In 1993 I filed for bankruptcy. Because I went from a $15.00 hr job to a $5.00 job, I could not even afford to pay the bankruptcy off. In May of 1997 my car that was part of the bankruptcy was repossessed. I never heard from the original creditor to this day. I received in the mail a couple of days ago a letter that stated the CA bought my old debt and listed it at $27,000.00!!! In between this new CA and my original creditor, there must have been another collection agency, because this new CA listed a different company as the original owner. I know that I need to write letters for validation of this debt. My question is, there are a couple of discrepencies on this letter and if they validate can I keep bringing up the different discrepencies one at a time? Also, if the car was repossessed why did the original company not adjust my loan info after receiving the vehicle? Is that a valid point I can bring up?
Why bother with Validation when a simple FOAD letter will suffice. Check your state's Statute of Limitations - I am sure a 10 year old debt is out of Statute
If this was entered into BK I have a letter you can send thats as good as an FOAD letter. Let me know and ill post it.
I don't know... If the car was included in the BK, then I would have thought it would have been repo'd back then and the obligation to repay it would be cancelled by the BK. If the car was allowed to continue after the BK, and the OP missed some payments later on (4 yrs later) then that would not be protected by the BK and he would be responsible for it. However, in this case, if that happened 10 yrs ago, I'm guessing that it's long out of SOL and no longer legally collectable. That doesn't mean someone can't send a scary letter to see if they can shake some money out. That's still legal and maybe even worth the 41-cent stamp. But, just to send the CA off after someone else beside you, it would be worth sending them a CMRRR letter stating that this debt is out of SOL and if they try to collect in court, you will be presenting that as an affirmative defense. So if they want to waste any more time or money on an uncollectable debt, that is certainly their perrogative.
Was this a Chapter 7 or 13? Is the bk discharged? I take it you didn't reaffirm the debt and anyways, as the others have pointed out, it should be well over the SOL date. Might have to fight some entries off your credit report but I doubt the CA has a chance. LOL!!! I thought FOAD meant "fold over & die" I recently sent a recon letter asking that they respond to me even if it was just to tell me to FOAD. Doh! Tegleg
Let's walk through this; If you filed BK, and managed to keep the car for four years, then I'm guessing it was not included in the BK, and hence no "protection" for it. So, the auto repo stands "alone" as a debt and contract. If the original financer of the auto loan repo'd the auto, then sold it perhaps at auction, then you were responsible for any shortfall between the loan balance and net monies received for the sale. But, you should have been notified within a reasonable time of this debt. If they did not contact you, then you have a case for fighting the balance due. It appears that this is an old debt that was somehow started before the repo and sale of the auto, and was never "called back or cancelled". Most likely it just got sold over and over. Someone purchased it seeing you may be right under the time frame for the SOL to expire. So, go through the basic steps, and DEMAND full validation. This is a case to demand full accounting of the claimed amount due, and how calculated. I woudl hold off on the SOL defense right now. Save that until you need it.
So are you telling us that because you didn't pay the bankruptcy off it was never finalized and your debts were never actually discharged in bankruptcy? The answer to that question is very important in helping us give you valid and accurate answers. If your BK was finalized and your debts were actually discharged in bankruptcy and they are still coming after you on the debt then we are looking at a solid case of contempt of court. That's one thing but if your BK was never discharged then the fact of your having filed of little importance in arriving at the correct solution here. The only response that is appropriate here is a demand for validation from the new company. As usual, demand for validation is nothing more than the opening shot across the bow preliminary to a full scale attack via the federal courts. You already have grounds to sue the new CA because they have provided you with at least two counts of false and misleading information but getting a few more counts is a good idea so demand for validation of the debt would be the appropriate answer and would preserve your FDCPA rights. I wouldn't be worried about affirmative defenses at this time because they have not taken the matter to court. In the event that they ever did take it to court you would need to take note of the amount of time your case was in the BK court because that would have tolled the statute of limitations. While statute of limitations is a valid affirmative defense a much more practical way to implement it is through a motion to dismiss.
Possibly.. similar thing happened to me. At same time home was foreclosed on, divorce, then a few years later BK was file and I hadn't remembered the car debt. Car was not included. Car was with same credit union the house was, and we were told when we questioned debt of car (about $3,000) by the credit union,"don't worry about it." Ten years went by. A judgement had been filed (Neither of us rec'd papers of... I bought a condo and within weeks had a lien on my property for the judgement which now became over $18,000 I was told that the only way to get rid of the $18,000 debt was to file a second BK which I did. It's true that CA's often come calling close to the SOL being up...................
