Question:
My fiancee was divorced in 1997, and as a singed parent lived on a very
tight budget working as a receptionist. Child support was the
difference between paying the bills and poverty. Her ex missed more
than $10,000 in payments and when he did she charged. By 2001 she had
about $2000 on one card and $7000 on another. Much of that was late
charges and over limit though (her real charges of that $9K was
probably $5k-$6k)
These two accounts were charged off in 3/2001, and sold (I guess) to
collection agencies. With all the collection agency fees the $2k
account is now $8K and the $7K account is now $18K. While the original
credit cards show no activity since Charge off in 2001, so there is
little impact on her credit, the collection companies show her
currently late $26K and of course her rating is in the tank despite
having no late payment in 5 years, and responsible payments (and
balances) on the credit cards she's had for the last 2-3 years.
There is no way she can pay these off. I would like to help, but then
there would go my son's college savings. From reading these groups I
understand charge offs will only show up for 7 years. But what about
these collection companies? Will they be on here forever, will they
just keep reselling the debt from one company to another so it looks
like a current debt?
Answer:
I went thru this same thing. Yes, they do keep selling it to
different collections agencies, and they will harass forever.
However, look up your states Statute of Limitations. Most states are
5 years adn up to about 8. Credit cards are non-secured. As long as
no payments were made by the original debtor, the statute may have
expired. Once expired, and no payments are made, they can still try
to collect, but a judge will throw it out of court. I went thru all
of this, I was sued, and it cost me about $1000 to pay a lawyer to get
me out of it. Your state attorney generals website should give you the
statute of limitations. I found out that I had to hire a lawyer
because they insisted that I made payments, which I did not. Other
collectors did.
