Letter from Convergent about an old debt

[Anonymous]

I've been rebuilding my credit the past few years. A couple of days ago, I received a settlement offer in the mail from Convergent Outsourcing regarding a debt on a Visa card that I had about 9 or 10 years ago. I looked at my credit report and it showed the debt in "removed collections". I have nothing in open collections.
Anyway, I have been trying to figure out if I did pay this last year and forgot about it. I looked through my paperwork and found another settlement offer from them dated more than a year ago in the back of a dresser drawer. It was for the same debt and I found it kind of strange that they hadn't contacted me at all between then and now.
I looked online and have found a ton of stuff about Convergent Outsourcing and scams (trying to "settle" debts that people don't even have or have already paid). I'm unsure of what to do. I tried calling them but got a full voicemail box and then would get disconnected. I'm not sure if I should send a debt validation letter because I'm worried that that will somehow activate my account with them.
I'm just wondering if anyone has had a similar thing happen with this company and I'm looking for some advice. I would just go ahead and pay the debt, but like I said, all of these testimonials from people almost getting scammed raised a red flag.
Help would be much appreciated. This is the third forum I've brought this issue to and I haven't gotten any advice yet.

[RobertEG]

If yu recognize the debt, then only you or your records will know if you paid.

Apparently, they dont think so.

A DV at this point would most likely be ignored.  I would assume that they sent a prior dunning notice, and thus a DV would now be untimely.

You can still request debt validation, but they may not respond, and if they do, they need only identify the asserted amount of the debt and the name of the OC, which you apparently already know, so it may be of little use.  A DV does not compel proof of the dbt.

Is it now outside of SOL in your state? 

If so, you cannot be sued.

It the credtit report exclusion date has also expired, they cannot get it back into your credit report.

Thus, payment will be to remove any issue of an unpaid, delinquent debt, and not because of credit report reinsertion or threat of legal recovery.

Your choice at this point as to whether to pay.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice.

I'm in Illinois and have read that the SOL on credit card debt is 5 - 10 years, but I'm not sure which time frame this one falls under.

How can I find the credit report exclusion date? Is that the same thing as the date the collection was removed from my credit report?

[RobertEG]

Yes.

The credit reprot exclusion date for any collection is no later than 7 years plus 180 days from the DOFD on the OC account.

The DOFD was reported by the debt collector, and is then used by the CRA to track the date after which they must exclude any and all collections reported on the debt.

If the CRA excluded the collection, then it was 7 to 7 1/2 years past the DOFD on the OC account, and can never again be included.

[Anonymous]

I recieved two collections letters from Convergent and sent them DV by certified mail within the dunning notice period.  I just recieved a reply regarding one account that states that "they are no longer collecting on this debt and any information furnished to any credit reporting agency is being submitted for deletion."

The debt that they were attempting to collect was nearly 11 years old.  The other debt is about 6 years old.  It is listed on CK as "being recently removed from collections" , however, I never saw it on there. 

I will not pay either until Convergent proves that they have authority to collect, which I do not believe that they do.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the advice.

I'm in Illinois and have read that the SOL on credit card debt is 5 - 10 years, but I'm not sure which time frame this one falls under.

How can I find the credit report exclusion date? Is that the same thing as the date the collection was removed from my credit report?

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It appears that in IL it's 5 years for credit cards, IL considers CC's unwritten agreements, see link below.

You can always send a cease and desist letter to Convergent and they will have to stop calling and writing you letters

http://www.dltlaw.com/Alerts/ILLINOIS-COURT-HOLDS-CREDIT-CARD-DEBT-SUBJECT-TO-FIVE-YEAR-STATUTE-OF-LIMITATIONS-FOR-ORAL-CONTRACTS.shtml