Received a letter in the mail from some finanical organization I've never heard of saying that they purchased a past debt with Chase from another company. They have given me instructions to notify them in 30 days or they will assume this debt is valid. If I notify them they will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against me and send it to me. They also will provide the name of the orignal creditor (Chase). To discuss they provide a name and number. I'm not sure what to do? In the late 80's I was struggling and unable to keep up with the payments of my Chase account. I stopped paying. They eventually sold my debt to another company that called a threatened me for years. Eventually I much better off financial and able to pay. I spoke with a credit counselor and they recommended that I not pay as the account would likely soon drop off of my credit report. Sure enough about two or three years ago it did drop off (I have copies of all three credit reports and their is not sign of Chase or this organization on my report). I've since obtained credit cards and a mortgage with no trouble. It was my understanding that once it dropped off my credit report I no longer had any obligation. Can anyone tell me what I should do here. Should I contact the folks who sent me this letter trying to collect, and if so what should I say?
Do not call them!! Since you said this was a debt from the 80's, I assume the SOL has long ran out and also the reporting time on your reports. You can either ignore it, or send them a Cease and Desist, clearly stating the SOL has run out and also the reporting time and if they even THINK about putting this on your reports, you will sue them. This should take care of it. They are just grasping here and hoping that someone like yourself doesn't know their rights and will attempt to pay them, they have no right to collect or report period and they know it!!
I assumme the SOL has run out. How can I find out for sure. Chase and the companies they have sold my account to have not appeared on my credit report in the last three years. Where can I find a very effective Cease and Desist notice?
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/statuteLimitations.shtml Above is the link for SOL. As for the letter, you can view sample letters here at creditnet and just change the wording to suit your needs.
Please forgive my remedial questions but I'm rather new here. Do simply do a search using "cease and desist", to locate a cease and desist notice; when I try a large number of postings come up. Once I find a cease and desist notice, do I send it registered mail? thanks
Here is the link to the letter section here. There are 3 or 4 cease and desist letters listed at the top of the list. Pick the one that best suits your needs. Then reword to your unique situation and post it before you send it so we review it to make sure it is ok. http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=25
Thanks folks, I'm feeling a little better already. Now, as I've described things above (Chase not appearing on my credit report snor any collection agency on my reports), if I'm understanding what you're saying, they cannot come along after more than seven years and try to collect this debt. Is that correct? So would you recommend I simply send a cease and desist letter or do I need to get into this validation stuff I just started reading about. I want to do whatever it takes to keep this from appearing on my credit report.
You are a little bit confused. 7 years is the length of time a negative item can be reported to the credit bureaus. The statut of limitations for collecting on a debt is a whole different subject. You need to go to the link Momof3 posted to find out what the statute of limitations is for your state for your type of debt. Assuming the statute has already run, they can still attempt to collect, but when you send the cease and desist, they must stop. If they decide to try and file a lawsuit, which I doubt they will try once you inform them the statute of limitations has run, then you have a valid defense in that the statute has run it's course.
Thanks for clearing up my confusion, I hadn't realized the difference between something dropping off my report and the SOL on collections (thats the first I've heard of that). In my state the SOL on written contracts is 5 yrs, promissory notes 6yrs and open ended accounts 4yrs. At what point do I start to count the years (the time I opened the credit card account, the time I stopped paying. . .?) I stopped paying on the original Chase account in 1988. A series of CAs tried to collect from me and I did not pay. The last CA I heard from was in 1999.
The SOL starts when the account first becomes continuously delinquent. It is long past. No worry, just chase these bozos off. Send the cease and deisit letter, certified, return receipt. Keep everything.
Re: Trouble appears to have found m While this is true... to the best of my knowledge the clock resets whenever you make a payment on the account. So if you ever made a payment when you were being contaceted in 1999 you may have hurt yourself. This is one of my major complaints with the way the credit system is set up now. How by trying to honor your debt you can acctually hurt your chances of getting more credit---stupid me would think it would be the opposite. scott
Re: Trouble appears to have found m In many states any "promise to pay" restarts the clock on SOL (in some states it has to be in writing) - so does "hiding" - if you are not available for them to serve you. Each state can be different on this - there is not one blanket answer as to what restarts or "tolls" the SOL.
Re: Trouble appears to have found m A few times in the late 90's when CAs caught up with me I did agree to make payments but I never did. I will use the cease and desist letter, though I think I want to leave off the part that says I'll deal with the original creditor. Do you think that would be okay. My reasoning is that I want to distance myself as far as possible from that past debt and don't want anything suggesting I am now ackowledging it is mines.
Re: Trouble appears to have found m Those agreements so make payments were verbal (over the telephone) when the CA would catch up to me. I think it was 1998/1999 the last time a CA caught up to me via telephone, I agreed to pay (verbally) and was ready to pay the entire amount, but by chance when they sent me the payment coupon I'd contacted a local credit counseling agency and they advised me not to pay, as it would then show on my credit report that I'd been deliquent all that time. The theory was if I didn't pay then the negative on my account from Chase would likely drop off (I've never seen my credit report from those years so I don't know there was ever a negative from Chase or anyone else on it). As I mentioned, I do have recent credit reports from all three reporting agencies and there are no negatives, collections, etc.
Re: Trouble appears to have found m By the way the name of the CA is Whitewing Financial Group, Inc-National Communication located in Houston, Texas. Has anyone heard of these people?
