How to Fight Old Debt Recovery

Debt collectors may attempt to collect on a debt regardless of how old it is. Because of this, it is possible to receive collection calls on a debt that is ten or even fifteen years old. Although debt collectors may attempt to recover a debt at any time, you may not still be legally liable for the amount they say you owe. It is important that you fight old debt recovery efforts rather than ignore them lest you be sued or suffer damage to your credit history.

Instructions

1

Call your state attorney general's office and ask what the statute of limitations for debt collection is in your state. The statute of limitations places a time limit on how long a debt collector has to seek legal recourse against you for the debt. If the statute of limitations has expired, you still technically owe the debt, but you are not legally obligated to pay it.

2

Pull your credit reports and review them to ensure that the collection agency is not reporting the old debt as a recent account. The Fair Credit Reporting Act states that a collection account can only appear on your credit history for 7 years following the last payment you made to the original creditor. If the debt in question first went delinquent more than 7 years ago, it should not appear on your credit report.

3

Notify the debt collector in writing that your state's statute of limitations has expired on the debt. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act also gives you the right to demand that the debt collector not contact you again concerning the debt. If the debt collector is reporting the old debt on your credit report, you may include in your letter that doing so is against the law and if the notation is not promptly removed, you will file a lawsuit for a violation of the FCRA.

4

Send a letter to each credit bureau notifying it of the inaccurate report if the account does appear on your credit report and the debt collector does not promptly remove it. Request a full investigation into the item. The FCRA gives the credit bureaus 30 days to investigate disputes and notify consumers of the results.

5

File a lawsuit against the debt collector if it validates the accuracy of the report with the credit bureaus. Usually just filing the lawsuit will be enough to convince the debt collector that it is in its best interest to remove the illegal notation from your credit report.