I currently have a Capital One classic visa in good standing. Today, I received an envelope from Capital One marked in big black letters-- Not a bill, preapproved credit application. The terms look fantastic compared to my current card, so I opened the envelope. Well, it said that an old debt I had from 1990 or 1991 was bought by Capital One and that this was a collection letter. They were telling me if I would apply for the preapproved card then I would also be activating and promising to pay for my old charge off. What Capital One would do is put that charge off on the new card and start charging me interest again until the debt is repaid in full. Of course it said that I had 30 days to respond to this letter/application. They would be happy to verify the debt and get things going. They said by my failure to respond to this letter, they will assume the debt is valid. Sheesh! Am I right that they can do nothing to me since the SOL has expired? This is the same debt that was sold to someone else last year and they sent me 4 letters saying the same thing as above with an offer to settle at 50% of the debt. I did not respond to any of the letters and nothing came of it. Now they have sold the debt to Capital One. Is there any way that Capital One collection can interfer with my current Capital One account? Can they reactivate the debt and put it on my current account without my permission? Should I be concerned? Thanks!!!
There are several posts on this board regarding this. They are trying to circumvent the SOL by getting you to sign a new credit card agreement.
Thanks Hal. But as long as I do not sign up for the new card, there is no way they can collect the debt or hassle me, right?
JB, You're not the only one and they mailed one to me for collecting their debts. I think it is Gulf State Credit and it use Capital One card to pay off the chrge-off account debts that I couldn't pay more than 10 yrs ago. Don't sign it and trashed it. It doesn't help to rebuild your credit history by paying them. Ron.
Thanks Ron. There is no way I could repay the debt now anyway. I think, if I remember correctly, the debt was about $1000-$1500 in 1990 and now with interest is close to $8000. I just don't want my current Capital One account to be messed with or have the debt transferred to it without my authorization (which I will not give). Capital One is my oldest trade. I am wondering if I should cancel the account so that nothing can be added to my account without my authorization. Or, am I just overly suspicious and distrustful of the collection agency?
I had a charge-off accounts with Wards ten years ago and they sold to Coldata, then resold to Creditstore and finally sold to Gulf State Credit. I have been getting a couple of letters from them for collecion. They sent me Cap1 pre-apprvoal offer and it caught my eyes. By the way, I'm going to pay them because it was long time ago and I got my Wards account before. Now it is closed. Gulf State credit haven't reported any negative information to any of my credit report so far and they pulled a hard inquiry on my Experian for collection purpose last June. I keep my eyes open on my credit reports. Ron.
Interesting. The collection agency that had this debt last year was Coldata. They sold it to Capital One this year.
I actually have seen other information online that they are being investigated and/or sued for this. I will try to locat it and post the link.
Is it being reported on your credit report? It is way beyond the statute of limitations and if they last activity date was '91, it is way beyond being reported to the CRA's. This division of Cap1 is nothing more than a collection agency trying to use tricky techniques to get you to re-sign a credit agreement saying you owe this debt. You will start the whole clock over. If it isn't on your credit report, trash the letter. There is nothing they can do with a debt this old and any contact with them at this point may be mis-construed as "activity", which they may try reporting to the CRA's. Of course, if that were to happen, you would have to spend time disputing it. Once again, if it is 7 years or older, chunk it. They have no recourse. Good luck!
Oh, and I don't see how it will affect your current Cap1 account. My husband and I had the same situation and we ignored the collection letter and continue to have our Cap1 card opened in '99. I hate having a card with them, but at this point in rebuilding my credit, beggars can't be choosers! Trust me, as soon as we can get prime cards, we are out of Cap1 for good! Just for the simple reason that they have tactics like this collection company you are describing.
JB, They usually resold your charge-off accounts from one collection agency to another, another to another until the collection debt is worth next to nothing. Sometimes I got those letters from Creditstore,Coldata, Northland,GulfState Credit and Commercial Financial Services and Equifax Risk Management and I threw it all to my paper shredder. I never can afford to pay from $5000 to 15000 including prinicpal plus finance charge for last 12 yrs. As long as they didn't show up in my report and I just ignored them. Ron.
JB wrote: "They said by my failure to respond to this letter, they will assume the debt is valid." They can also assume Elvis is alive, and it would be legally binding to the same extent. Saar
Saar, They have the same things written in their every collection letters and they couldn't put the old debts over 7 yrs in the credit report. By the way, I asked Experian about the vaidation of the debt and they collect the debt is as long as they see fit.That means the debt is valid almost for forever. They resold the collection account to another until the collection accountis worth nothing or they can't collect anymore. As long as they didn't put into any of my reports who care? Ron
That's right, Ron. They can keep trying to collect the debt forever. But if the SOL time is up (no filing suit), delinquency date is over 7 years ago (no reporting), and you send them a C&D letter (no contact), they virtually have nothing. Saar
