Hi! I need help and would appreciate any assistance I can get! I received a bill from a cell phone company back in August 2005 for about $500. I disputed it and offered to pay $200. The cell phone company never accepted the offer, and I never heard from them again. However, for well over 4 years afterwards, I received notices from 5 different collection agencies who attempted to collect on this alleged debt. I disputed the debt with each and every collection agency and, therefore, they never put the alleged debt on my credit report. One of the 5 different collection agencies contacted me twice: in October 2005 and in December 2005. In each case, I wrote to the collection agency within 30 days, and mentioned that I was disputing the amount of the debt. I also mentioned that I owed only $200 and offered to pay $200. However, I never heard back from the collection agency on either occasion. Recently, in February 2010, I received phone calls from the same collection agency as well as another letter from them stating that my delinquent account has been referred to them for collections. This is the third time they are contacting me (after almost three and half years). I had 3 questions. 1. How many times can this same collection agency continue to contact me? 2. Apparently, in California, the Statute of Limitation for written contracts and open-ended contracts is 4 years. So, I believe the Statute of Limitation on this matter has already expired. Should I ignore the company since the Statute of Limitation expired? Or should I respond? Any advice and help would be deeply appreciated! Thank you! Tom
I believe that there is a federal Statute of Limitations on cell phone bills of two years. However, I don't have the reference handy. But it sounds like you're past the state SOL anyway. If you dispute the debt within the 30 days the collection agency isn't supposed to attempt to collect the debt until they send you validation. However, what they are required to send isn't much. A copy of the bill may well suffice. Have they sent you any sort of validation?
Thank you very much for your kind help! I haven't requested any debt validation yet. I just got their notice. Do I need to dispute this since the Statute of Limitations has expired? Can they continue to pursue this matter since Statute of Limitations has expired? What would be the consequences if I did not dispute this? Thank you!
They can continue to pursue this. If they sue you, you have to go to court and assert the affirmative defense of Statute of Limitations. There really isn't a consequence if you don't dispute it except that they keep trying to collect and keep it on your credit report. If you request validation from the collection agency within 30 days of their first contact, they must cease collection activities until they send you validation.