Is there a time limit or statute of limitations that a credit card debt can be collected against?

Question

I have heard that Texas has a 4 year statute of limitations on unpaid credit card debt. If a collections agency buys this account does the 4 year limit start over? If not, and the debt is over 4 years old and has had no payments made to it, can I have it removed from my credit report? If so, how do I go about it?

Answer 1

You are correct. In Texas the statute of limitations is 4-years.

If this has passed, there is nothing that the collection company can do to you legally.

And no it doe's not start over. That is not legal under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

As far as getting it removed from your credit, that takes 7-years from the date of first delinquency.

Answer 2

Actually, I believe items can be left on your TRW's for seven years after the report of first delinquency. But, most companies will give up on trying to collect after a year, and they will write your debt off as bad debt. Generally, this means they will send the debt to a collection agency and that collection agency will usually try for six months to collect. When they are unsuccessful, they will send it to another company, and another, and another. Eventually, one of those companies will be the last, and your seven years will fall off from there. Each company, however, puts a new ding on your credit report when they get your collection.

To get these removed is really easy. You see, once the company sends your collection to someone else, they no longer own it. If you dispute this item, you can get it taken off. To do this, you need to get all three of your credit reports, highlight everything you want taken off, then write to the credit companies and say "This account (list account name and number) is not mine." Do that with each bad account (this can be done online with transunion.com or equifax.com). The TRW company will start an investigatioon and within 30 days, those items will be taken off. I once raised my credit score by 200 points in 30 days by doing this. I go through this process at least once or twice a year, just to get bad stuff off and keep my credit score high.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Credit report info stays on 7 years unless you can proof it was false to begin with .
( 10 yrs for bankruptcy )

Or maybe by lying , and claiming the accounts are not yours . (hoping the credit agency is too busy to catch the lies)

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