It is my understanding that the SOL in Texas is 4 years on all types of accounts. We have 2 charge offs of credit cards that happened in November of 2001...that is the last recorded payment. First date of deliquency is January 2002. We have recently been contacted by Midland Credit Management with an offer to settle. No threat of arbitration as of yet. I mailed a cease and desist letter and within the letter stated the SOL for our state. Today we get a call on the answering machine from another CA....NCO. We have not received anything in the mail from them as yet. This debt will soon be 7 years old. What is going on? And what is the chance that we will be sued after the SOL is past? Did I do the right thing by sending the cease/desist letter to Midland and should we respond to a phone call from NCO or wait until we get something in the mail? I have been reading the forums for 2 weeks and it seems like every case is so different.
Collection Agencies are quick to re-assign debt or out right sell it to another collection agency. If you close them down they can return the debt to the original creditor or if they own it sell to another collection agency and just not bother to tell them that the debt is SOL. They can thus move the debt around to different companies and you just have to C&D them and explain SOL is up. Get their address and send them a letter. Is it on the credit report yet? If so you can dispute it and see if it comes off.
The one from Midland is on the credit report. So far, nothing from NCO. Should the charge off from the original creditor fall off the credit report on it's own after the 7 years (or 7.5 years as I've also seen) or will we have to ask that it be removed? It is Bank of America, if that matters.
Technically it is 7 years and 6 months the initial 6 months before the account charges off. That would start the default. Most of the time it will expire off with no further effort from you, once in a while they miss removing and then you would write. But I don't think that problem happens much. What you can do is dispute it with the credit reporting agency and try to get it deleted. Just use generic reasons with request for deletion. If the creditor misses verifying then the credit reporting agency can remove. If they catch on later and add it back then the credit reporting agency has to give you 5 day notice of the reinsertion. If they don't all you have to do is write back and point out their failure to notify you properly. And that you want said item to be removed. I have used it before and that works.
This is the letter I sent to Midland and I am assuming, what I will send to NCO if/when we receive something in the mail from them. Is/was this the proper thing to send.......and again, I did send it certified mail with return receipt. Thanks for your thoughts. Name Address July 2, 2008 Midland Credit Management Department 8870 Los Angeles, CA 90084-8870 RE: acct. # Dear Sir or Madame: This letter is in response to your letter dated 06-19-2008 (copy enclosed), concerning the collection of the above referenced account number XXXXXXXX. I do not owe this debt; therefore, I dispute this debt. I am well aware of my rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and my state laws. I have also checked with my State Attorney General and verified that the Statute of Limitations for enforcing this type of debt through the courts in the state of Texas has expired; therefore, should you decide to pursue this matter in court I intend to inform the court of my dispute of this debt and that the "statute of limitations" has expired. This letter is your formal notification that I consider this matter closed and demand that you, or anyone affiliated with your company, cease and desist contacting me at my home phone, cell phone and work phone regarding this or any other matter except to advise me in writing that your debt collection efforts are being terminated or that you or the creditor are taking specific actions allowed by the FDCPA or my stateâ??s laws. Be advised that I consider any contact not in accordance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act a serious violation of the law and will immediately report any violations to my State Attorney General, to the Federal Trade Commission and, if necessary, take whatever legal action is necessary to protect myself. Be advised that I tape record all phone calls and violations of the FDCPA can result in you or your company being personally fined up to $1,000 per incident. Sincerely,
That is one of the best letters I've ever seen. It should be "stickied." (With, of course, a note that it should only be used for debts that have passed the SOL.)
If they were to sue, is the fact that the SOL has expired "enough" of a defense for it to be dismissed in the state of Texas? This event happened in 2001 when we just got in over our heads and then had a sudden job change. We settled with 2 companies, but just ran out of funds before we could settle up these two other accounts. We were past the SOL, so when they showed up as charged off, we naively thought we were in the clear and on a path to rebuilding our credit. We have not had any more late payments or anything, to any kind of creditor since 2001 and my FICO had risen to 685 until Midland showed up on my credit report.
I can't take credit for the letter. I found it somewhere on the internet and tailored it to suit our situation.
Do you have a back copy of the credit report when the account was still reporting. That could be used to show the court the last activity date to start the SOL.
I do not have a back copy of the credit report, but the current report shows a date of last activity and a date of deliquency. Is that not sufficient?
Yeah, just keep that for your records in case you have to go to court then you can show them proof of the SOL expiring. Should be just fine.
By all means, KEEP that hard copy! Unscrupulous collection agencies have been known to change the reported DOLA in an effort to collect on an out of SOL debt.
Question #1 ......all I have is where I have printed my credit report. No "official" thing from the reporting agency and I have only 1 full report from TransUnion and I printed only 3 pages of my Equifax one. Is this sufficient? #2 I find this odd, but on closer looking on the TranUnion report, the CA REPORTS the date of delinquincy right......01/2002.........so they should KNOW the SOL is out. Do they do this just in hopes somoen will settle without knowing about the SOL or is the SOL a valid defense against dismissal? From all I have read, it is enough, but I just don't understand why they knowingly go after something that is past the SOL. Am I being naive?
They don't think you'll know about the SOL. And many people don't. They are either scared into paying, or they get served a summons and think they can't do anything about it because it was their account. So they don't show up in court. Bam, default judgment which can be collected on for years.
how long I sent the letter to Midland on Monday, June 30th. What should I expect to happen next? Should I hear something from them either a dismissal or they are going forward, or perhaps nothing else heard from them? If I don't hear anything (and how long should I wait) do I consider it closed ........of course providing it is removed from the credit reports. I guess what I'm asking is do they have a legal length of time that they are supposed to respond to my letter?
No. As long as you sent your validation request within 30 days of first notification, they must cease all collection activity until they send you the validation. But there is no time limit on them sending it, nor do they have to send anything, as long as they cease collection activities. You may receive some validation, you may hear nothing, or you may be contacted by the next company they sell it to.
So what happens if you do not meet the 30 day deadline for dv'ing? What rights have you given up? They ignore and continue collecting and no violation? Woofer
Its a great letter, but in TX, you should have asked a creditor that is reporting for proof of the debt. If they cannot prove the debt in 30 days, they must delete - if you have asked them to. (Just a little FYI)
I thought I read somewhere that in Texas, you have more than 30 days if the company is licensed or registered in TX and I read on this website where they were. I thought if they continued, that is when I'd send the letter asking for debt validation. Did my assumptions get me into trouble?
