I live in Michigan. The SOL is expiring on my credit card debts and I have a few questions. Firstly, I'm concerned about debt collectors contacting my employer. Can debt collectors contact my employer now that the SOL has expired? What type of work-place harassment can I expect and what might I do to ensure it does not happen? Second, I've read that I can still be sued and judgments can be issued against me. What steps should I take to prepare at this point (I have none of the original paperwork). Will validations be all the documentation I need? How do I best ensure that I actually receive validations and that validation requests are not ignored by the debt collectors? Some of the collectors have reported "120" for years on my credit report- will the report be sufficient documentation in these cases? Lastly, I'm wondering about timing. My credit report shows the "Date of First Delinquency" to be 03/2002 on a few accounts. The "30-59 Past Due" mark appears in April 2002. Should I wait until or after April 2002 before requesting validations or doing anything else? There is nothing recent (aside from debt-collector activity) on my credit report, with the exception that I pulled it myself a week ago. Has anyone heard of a debt collector being spurred into legal action a week or two before the SOL expires? Thanks for any information.
Some of the more sophisticated creditors do perform a credit pull near the SOL date for their account and then make a determination whether a lawsuit will help them. If a lawsuit seems in order, they file it. If not, they might try a "hail Mary" round of dunning and then either sell the account or continue to lurk.
If they initiate the lawsuit before the SOL has expired are they able to obtain a judgment against me afterwards? Is the process the collector/court goes through when suing documented here anywhere? For instance, what paperwork is initially filed, what happens before I am notified, are there any time constraints, etc... I've seen paperwork from debt collection lawsuits in the past and I have a hard time figuring out if a court date is scheduled, has occurred, or is being discussed in the documentation for the most part. It'd be nice to know what happens and what order it happens in. Thanks again.
The SOL describes the latest time someone can file suit. The suit can take as long as it takes if it is filed before the SOL time limit. The actual process generally goes: CA files suit, serves you with notification, you respond, etc. The details depend on the specific court.
