Zombie Debt Collectors Dig Up Your Old Mistakes

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David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Zombie Debt Collectors Dig Up Your Old Mistakes

Post by David A. Szwak »

Zombie debt collectors dig up your old mistakes
There's a hot new growth industry: companies that buy bad debts for pennies and squeeze you to pay in flagrant violation of federal law. Here's how to get them off your back.
By Liz Pulliam Weston
Debbie made a mistake when she was in college.

As a student in Fort Worth, Texas, she maxed out a Citibank credit card with a $300 limit and never paid the bill. Debbie said Citibank charged off the debt sometime between 1987 and 1989, and the liability has long since disappeared from her credit report.

Besides that, the statute of limitations -- the amount of time a creditor can sue over an old debt--expired in the early 1990s. Both her old home state of Texas and her current state of California generally prohibit creditors from suing once a debt is more than four years old.

That’s why she was stunned when a collection agency called her last summer, demanding she pay the 17-year old bill. The calls have continued off and on since then, along with monthly bills listing varying amounts that the collection agency wants her to pay.

“The last time [they called], I told them the statute of limitations had run out on the debt and to stop harassing me,â€
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
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