Will acknowledging an old debt do any harm?

lenz99 · ‎10-02-2015

I have an old citi card which went collection over 10 years ago for the amount of $1.5k. I never paid the account went into CA then fall off my record.

Today I got a call from a local phone# indicating I have a civil case and give me a number and case# to call. So I called and turned out some CA is still trying to collect the debt, they claimed to have sent me papers but I never got them. I told them it has been over 10 years and they can't do anything, CA said when I signed the paper with citi I waived the right(obviously lie) and I told them to send all papers with signature confirmation to me then they just hanged up.

I now realized that I admitted the debt over phone, will this be a problem? I should've said "have no idea about the debt". I didn't agree to make any payment but just said its a very old debt.

Thanks!!

Anonymous · ‎10-02-2015

@lenz99 wrote:
I have an old citi card which went collection over 10 years ago for the amount of $1.5k. I never paid the account went into CA then fall off my record.

Today I got a call from a local phone# indicating I have a civil case and give me a number and case# to call. So I called and turned out some CA is still trying to collect the debt, they claimed to have sent me papers but I never got them. I told them it has been over 10 years and they can't do anything, CA said when I signed the paper with citi I waived the right(obviously lie) and I told them to send all papers with signature confirmation to me then they just hanged up.

I now realized that I admitted the debt over phone, will this be a problem? I should've said "have no idea about the debt". I didn't agree to make any payment but just said its a very old debt.

Thanks!!

Bottom feeder CA trying to collect on zombie debt. If you have a mailing address for them send them a cease communication letter.

Nothing you said would have done any harm. The only thing one should never do is make a promise to pay the old debt.

RobertEG · ‎10-02-2015

In the meantime, you may wish to pursue possible violations on their part.

If it is not the same debt collector that orginally dealt with you, then their call triggered their obltiation to send dunning notice.

If you also live in a state with more stringent debt collectin practices stattues, such as TX, CA, or NY, then they may have violated provisions such as notice of time barred debt, or may now provide you additional debt validation provisions undr their state laws.

You may also wish to report them to the CFPB for clear violation of the FDCPA should you check out the civil docket numbers they provided and substantiate that they falsely sttated that they have initiated civil action.

You appear to have a few shots in your arsenal should you decide to lob back a volley.........

lenz99 · ‎10-02-2015

Thanks for the reply! I'm in California and I believe they violated tons of laws. The first phone call told me there was a civil case and even gave me a fake case#, also said he is from la court house...but I didn't record the conversation.

For the 2nd call there is no "this phone will be recordeded" message(can they forge it?) so technically they can't use my word against me then.

Well lesson learned, I've being carefully with these CA but still got tricked today...No plan to make any lawsuit as I also don't have much proof. Have the name of the CA and phone# -- phone# seems to be new(or they have lots of phone#), I can't find any info searching using the name and phone#.

RobertEG · ‎10-02-2015

If you dont get a dunning notice within a week or so, I would at least send a complaint to the CFPB for their violation of FDCPA 8-09(a).

That will at least prompt a nasty-gram to the debt collector from the CFPB, making them aware that you are aware......

Anonymous · ‎10-02-2015

@lenz99 wrote:
Thanks for the reply! I'm in California and I believe they violated tons of laws. The first phone call told me there was a civil case and even gave me a fake case#, also said he is from la court house...but I didn't record the conversation.

For the 2nd call there is no "this phone will be recordeded" message(can they forge it?) so technically they can't use my word against me then.

Well lesson learned, I've being carefully with these CA but still got tricked today...No plan to make any lawsuit as I also don't have much proof. Have the name of the CA and phone# -- phone# seems to be new(or they have lots of phone#), I can't find any info searching using the name and phone#.

I would contact an FDCPA attorney in my home state. They typically give you a free consult over the phone and will tell you if you have an FDCPA case or not.

If it's a bottom feeder CA they will probably settle out of court without having to subpoena any phone records.

Best of luck!