I have a collection agency sending me letters after 7 years do I have to pay?

Question

Ok so I had a providian credit card, I got the offer for the card 2 weeks after I applied for college (go figure). I maxed out the card on a playstation 2 in 2001. I never made 1 payment on it, it immediately went to cllections, I did agree to make payment sin august of 2001 but never paid because they wouldnt put it in writing how much they were to take out of my bank account. Do I have to pay? Some people say send a letter asking them to verify the debt, does anyone know where I can copy and paste a letter like this so I dont s***w up. I live in California if that helps.Thanks for the answers.

Answer 1

Debt validate them and they will probably go away. The SOL in California is 4 years.  

Answer 2

Jeffrey is correct , the collecting SOL in California is 4 years from the last payment or charge you made on the account "before" it was charged off.

California also "does not" allow the collecting SOL to be reset once the account has been charged off. No matter if you had made a payment or made a written agreement to pay after the account had been charged off by the original creditor.

The reporting period also "cannot" be reaged as one poster stated.

Reaging is illegal and a negative account "must" be removed once the original reporting period has expired.

The reporting period for the negative would start to run the first time you became 30 days late and never brought the account current leading to the charge off.

If you defaulted in 2001 then the reporting period should either be up by now or close to it. If it is still reporting you might consider disputing it as obsolete with the CRA's it is reporting with.

The collecting SOL would also be up and you are no longer "legally" required to pay.

You might click on my profile and click on the last link I have listed to a free credit discussion board.

You will be able to find references to the SOL for your state, sample letter templates, read posts from others that may be going through the same thing you are, post your own questions if you want... all of which is totally free to read, use, post, etc.    

Answer 3

The worst thing you can do to yourself right now is pay. Why? Because this would re-start the statute of limitations for reporting on that debt, which is already up or almost up. Too, this would affect your credit report negatively.

I do not advocate not paying if you know the debt is yours. Asking for verification is risky as a debt can get verified, however old it is. The best way perhaps would be to negotiate for removal with the collection agency. This can be tricky and needs reading up on so as to do it right.

And, don't copy and paste dispute letters off the internet. The likelihood of the bureaus getting the same letter from thousands of other people is very high, which will cause your dispute to be thrown out the window.

The link below will take you to a good resource to learn how to craft dispute letters that are likely to work.

Answer 4

i know this sounds bad, but DO NOT pay it. Double check the limitations for your state, but in a lot of states, if you have not paid on a debt in 7 years, you do not have to and it shouldnt be on your credit report, although this differs from state to state also.  if you have not contacted the company, and have sent no form of payment in this long, the company has to take the loss, even though they will send you letters telling you you owe them.  but they cannot take legal action.  Again, check your state laws.  I cannot be certain of CA law.

So make sure to investigate before taking my word for it.

Answer 5

They gave you the money, didn't they?  So why do you think you don't have to pay?  You owe it.  Tell them to give you something in writing that they will remove all negative info from your credit report then pay them.

Answer 6

well i guess if you dont pay the interest will keep accumulating on it forever and your credit will be screwed, good luck

Answer 7

The best thing that you can do is go directly through the credit bureau you can dispute it directly online I believe through all 3 bureaus. Just state that the account is over 7 years old, please remove it. You will hear from them within 30 days and won't put yourself in a position of reaffirming the debt.