can a debt which is longer than 5ys old still be recoverd by debt recovery company?

Answer 1

Depends on the laws and statute of limitations in your state. A lot of states have a 3 or 4 year statute of limitations. After that time, the debt recovery people cannot sue you. They can still call you and send you letters and pester you, though. There is a federal law that says if you tell them to stop calling you, then they have to stop calling you. So if they cannot call you or sue you then there is not much chance of collecting the debt.

However, these debt recovery guys are a sneaky bunch. If you acknowledge the debt somehow then they can reset the clock on the statute of limitations. I heard a story of one guy. He was being bugged by the debt people and it was an old debt. They were talking to him on the phone and asked him to confirm that the debt they were calling him about was his. The guy said yes and the debt people took that as an acknowledgement of the debt and the statute of limitations was reset.

1st Rule. Do not talk to these guys. They are in this for a living. They know the rules better than you and they know how to trip you up. If they call and you do not want to talk to them, ask them to not call you ever again. Do not answer their questions, just tell them not to call your number again.

Something to think about it recording your phone calls. Several states allow a party to record the phone call without the consent of the other party. If your state allows that, then maybe you should get a setup to allow you to record these calls. That way you can try to show that you never acknowledged the debt and that you told them to stop contacting you. Granted, this is pretty flimsy in court, but it could lead to something. Also, it might rattle the cage of the debt collector. Remember, follow the 1st rule carefully if you do this. You don't want something you say to be used against you.

You probably should send them a certified signature confirmation letter telling them to stop contacting you. Go online and do a bit of searching and you should be able to find more information about how to word this letter. Be careful not to acknowledge the debt. If they continue to bother you, then they are in violation of federal law and can be sued.

One more note, be careful of credit card offers. Some of these guys will try to tack on the debt to a credit card that they offer you. Of course, they do not tell you this. When you accept the card, you accept the old debt and suddenly your new card has a balance on it.

Go and do some research. MSN Money, Motley Fool, Yahoo Finance all have articles about dealing with debt collectors.

Also, here is a site with tons of personal finance articles. There are all sorts of topics and they are all mixed together but there are some here that you could find helpful.
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/Archive.html

Answer 2

Usually there is a statute of limitations for most things. The debt recovery company will try a number of things to get you to pay, but even if they file a judgment against you and you would go to court, the judge will not require payment by you to be made - in other words the judge won't help the collectors actually collect the money from you. The collectors will put "charge-off" on your credit report and that can stay for up to 10 years, but it can be requested by you to be removed, because it is an "old debt" (usually after three years). Good luck to you!

Answer 3

For unsecured debt in most states they cannot do much but send you nasty notes and if they have your phone number bug you on the phone. Some states allow creditors to actually dock your paycheck for unsecured debt. So check to see what your state laws are on this.

After 7 years officially your debt is supposed to go away. The reality is that debt collection agencies are like flies. They post like it's new debt when they buy the debt. I've had the same debt appear as many as 7 times on my credit report. All adding a few dollars in "fees" and calling it a new debt. You can often defeat them by filing a protest with the crediting agencies.

If you pay them ONE penny then the debt becomes current again. Many companies will lie to you and offer you a buyout then sell the remainder of the debt to another debt collection agency or step up efforts to collect the debt. It's a lot like blood in a pool full of sharks. You pay and they smell blood and come a running. There are a few companies that will honor buy outs but in my experience they are the exception and I have zero trust for debt collection agencies after being lied too by them on multiple occasions.

So best bet is if it's 5 years old and you live in a state that does not allow debt collectors to attach liens or dock your pay is to throw any correspondance from them away upon reciept. Then follow your credit report and if they post one word about you fight them. In 2 years the debt rolls off. If you give them money that debt is brand new. It's worse than if you never pay a penny. Even if you pay off the whole thing instead of going away in 2 years you have that fresh collection on your record that doesn't go away for until 7 years has passed. The act of paying a debt off does nothing for your credit score. The damage is already done. The debt is just as bad paid off or unpaid except as unpaid it rolls off your credit score that much sooner.

If you live in a state that allows for liens and other debt collection for unsecured credit start a campaign to repeal those laws. The way things are right now few people are going to escape bad debts in the coming years. Barnkruptcies and foreclosures are at record levels and whether Democrat or Republican wins the next election it's just going to get worse. So you have lots of company.

Answer 4

Yes....unless the debt is over 6 years and has never been acknowledged. See Section 5 Limitation Act 1980

Answer 5

If they don't find you, they'll just put a lean against you, which affect all your future applications for a credit card, buying a car, or house, attempting to get any kind of loan. It will stay on your credit report until the debt is paid.

Answer 6

A debt stays in your name for a lot more than 7-10 years. Trust me. I'm not sure if it ever gets erased.

Answer 7

i was going to say a debt will never expire. However a lot of our friends in yahoo seem to dis agree.Perhaps you have to declare personal bankruptcy first.In any case i wouldn't rely on it . It is better to negotiate a minimum payment and keep the peace

Answer 8

Read up on Uk debt law, a CCJ is registered against you for 6 years at least

Answer 9

they can always come after you, but after a certain time usually six years for contract, the statute of limitations will have passed as such once the statute of limitations has passed they can not threaten to sue you , only request the money but there is no legal recourse to collect the debt is available once the statute of limitations have passed

Answer 10

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