When the creditor sold the debt, they were required to promptly update the current balance to $0.
As stated in prior posts, update of an OC account to $0 does not mean the debt was paid. It means only that there is no longer a debt owed to the creditor reporting that account.
One reviewing your credit report will look further to determine if the debt was paid.
If the OC account status was updated to state "Paid in Full, Was a Charge-of," that is explicit statement by the creditor that their account debt was update because it was paid rather than because it was sold.
The reporting would inform those reviewiing your credit report that the debt was paid.
IF that were true, then no, you could not be sued, as there would no longer be a debt.
However, unfortunuately, you admit that it is not true, and that the debt was not paid.
Thus, the new owner can bring civil action seeking a judgment, and you would have no defense that the debt was paid.
Thus, what you have is inaccurate reporting of a non-delinquency status by the creditor.
If the debt is ever sued upon, such as by the new owner, then it will be determined in court that you did not, in fact, pay the debt.
You cannot rely upon the inaccurate reporting of current status as factual evidence that the debt was paid when you admit that it was not.
Technically, you should contact the creditor have have their reporting of paid corrected, as it is clearly inaccurate if they sold the debt and you admit that it was never paid. Whether you choose to do so is another matter.....
