Collections on old DirecTV account

[DestinyV]

Several years ago (about 8) an ex's mother had a DirecTV account in my name. She never paid one bill and of course it went into collections. I never paid the balance (I was young and stubborn). About 2 weeks ago I received a notice from some collections company asking for the full balance of  just a little less than $1000, with the typical jargon of 30 days to respond it will be report to collections bureaus etc. I'm not exactly sure what I should do. It's an old account, but it technically was mine because I allowed her to put it in my name. Any ideas?

[Shokk]

If it was indeed 8 years ago, by law, they are unable to put it on your credit report.  I believe even threatening to do so is a violation.

[Anonymous]

If it's really > 7 years I think that advice is good.

Similar situation here, my ex-wife stopped paying them and it had been in my name.  I was dumb for not cancelling it at the time.  Anyhow, it was > 5 years and I only learnt about it from collections setting off a credit alert.  Wrecked my score too and there's no reasoning with Directv.

[gdale6]

If this is past the 7 year time frame and past your states SOL, a FOAD letter would be in order.

[RobertEG]

If it is past both credit report exclusion and SOL, you could choose to do nothing.

You no longer have a debt you are legally obligated to pay, and credit report exclusion is based only on DOFD, and cannot (legally) be extended by the debt collector.

Whether or not those conditions satisfy your needs is up to you.

You still have the remaining issue of having an unpaid, delinquent debt, which you may be asked to disclose in a future application process.

To be clear of that issue, you may wish to offer them a settlement for a small percentage of the debt, thus putting to bed the issue of any unpaid, delinquent debt.

[Anonymous]

Can a CA continue to contact you for a debt that's nine years old? 

[gdale6]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Can a CA continue to contact you for a debt that's nine years old? 

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Sure can in most states, if its past your states SOL then a FOAD letter would be in order. In 2 states WI & MS it would be illegal as the debt is dead at SOL.

[Anonymous]

Gotcha! Thanks! 

[RobertEG]

CA, and in a few months, NY, have requiremnts pertaining to colection on a debt that is outside of SOL.

The NYS regs go into effect in March.

The CFPB is now in the middle of a rulemaking process that will likely include a fed regulation applicable in all states relating to collection on time-barred debts.

Under such statutes and regs, a debt collector must advise the consumer, when attempting to collect a time-barred debt, that they have no legal obligation to pay.

[DestinyV]

I live in PA. I believe the SOL is 7 years from the date of last account activity. I'm not sure of the exact date the account was considered 30 days delinquent because it was never reported on any of my credit reports.