I know some of this has been covered in other posts but I am still confused about it...... What date do you use to figure if the SOL has run out on a debt? I found a website this evening that says the SOL here in Kansas for open end agreements is 3 yrs and for a written contract is 5 yrs. It states that an example of an open end agreement is a credit card. I have already emailed my state attorny generals office to find out if this is true and if not what the actual SOL's are. But the way I look at it is even if the SOL on a open end is 5 yrs then most of all my debts are past it. And if this is the case then......... 1. Is it easier to dispute them? Because as I said in an earlier post I still have a couple reporting the charge offs as of 6-2001. Thanks for your help AGAIN!! I am learning more every minute and continue to read this board daily and sometimes all day!! LOL Casper72 Your Friendly Ghost Till Ya Piss Me Off!!! LOL
Ok, I'll let someone who knows better really answer this but I think the general rule is that the older the debt, the better chance you have with disputes. I believe the SOL will work for you in two ways: As a positive if they sue you as they will be SOL if they do (get it? SOL, SOL? ok, sorry, it's early) and also for negotiation purposes because if the SOL is out, the bargaining power you have for full deletion and a lower settlement is higher.
The CRAs are the only ones really paying any attention to the SOL. For everyone else, the SOL is a "back of the mind" sort of thing. They just don't think about it nearly as much as we do. Even the courts don't pay all that much attention to it unless the debtor uses it as a defense. At least that's my "impression" as far as the courts go. Maybe some courts do pay strict attention to the SOL and throw out a summary judgement request if the SOL is past. I don't know about that, and I personally don't think it's very important. At least until somebody sues you over a debt that is past the SOL. Then you had better worry about it. But as far as bargaining power is concerned, it don't hurt to bring that up although I never have. But it has got to sit back there in the minds of the creditors/CA just from the standpoint that the debt is so old it's probably not likely to get collected unless they "move" a little. But negotiating with creditors and collection agencies for removal is simply the wrong thing to do anyway and most especially if you can't get them to negotiate in good faith and put it in writing. If you can't get that, then paying them is simply not good business. And that's what this whole thing is all about. Is what you are thinking about doing a good business practice from your standpoint. For the CRAs, they have to obey the law and they know it.
