Zombie Debt: Coming Soon To A Credit Report Near You

Hi Matt,

Welcome to the forum.

This seems good information but you should not just copy-paste anything here in the forum. Please go through the forum guidelines at http://www.mortgagefit.com/discuss/about1839.html

Hey you can introduce yourself and let the community know about you at http://www.mortgagefit.com/introduce-yourself.html

Hope we will see you more in the forums with some original thought and helpful suggestions :)

Best of luck,
Larry

larry, I was just reading Matt's post and it seems he has uploaded it directly from his blog.

Anyway, interesting post Matt! debt collections are indeed something that are practised widely but a lot of people are often harrased even when things can be solved at ease. So, that's the worse part of collection.

Offcourse the creditor needs to recover his money and the debtor needs to be more responsible but can't the industry find out a better way to collect the debt may be peacefully and more effectively.

The forum guidelines specifically related to duplicate postings are available in the General Guidelines section at http://www.mortgagefit.com/terms-services.html . So, just read through them so that you can participate in a better way and share your views with the community here.

God bless you.

Samantha

mattsullivan, I was reading your thread here and seen CA's can't sue once the debt is 6 years old but I thought it was a state by state guidelines . Different states have different SOL so wouldn't that apply to how long they can take you to court? The best debt in fact is a paid debt but I was just trying to clear up my understanding on when they can sue.

Hi Fireyone,

Once the State of Limitations (SOL) for a debt expires, the debtor cannot be sued through court action. Only if he makes a partial payment, the SOL starts over again! The SOL varies from one state to another but usually it extends for a period of 4-6 years. Even if anyone sues you after the statute of limitations is over, it is up to you to defend yourself by bringing the other party's attention to the fact that the SOL has expired.

Legally one need not pay the debt once the state of limitation is over. But this doesn't mean that the debt is dismissed. The creditor will leave it on your credit report for 7 years.

Good luck

That is a little of what I am dealing with now. It (my debt) is past SOL and I want to pay it off. I just want to make sure I have enough saved from working this spring before I contact the CA. I read that if you make a payment it restarts SOL. A lot of people have been scaring me about contacting the CA so once I do get enough saved I'm sure I will be very nervous in making the phone call. I thought about waiting until they sent me the yesrly letter about excepting paying the debt for half of its value. I will cross that bridge when I get there. When does the SOL start? I know it is from the date of last activity. I didn't see it anywhere on my report. The only thing I seen was when it listed the debt 30 days late.

Yes indeed it starts from the date of last activity on the account. the date should be mentioned on your credit report. I think you're on the right track. It's better to pay the entire balance through a single payment. Oh, by the way, in CA, the SOL lasts for 2 years in case of an oral contract and 4 years for written contracts, credit card debts and promissory notes.

Thanks

Thanks for the info. My state statues are the same as yours. I would rather make a single payment and get rid of the problem instead of having it looming over my head. Hoping to do this soon.

you may be able to get a settlement price out of them if the debt is real old, but I would not pay them anything unless you are sure that you can come up with the full amount to pay them off or do the monthly payments that are affordable to you, becareful, sometimes they will accept a very small payment to get the statute of limitations started again, it only takes one cent from the debtor to get this started all over again. goodluck fireyone.

Well I picked up one of there calls. Its Midland and I really don't think I want to deal with these people. They seem rude and hardheaded. I feel like I am safer with the SOL as protection. I can not believe how they talk to a person. I actually regret picking up the phone!!!

Some of them have some really bad phone manners, I think that they think they can intimidate people into paying if they are this way, it would make me hang up on them and I have done it.

I guess niceness doesn't matter anymore. I'm sure they get lots of hang ups due to their personality disorder. That and the fact that people just can't pay these days.

True, you don't have to tolerate any crap from them, I don't, if they are mean and nasty, CLICK and GOODBYE!

Usually my first clue that I need to hang up is when the address me by my maiden name. Haven't had it for 6 years so I know it is a junk debt collector. At least I know it wasn't THAT important.

Well madame, they are showing you kind respect, LOL. They will use all types of tactics to try and get a commitment out of you. Just becareful what you say to them, normally after they rattle on for a while, I will just lay the phone down and walk away. If you don't have the money to pay it, you can pay it. They will try though.

I had to laugh about the laying down the phone part. Never thought of that one. There isn't going to be any commitment from me in the near future. Just can't seem to get out from under this fog.