Statute of limitations on collecting a repossession debt in Illinois?

Question

My husband had a truck repossessed back in Feb. 2000. He had bought it 1 1/2 years before that. He had tried to get caught up but they wanted to collect repo fees before it was even repo'd so he let them get it. His stepfather was a co-signer at the time. My husband and his stepfather were never contacted again to tell them where it was being auctioned. They have never been informed how much it was auctioned for. This was almost a brand new truck with low miles on it. They called and harassed him for a few weeks last year and gave up. Now today we have a notice that they are wanting almost $14,000 for a truck that we don't own and it has been over 8 years and is no longer on his credit report.

Answer 1

The statue of limitations depends on what type of debt you incurred.  

For Illinois the limitations are.

Written contracts: 10 years.

Promissory note: 6 years.

Open account ( charge card, credit card): 5 years.

Find out what type of debt it is first.

The statute of limitations is based on the date of his first delinquency.  

The statute of limitations covers lawsuits against him only.  Which means that after the statute of limitations runs out, a lawsuit may not be legally filed for judgement.  

The laws governing credit reporting are separate and are covered under the Fair Credit Reporting act ( google it on wiki).

The Bad news.  They can try to collect on the debt for the rest of his life.  They will most likely make an attempt to collect.  If that is not successful they will sell the debt to another agency for pennies on the dollar. This new agency will try to collect again.  If they are not sucessful they will sell the debt again for less money and so on.  Debt collection agencies have been known to sell the same debt from 5-10 times.

Read the Fair Credit Collection Act. Reference below. If you feel they are using illegal or harassing collection techniques, you may have recourse.

The Good news, if you choose not to pay, is that the only thing they can do is to try to collect.  They can't garnish wages without a judgement from a lawsuit.  They can't legally place a lien against a house or other real property without a judgement.  

Something to watch out for is that a debt collection agency may attempt to place the debt back on your credit report with a new reporting date.  Essentially they try to restart the clock on the statute of limitations.  It is not legal nor will it hold up in court BUT, the burden is still on you to dispute it with the credit reporting agency, Experian, Transunion etc.

In reference to the $14,000 selling price and no contact made with you when they sold it.  They have no obligation to contact him when it was auctioned off.  They assumed that if he wanted the vehicle he would have paid the loan as agreed at the time or paid any penalties and fees when it was towed.  The selling price for an auctioned or repo vehicle is always very low in comparison to it's retail value or the loan note value.  It is not a defense in disputing a debt.  

Review your credit report periodically for signs of the Debt re appearing on your report.

Good Luck