@ForwardLooking wrote:
They cannot put anything on your report older than 7 years from the date of the deliquency. If your bill has been unpaid since 2010 and you have not done anything since on that account, they should not be able to report it. Be careful though when talking to them. Don't talk about the debt specifically and simply keep insisting they Cease and Desist all communications with you. Some state laws allow them to restart the clock on the debt if they trick you into admiting it is your debt and set up a payment plan or something. Texas (where I live) specifically bans this practice, but other states allow it.
The other option is if you somehow feel quilty or compelled to pay, you can probably just settle with them. Just do it all at once, and avoid a payment plan as that can reset the clock.
Even if you somehow inadvertently reset the SOL, it wouldn't reset the exclusion period. It still wouldn't be able to be reported anymore on credit reports. They're two completely separate things.