FDCPA I'm sorry. I get FCRA and FDCPA mixed up. I have an attorney that will tkae my case but I have to get my last credit card statement. This is gonn be hard. Can I get this from the purchaser of the account since it was sold ?
Before you embark on this venture, has the attorney requested a retainer? Has he said what his experience or background is in these types of cases? There have been several cases similar to yours that have been decided in favor of the CA's because their violation had to be a KNOWING violation. The SOL defense is NOT an absolute defense, if you for instance, had left your State for a year and then moved back, your year out of State would have "tolled" or suspended the SOL. The fact that you did not know about your possible defense, and did'nt raise it with the creditor does not mean that you could prevail aginst them. Unfortunately, you have come too late to his board,I hope that you will not make a similar mistake in throwing good money after bad in trying to recoup your loss.
This is just my opinion...I hope that I do not hurt your feelings here. Regardless of how old the debt was you state this was your bill. It is very unfortunate that you did not know that you were not aware of your rights. However, you were faced with a judgment after the SOL has run out. You paid the bill. My personal opinion you are S.O.L (and I do not mean Statute of Limitations here). If it was illegal for collection agencies to do this they quite frankly would be out of business. I think that if you were to go to a judge you would be frowned upon seeing this was your debt. It is your job as a consumer (unfortunately) to bring the SOL up as a defense. If that was not the case the thousands of creditors that file suit on consumers for old debts would not be permitted to do so. I think before a person is able to obtain ANY credit they should be required to take a course on credit. Maybe even in High School.
That was what I was trying to say before: It would be difficult to prove though unless you can show that you informed them the debt was past the SOL and they ignored your letter...they could show up in court and claim they have a different DOLA and therefore they will skate on the issue that they "knew" it was past SOL when they threatened suit WhyChat said it much better and more clearly. I think you would have a very difficult time winning this case EDog. As OhNostruck said, if all they had to do is attempt to collect debt that was past SOL, and then they were liable to be sued, they would ALL be out of business. It is YOUR job to raise the SOL as a defense, and this MUST be done before the judgement is entered. You have some recourse after the fact, but suing them for collecting on debt past SOL is not one I would recommend trying. -Peace, Dave
