I have an item that went into collections in the amount o...

[josie]

The lease agreement happened in GA I have moved from there to the
VI in 09/2002.

[Anonymous]

You may need to consult an attorney on this one. I would hazard an educated guess that if you are past the SOL in both that state and the state you currently live in, you're okay.

[Anonymous]

Josie,

By VI do you mean the Virgin Islands or VIrginia? If it's Virginia, then the SOL is 3 years for Oral and Open accounts (i.e. CCs), 6 years for written and promissory notes. For a lease agreement, it would most definitely be a written agreement SOL of 6 years.

They can sue in either the state where you reside or the state where the debt was incurred, but realistically they will sue in the state where you reside. Some states do not honor foreign judgements, and there's a host of reasons why you can get a judgement vacated. Improper service, wrong venue, wrong jurisdiction, et al.

[josie]

VI is the US Virgin Islands. I am just going to go ahead and pay the settlement that they are offering me, that way I don't have to worry about any judgement being issued against me. That way I have nothing to worry about.

[Anonymous]

Since it's a settlement, if the agreement doesn't specify it, paying it could bump the SOL in the VI. Let's say that $2000 is owed, and the settlement is for $1200. That remaining $800 could still be under the SOL, and in theory they could sell that $800 to another CA for collection.

[Anonymous]

For what it's worth - I just bought the book "Everybody's Guide to Small Claims Court," a Nolo book.  On page 81, it talks about voluntary payments after the statute of limitations period.  It says that in most states, a voluntary payment does not start the statute of limitations period again.  However, if the debtor signs a written agreement promising to make the payments, this does reinstate the contract, and create a new statute of limitations period - this is called "reaffirming the debt" in legalese.  THIS IS A GENERAL STATEMENT - and does not appear to be applicable to Georgia.

I did a google search for "georgia statute of limitations written contract toll" to see if the statute of limitations for Georgia would be tolled by being out-of-state, and found this:  http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/SOL-by-State.html#11

that says "Written contract: 6 years from when it becomes due and payable and the six (6) year period runs from the date of last payment. (OCGA 9-3-24)" under Georgia.

While it doesn't say anything about being tolled because of being out of state, it does say that making a voluntary payment would start the statute running again. 

However, in researching the cited statute for the statute of limitations, I found OCGA 9-3-94, Removal of defendant from state, which states "Unless otherwise provided by law, if a defendant removes from this state, the time of his absence from the state until he returns to reside shall not be counted or estimated in his favor." so it sounds like the statute of limitations would be tolled if you were out of state (i.e., the time you were out of state would not count towards the time period of the statute of limitations).

OCGA 9-3-24, "Actions on simple written contracts; exceptions" says "All actions upon simple contracts in writing shall be brought within six years after the same become due and payable. However, this Code section shall not apply to actions for the breach of contracts for the sale of goods under Article 2 of Title 11 or to negotiable instruments under Article 3 of Title 11."

OCGA 9-3-112, "Payment or written acknowledgment equivalent to new promise" says "A payment entered upon a written evidence of debt by the debtor or upon any other written acknowledgment of the existing liability shall be equivalent to a new promise to pay."

So, based on my non-lawyer research, it looks like:

1) If you make a payment on a debt incurred in Georgia, you are starting the statute of limitations again.

2) The statute of limitations was tolled for the time period you were out of Georgia, anyway, so it is probably not about to expire in a year or less.

P.S. the Georgia statutes web site is here:  http://w3.lexis-nexis.com/hottopics/gacode/defaultlogin.htm but it's pretty painful to use.

[Boswd]

Honestly, if you have the means, pay it in Full and have it out of your life, done, gone and you can move forward.     It's not worth the extra hassle for a few extra hundred dollars you could save, if you have it on hand to Pay it in Full.   You'll just have to pay taxes

Now if you do pay or settled the whole SOL is a moot point because the debt will have been satisfied, that will only come into play if you start paying on the old debt and then just decide not to, then SOL will have had it's clock reatarted but if you going to satisfy the debt the SOL means nothing because it will have been paid.

[Anonymous]

Difference between a paid collection and a deletion is worth far more than just a few hundred dollars.

[Anonymous]

Marie,

This is great stuff you posted, but sometimes the tolling of statutes is buried in caselaw if the legislature didn't clearly articulate the matter.

[josie]

Even if i pay in full they will not delete it off my CR. They will just note it as paid in full. If I accept the setttlement the will note it with a zero balance, will indicate settled.