Am I still liable for debt that no longer shows up on my credit report?
Richard_CA asked:
I had several accounts of debt that I was responsible for from the early to mid 90s. These debts consisted of a home ($120,000), a central heating/central air unit installed in the home ($15,000). A water softener system also installed in the home ($5000). Personal Loans - one was secured by household goods for $4000 and one was not - another $4000. And credit card debt for $850. I stopped paying these loans back in 1995 and stopped paying my credit card in 1997 because my debt exceeded my income. I could not take the house or the water softener or the central heating/air unit with me, so why pay for it. I get letters every once in a while from these people still trying to collect and I always ignore it. None of these items appear on my credit report, and I’ve been told that my credit report is excellent with a credit score of over 800. Can anyone tell me if these bill collectors can come after me for the balance owed almost 15 years ago?
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I had several accounts of debt that I was responsible for from the early to mid 90s. These debts consisted of a home ($120,000), a central heating/central air unit installed in the home ($15,000). A water softener system also installed in the home ($5000). Personal Loans - one was secured by household goods for $4000 and one was not - another $4000. And credit card debt for $850. I stopped paying these loans back in 1995 and stopped paying my credit card in 1997 because my debt exceeded my income. I could not take the house or the water softener or the central heating/air unit with me, so why pay for it. I get letters every once in a while from these people still trying to collect and I always ignore it. None of these items appear on my credit report, and I’ve been told that my credit report is excellent with a credit score of over 800. Can anyone tell me if these bill collectors can come after me for the balance owed almost 15 years ago?
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December 25th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
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legally or morally?
December 27th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
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They can still attempt to collect. However, after 15 years, the statute of limitations has expired. There is no longer any legally valid debt. Any lawsuit would be thrown out.
December 30th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
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No—–that wouldn’t happen. It has been written off and forgotten.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:52 pm
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Your safe. The statute of limitations has expired so there is nothing they can do to you legally.
They can call and try to collect but the only way they can collect is if you agree to pay them.
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:33 am
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I do not believe you. Number 1 the home would have been foreclosed on and not something you had a choice of paying off a loan or not soooo.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:14 am
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15000.00 for air hhhuummmmmmm in mid 90’s
January 6th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
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No…it may have been there as a collection once-upon-a-time, but it’s gone, so you are lucky.
The reason that the home probably didn’t show up is the company that held the mortgage most likely went bankrupt (that is very, very rare…but if the company totally dissolves…then there is no one to pay back…ie. some people that have American Home Mortgages may be getting very lucky if their loan had not yet sold).
They also didn’t report to credit.
January 9th, 2009 at 4:08 am
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No you’re not legally liable anymore. The statute of limitations has expired and usually they only have it one there for 7-10 yrs. You got lucky though, sometimes they sue you or garnish wages if it’s not illegal in your state.
January 10th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
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They cannot legally place those accounts on your reports since the reporting period had expired.
Some of those accounts would be considered open but it looks like most of them would be considered written.
They cannot “legally” go after you for the open accounts, since the SOL in “all” states for open accounts is far less than 15 years. Even though you are past SOL on open accounts, it is up to you to claim SOL.
(though if you stopped paying on your credit card in 1997, depending on the SOL statutes of state you are in, they may be able to legally sue for the card account)
They can legally go after you for the written accounts if your state has a long SOL statute for written accounts.
They can file a suit one day before the SOL statute expires and it would be a legal suit.
If they do file suit(s) and win, they can legally report the judgment(s). If the judgment(s) reports, your scores will tank.