Will debt be erased after 7 years on a report? can they reopen the acct right b4 the 7 years??!?

Question

i believe its the day its delinquent. but do they keep an account open for years after you stop paying? or the day you were late on the last payment is when the countdown starts?!?!

Answer 1

You need to find out the statute of limitations (SOL) for collecting in your state.

If you are past SOL, you are not legally bound to pay. They can continue to "try" to collect but they cannot sue you. They cannot put it on your credit report after the 7 year limit. (unless it is something, other than a credit card, auto loan etc, that has a longer reporting period.)

The SOL starts to run the first time you became 30 days late and never became current leading to the charge off.

As I stated, if you are past the SOL for collecting you are not legally bound to pay, but if you should want to, be sure to send a debt validation first. When they have proven the debt and how they arrived at the amount they are trying to collect (they must get the info from the original creditor, not from their own files) Then you should request a pay for delete. If you don't more than likely it will just show as a paid negative.

If you don't want to pay it if it is past SOL, send them a debt validation letter. After their response send them a SOL letter.

You might go to the site I've listed and do some reading. You will find links to your states statutes and info on sending validation, pay for delete and SOL letters.

Answer 2

Well, I have some very old unpaid accounts from 10 years ago and a collection aggency managed to find it.

If you can, try to make a deal with them, like $10.00 a month. That is what I am doing with a $5,000 hospital bill. I agreed to pay $40.00 a month before the end of the month or they will tack on a stupid late payment !
Something is better than nothing.

I know this dont really answer your question, but it might help on some bills you could not pay in the past.

Answer 3

The debt normally doesn't get erased after the 7 years that you are referring to. The company will try to collect on the debt and then they will sell the debt so then that company has another 7 years to collect and that company will likely sell to someone else and so worth so the circle just continues so yes, the acct. is kept open for many years after one stops paying. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

All you have to do is prove to the credit bureaus that it's the same account. They can only keep a debt on there for 7 years. It doesn't matter how many times it is sold to other collection agencies.

You will still legally owe the debt, and the original creditor can still try to collect it any way possible, but the credit bureau can't report it any more.

Answer 5

Robert is correct. The debt will NEVER go away if you don't pay it. The lender is entitled to receive payment, so pay your bills! All that will happen is it will fall off your credit report. But believe me, you won't be buying a house if you have 7+ year old debt that went to collections.