A credit card company are saying i owe them money from year 2000 .Is this legal after 8 years.

Question

I realy cant remember its beenso long.

Answer 1

yes its legal. You've spent the money and you have to pay it back. these things always come back to you at some point even if its a few months or years.  

Answer 2

It depends. Factors to consider:

1. Has it taken this long to track you down?

2. Do you owe it?

There is a rule about the age of the debt, but if it can be justified, ie you changed your name or moved address etc.

Without a doubt, the debt would have been written off in their books.

My advice to you is to:

1. You need to know why it took so long for them to chase you.

2. Write then a letter to the credit card company stating that you keep your records for 5 years only and than you consider their actions regards chasing such an old debt after so much time, unfair. Inform then that so much time has passed and you consider the matter closed. Wait for their response.

3. Seek legal advice and tackle the problem.

4. I think in a court of law, the judge would rule in your favour due to the extreme age of the debt and the credit card company know it.

Additional:

The banks and credit card companies have been hit hard by the credit crunch, due to their own greed!

They are looking at ways to generate easy cash. They are doing this by as many methods as possible. The ones I know about are:

1. Ensuring all business banking customer get chaged for their account useage.

2. Charging for overdrawn fees, new daily charges upto a value of £200

3. *Going through old bad debts and persuing them!

Regards

Answer 3

Im not sure if its illegal if you actually owe them.  Dispute the charges on your credit report.  

FYI - It WILL definitely show on your credit report!!  But if you dispute it, and they have no valid proof of the charge, it will be deleted.

Answer 4

Its legal, but it wont show up on your credit report. They can always persue thier money.

Answer 5

yup, it's completely legal, debt doesn't expire. i would ask for proof that it is your debt (like a receipt from the purchases or a credit card statement)

Answer 6

Whether you owe the money or not is one thing...I can't imagine you being responsible for interest though if it was THEIR s***w up.  I would call Experian, Equifax or one of the other credit bureau's.  You can definitely try also this company Greenpath which has been EXTREMELY helpful to me.  Good luck!

Answer 7

Yes. They have ten years to attempt to recover a debt. Failure to recover in this time does not mean they lose their right to do so - the failure to recover the debt may be due to things beyond their control, such as the debtor has changed address several times, or moved address.

Making no attempt to trace the debtor or recover the debt in 10 years means they lose the right to do so.

Answer 8

If you've spent it then yes, of course it's legal. You should keep a record of all financial documents though so you can see if it is your debt or not.

Answer 9

Maybe

Answer 10

It would depend on whether they've tried to call in the debt before now.

Answer 11

I suggest getting a copy of your credit score and look for any receipts to prove if you paid this card in full.  They have every right to go after you for money you "borrowed" and never paid back, hence the reason why these cards are called "credit" cards.  It is never illegal to come after someone who stiffed payments on a credit card, it is illegal for collection agencies to call you multiple times of day or use abusive/threatening language to you to collect.  They can not harass someone at work and home.  After receiving written notice of the debt they legally can not contact you by phone until 30 days after the date of the letter.  

If you ask them not to contact you by phone (ask for a fax number then send that request in writing addressed to the debt collector) then they can not legally contact you by phone again.  The collection agency can however continue to contact you via mail.  Keep a written log of who contacted you, what time you received the phone call and the date.  If any verbal threats were given to you write them down too.  If you are being harassed then you need details to provide a lawyer.

My suggestion, if you have not paid your card in full make payment arrangements, and make the payments as promised.  If not you will find that your credit score will suffer and you will not be able to get credit and if you manage to the APR will be VERY high.

Answer 12

well there are options like that usually there is a situation with your debit so yeah you do owe the certen amount of money

Answer 13

after 7 years your delinquent accounts which are on your credit report, will fall off.  If you are still seeing accounts which are older than 7 years, first you will need to determine exactly when the account was charged off, and then from that date you would need to determine whether 7 years have passed yet.  If 7 years have passed then you will need to contact the major credit bureaus to dispute any accounts which should be updated, or request an official update of your credit report so that all accounts will be current