Debt collecters from a decade ago?! (collection, limitations, credit report, debt collector) - Economics - City-Data Forum

jco · 10-30-2008, 11:55 PM

My husband apparently has a $98 debt from an old phone number TEN YEARS AGO. It was unpaid when he moved I guess, and they never sent the bill to wherever he went. Ten years later, we get a letter in the mail (we now live in a different state) from a debt collector demanding we cough up the money in 30 days. Uh, fine. We paid the hundred bucks.

I couldn't help but think this is a sign of the times. Why ten years without a word and now suddenly they're sending us demanding letters unless companies are really hurting now. I don't get it. By the way, it was from Qwest.

Philip T · 10-31-2008, 12:54 AM

No, they just sell the debts and re-sell them, for pennies on the dollars.

Then they send some letters to see who bites.

In this case someone did bite, so they got a quick hundred bucks for the effort.

Churning old debts is a business. Kind of low and sleazy, but it just a business.

GeminiGal · 10-31-2008, 06:49 AM

Maybe they could'nt find your husband. Did it show up on your credit report(s)?
Glad that you settled your debt.

scuba steve · 10-31-2008, 08:30 AM

I think that might've brought it back from the dead and put it on his credit report as a paid off account in collection. 10 years sounds way past the statute of limitations for debts like that.

jaindow · 10-31-2008, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scuba steve

10 years sounds way past the statute of limitations for debts like that.

I was thinking the same thing. Isn't there a statute of limitations on such things?

texdav · 10-31-2008, 07:43 PM

If its ten years old I say forget it.If the company did not try to collect then it means nothign after ten years.

masonsdaughter · 11-01-2008, 08:32 AM

I got one of those letters once and did not think I owed the bill. When I wrote a letter asking for proof of the validity of the debt, they did not respond, and I never heard anything more about it. I think it was a scam.

70Ford · 11-01-2008, 01:23 PM

I'd send them a bill back for wasting my time...then sue them in small claims court to get my money.

You think I'm kidding.

Edit, nm... he did skip out on the bill. I thought about it and I think I would pay it. Then again, I've never skipped out on a bill. So I dunno.

I once went to Pizza Hut with 3 dudes. They were in tech school with me. We ate, had some beers and one guy says, "OK, you guys get up and head out and I'll go to the bathroom...and when the waitress moves to another side of the room, I'll bolt." The other two dudes stood up. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. So I looked him in the eye and I said, "What did you say?" and he's like "Let's skip out on the meal" and I said "You go ahead, bro, Hell you all go!...I'll pay for everyone." This made him sort of mad and he's all like "Fine, I'll chip in - - - I GUESS!" The other two dudes then sat back down and offered to chip in, too.

The moral of the story is pizza and beer are freaking awesome.

jco · 11-03-2008, 10:53 AM

Well, glad to know it's such a business after I paid the debt. :P Oh well, I still feel like it's the right thing to do. My husband corrected me... it was eight years old. Still. They said they didn't put it on his credit report, and when we checked his credit last (March), it wasn't on there.

I didn't even check on the statute of limitations...

Philip T · 11-03-2008, 11:06 AM

What you have to watch out for in all this are bad faith operators.

When you pay or even acknowledge and promise to pay a debt, in some cases -- it opens up the activity and can consider to start the clock all over on Statue of Limitations (the legal / court portion) and the Credit Report portion (SOL and Credit Report times and laws are ENTIRELY different things.)

It does not seem and probably is not just, but attempting to pay in good faith on your part can open you up for additional and totally unrelated claims.