How Long Can They Sue?

Anonymous · ‎08-10-2007

I have been getting harrassing calls from Calvary about a debt from Sept of 1999. I thought after 6 years they are no longer able to sue. Is that true or not? Does it depend on the state you live in or the state you incurred the debt in? Where can I get written information on the law about this?

I live in Oklahoma and incurred the debt in Missouri.

fused · ‎08-10-2007

TriciaLynn wrote:

I have been getting harrassing calls from Calvary about a debt from Sept of 1999. I thought after 6 years they are no longer able to sue. Is that true or not? Does it depend on the state you live in or the state you incurred the debt in? Where can I get written information on the law about this?

I live in Oklahoma and incurred the debt in Missouri.

This a wonderful site but it's temporarily down. Was this a credit card? If so, the OK SOL is 3 years and MO is 5 years. Once you are past the SOL they cannot sue you but they can continue to try and collect the debt.

http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/statue-limitations.html

Anonymous · ‎08-10-2007

Thank you. That is very useful. It was actually a cell phone bill though. I had moved and got behind on my bill and could not pay so they shut it off and charged me for breaking the contract. It was AT&T. Does that count as revolving since it was month to month or is it some other type of credit?

Anonymous · ‎08-10-2007

I found this on http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/statue-limitations-explained.html

"In some cases, making an actual payment or making a verbal or written promise to pay can reset or restart the limitations depending on your state code."

I am sooo glad I told them I was neither committing nor declining to pay the debt when they called me!

fused · ‎08-10-2007

TriciaLynn wrote:

Thank you. That is very useful. It was actually a cell phone bill though. I had moved and got behind on my bill and could not pay so they shut it off and charged me for breaking the contract. It was AT&T. Does that count as revolving since it was month to month or is it some other type of credit?

Cell phone companies normally do not report to the CRAs unless you fill out an app (inq) or the account goes bad. I know it's stupid, they only report the account if it's negative. Cell phone agreements are similar to CC in that they are open-ended contracts (agreements). So you are past the SOL for both states and they cannot sue you. This doesn't mean the debt goes away, they are allowed to continue collection attempts and place soft (maybe even hard) inqs on your reports.