Legal or illegal debt collection

Question

Is it legal for a lawyer or collecting agency to take you to court after a debt has been removed from your credit report?

The lawyer did not wait the thirty days for me to contact him, and filed a court summons. But it has been removed from my report. The dates of the original letter from the lawyer are close but the summons is definately filed after removal and is not properly filled out. I have been unsuccessful in finding any information on the web; please help

Answer 1

YES!  Even though the debt was removed from your credit report a lawyer or collection firm must follow your states law as to the statute of limitations on seeking civil suit on a debt.

The CRA's may only list a debt for 7 1/2 yrs, but your state may have a SOL to collect of more then the reporting time. Some states have a SOL of 10 years

You can check your statute of limitations at the following web site

http://www.bcsalliance.com/statute_of_li...

If this debt exceeds your states SOL then that would be your defense in court.

If the lawyer did not wait the 30 days for you to submit a written request for validation as required by the FDCPA 15 U.S.C. § 1692g. Validation of debts, then he violated the law.  You can use this in your response to the summons.

Now to the summons.  Was it properly served, is it a legal summons.  A legal summons will contain information such as which court, the time and date as well as the docket number.  If this information is not on the summons then they sent you a bogus communication which is also a violation of the FDCPA 15 U.S.C. § 1692e. False or misleading representations.  This is a common practice of junk debt collectors who know the debt is "time barred" (beyond your states SOL).

Here are a few links to help you find out more

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/aler...

Information on time barred debts.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/cred...

Credit and your consumer rights.

Hope this answers your question

LEGAL DISCLAIMER:  The advice contained herein is for informational purposes only.  It is not to be construed as Legal Counsel nor Legal Advice.