I recently wrote to two of my creditors who were trying to collect under a thousand dollars each that the SOL had expired and not to contact me further. However, about a month later, I found out that someone went to my old address to serve me. Both debts are over 7 years old. One was deleted from the credit report last year. The other one should have fallen off by now also. The SOL in my state is 4 years. On one of them, I screwed up and made a payment after the company had written it off, but that payment was posted Aug. 4, 1999. According to my calculations, that's four years and its outside of SOL. The last payment made on the other account was in 1998 so it appears to be outside of SOL as well. Am I correct in my calculations or is there some other rule I'm not aware of for SOL expiry? Also, does anyone have any suggestions about how to handle it once they finally find me and I get served?
If they're serving a lawsuit after the statute expired, either (2) they do not know that the statute expired, then you need to see an atty to find out if you can do nothing without retribution. Or (2) There may be some theory or some legal argument that the SOL didn't apply to you, or that you took action that makes it inside the SOL. Again, you would need personalized, confidential legal advice. Probably it's the first, but if it's the second, sounds like the underlying bill is still dropped of your report anyway. COntact your state's bar licensing board and see if they have a specialized atty who can give you discount advice. My state has it. NOLO has good stuff but it's not personalized and specific. GOOD LUCK.
