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Collection Letter What to do ?

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Fico82
Frequent Contributor

Collection Letter What to do ?

Hey Fico Fam ,  

    Recently went by my parents house and had a collection letter waiting for me with a date of jan 3 and i just opened letter yesterday. Its a old hsbc account now being collected by activate. It has old accout number followed with the new one and states i have 30 days to respond. I also noticed that it states last payment date of 8/2011 . From the research ive done wouldnt this be past SOL as far as being sued etc? I have no collections on credit reports as of yet. Not sure on what to do here ? C&D letter or just lay low and dont poke the bear ? Thanks in advance .







Message 1 of 6
5 REPLIES 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Collection Letter What to do ?

Sounds like zombie debt to me. Check your reports - if it’s not showing on them, then it has aged off and they can’t put it back on if you ignore them. Look it over - you should see a statement to the effect that “we can’t sue for this debt nor can we put it on your reports” - that’s the hallmark of zombie debt that has passed all statutory timeframes for pursuing the debt via legal means (reported collection activity, lawsuit, garnishment, etc).

Long as it was a credit card, 7.5 years is the max for listing it on your reports. It’s long past that, so unless your state has some absurdly long SOL, you can confidently use their letter to line the birdcage.
Message 2 of 6
Fico82
Frequent Contributor

Re: Collection Letter What to do ?


@Anonymous wrote:
Sounds like zombie debt to me. Check your reports - if it’s not showing on them, then it has aged off and they can’t put it back on if you ignore them. Look it over - you should see a statement to the effect that “we can’t sue for this debt nor can we put it on your reports” - that’s the hallmark of zombie debt that has passed all statutory timeframes for pursuing the debt via legal means (reported collection activity, lawsuit, garnishment, etc).

Long as it was a credit card, 7.5 years is the max for listing it on your reports. It’s long past that, so unless your state has some absurdly long SOL, you can confidently use their letter to line the birdcage.

Hey ImTheDevil thanks for the reply .. yea i have nothing showing on my credit reports as for collections . I double checked the writing on the collection letter and i dont see the statement about cant sue or cant report so thats what is making me nervous . This account was a loan i got back in 2006-2007 for a motorcycle but around 2011 i got laid off and everything went down the drain so wasnt a credit card. Here in texas i believe the SOL is 4 years. Not sure if SOL is only on credit cards only ?







Message 3 of 6
satio
Frequent Contributor

Re: Collection Letter What to do ?

You are correct, SOL is 4 years in Texas and would be applicable to this debt. 

 

You can't be sued and it cannot rightly reappear on your credit report.

 



Message 4 of 6
Fico82
Frequent Contributor

Re: Collection Letter What to do ?

Thanks for the feed back






Message 5 of 6
vntrsc
Frequent Contributor

Re: Collection Letter What to do ?

If you choose, you could send a letter demanding the debt collector cease and desist all communication.  I would send it by certified mail.  After receiving your demand, the collection agency cannot attempt to collect again.  It can only contact you one more time and that would be in order to inform you of its next move such as to close its file or take legal action.   That information cannot include a request for payment.  

 

BTW, in your case, due to the fact that the debt is time-barred, it would not inform you that it may take legal action.   

Message 6 of 6
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