ect. They guy offered to settle, but he did warn me if this goes to court attorney fees for there end will apply and gas money. could be a extra 600 dollars. l hung up the phonel talked to a buddy of mine that is a banker that understand this, he pulled my credit reports nothing on there plus he told me this debt is outside of a
statue of limitations.He told me the state where we live in has 6 years where they can bring on a suit. He told me go and deny the claim and when you get a court date tell them the SOL is up. Now how can l prove this? Plus why are they doing this, they should know the SOL is up l have not paid a dime on this for 9 years.Plus the company suing me is out of PA and the attorneys office representing them is over 150 miles away.Please advise

Getting out of debt can sometimes be a struggle. l recommend that you check out this site. It has a lot of free get-out-of-debt information: http://ebusinesswiz.com/debtfree

yes, it is outside the statue of limitations.
Keep your attorney on it.

They are not allowed to threaten suit unless they are willing to follow through. l seriously doubt they will take you to court. They can not lie about when you defaulted, it will show up in any paperwork they have. It is best to have an old credit report or collection letters, but not necessary. Just go to court if they sue you and never say you owe the debt. Just say SOL has expired on this debt.

Some scavengers have found ur old bad debt. They r fully aware the SOL is up & they r trying to scare u into paying. They've bought this old debt for pennies on the dollar, if they've legally done anything that is.

Send them a certified letter telling them the statute of limitations has expired.

If they set up a court date--which they won't--show up & tell them the SOL is up.

Why they're contacting you? These people r called scavengers & this is all they do. Find old debts that r outside the SOL & try to scare people into paying them. You can advise them never to contact u again regarding this debt or u will press charges against them. l do not remember the exact premise under which u can tell them this but l heard it on Clark Howard is radio show. l am sure u can find it on his website. WWW.CLARKHOWARD.COM

l am not affiliated with clark howard in any way.

They r not going to take u to court because they know they will lose if u show up because the debt is well past the S.O.L..

As far as the reason they r doing it that is simply most people do not know their rights & will agree to pay something just to make it go away.

What l would do is send them a certified registered letter return receipt requested saying that under the Fair Credit Reporting Act u r requesting that they validate this debt as being yours & show that it is within the statute of limitations for collection activity. Do not at any time admit that this is ur debt, most likely u will not hear from them again.

The statute of limitation on credit card debt (open accounts) in Pennsylvania is six years.
If this debt was charged off 9 years ago, the collection agency no longer has any legal right to sue, nor do u have an obligation to pay.

Statute of limitation is a affirmative defense. Use SOL as a defense in ur answer to the court. Ask the court that the case be dismissed on the grounds that the plaintiff has no legal standing to sue you. The burden of proof is the plaintiff's. Make them ''validate'' the debt. Make them prove that the debt is within SOL. Send them a ''debt validation letter & send the letter by certified mail. Keep copies for ur records.
Keep all court dates. Do not miss any & do not trust them. They might be looking for an easy default judgment against you. Unscrupulous collection agencies r banking on the consumer is ignorance of the law.

Good luck.

Hi John.pull up a chair & let me explain to u how this game is played.

A collection agency purchased ur debt from the bank..probably only paid a fraction of the amount to get it. They r gambling on the fact that the vast majority of the population does not know the law, & does not know their rights.

Many times they start by calling u up & giving the usual threats. If they get lucky, u r scared enough into settling this debt for maybe 60% of the value...a huge profit for these debt ''bottom feeders''.

If that does not work..they will fine a lawsuit. A small claims suit only costs $50-$100 depending on the state u in.and they get to recover court costs & legal fees. Again, in many cases the debtor gets freaked out & ends up paying them off..again the collection agent wins.

Better yet...the debtor never shows up in court, or never even replies with an answer to the lawsuit. Default judgment..collection agent wins again!

But in a very few cases, they stumble on a debtor who understands the Statute of Limitations law..and their bluff is called. They may go to court, but in most cases they will just drop the case. It does not mean they wo not continue to pester you.it just means they can not do it in court. Being the people they are.they may just sell it to another collection agency. Then u get to start all over again.

Then there r people like me..who know the Fair Debt Collections Act..know how to file my own small claims suits..and will counter sue them for fraud & a whole bunch of other violations.and end up collecting a few thousand from these bottom feeders.

That is what u need to explore. Look in ur area for an attorney that belongs to the NACA, a group of consumer protect attorneys who deal with FDCA violation cases all of the time. There r a couple very good ones in PA (if that is where u live) so look around.

Until more consumers begin to fight back, we will never stop this practice.