the statute of limitations

I believe the statute of limitations is 6 years in New York. It will go by the state in which you aquired the debt, I am assuming that it is New York.
Whether the SOL is up or not it will still show on your credit report for 7 as an unpaid debt. It will also show that it is in collections.
Any debt that is under six years I would advise you to start paying on these first. You could be sued to repay it at anytime. The others I would say if you are able to pay well really you should, even though they are ,pre than likely getting ready to fall off your credit report.
TYhe debts that are past SOL you can still be sued for but would not have to pay do to the SOL (statute of limitations). More than likely they probaly would not even bother since it would be a no-win situation for them.
Now this doesn't stop them from calling you and trying to collect. Before you start settling your debts there is so much you need to know.
1. debt validation
2.pay for delete
3.what to expect
Come back and let us know what route you plan on taikng with your debt so we can guide you and help make the wisest choices for your own sake. We freely give advice and expect nothing in return except answering a few questions so we can help. Hope to hear from you soon.

The cards will fall under the statute of limitations from the state that you were in when you applied for them in? Was you a resident of New Jersey when you obtained the cards? Then you go by New Jersey statute of limitations.

Thats what I have been asking. It really makes a difference.

In both New Jersey and New York, the SOL is 6 years. Since the loan agreement was made in New York, the SOL will be of 6 years but the unpaid debt may appear in your report for seven years. You need not pay the debt which has already exceeded 6 years. However, if there is any debt which has still not completed six years, you should pay them off because the creditors can take you to the court and sue you for the debt For this you should send DV letters to the CA. If they validate the debt, try to come to a repayment agreement with them with a pay for deletion agreement.

I agree with Justin on this point. If your credit card debt has not passed the statute of limitation period, it is better to contact your creditor and ask him for a repayment agreement. Try to make him agree for a pay for deletion agreement because by doing this you can get the negative listing out of your report as soon as you pay off the debt. But if you do not try to pay the debt, the creditor or the collection agency, can sue you to the court and even get judgment against you to garnish your wages.

You are really getting the best advice here. You really need to check on the SOL.

Hi taekim012
Since the credit card debts is already 4 to 6 years old, you need to check the statute of Limitation of your state. Now since the SOL is six years in New York on all types of debts including credit cards, your SOL may or may not have expired. To check whether your SOL has expired or not, all you need to do is to pull out your credit report and check when you have made the last payment on the cards. If the date of the last payment has already been six years, you are no longer required to pay back the debt because the SOL has expired. But if the date of last payment has not crossed six years, then you should take initiative to repay back the debts on those cards on which the SOL has not yet expired.

Yes, I agree with Anthony. However, you should not pay even a single amount towards the card which has already passed the SOL time period of six years. This is because, even if you make even a small payment, the SOL will rewind and you become liable to pay back the entire debt. Now even if the SOL expires, the negative listing will stay in your report for seven years and six months from the date you made the first missed payment. But the credit score starts increasing after the SOL period becomes over only if you make timely repayments on any new debt on the credit card.

I can never stress enough about not paying once the SOL has passed. It only opens a person up to paying those outrageous charges and all new harassment. Once a debt if transferred from the original creditor to a junk collector are they allowed to keep adding all those fees?
I see alot of people who have posted there amount doubled once it was bought but I thought it wasn't allowed to.

That is why we keep it a hot topic here fireyone, good for newbies to know.

Yep. Some would probaly argue we are theives but why take the risk if the SOL has passed. Todays credit world is scary enough. How does everyone feel about the wall street bail out? Figure since it was everyones money I may as well ask.

I am not sure how I feel about it. I mean those mortgage companies were lending to people who would not qualify for a loan to save their lives, I realize that everyone wants to live the american dream and own a home, however it takes hard work and when you want more than your means then you become a victim of these types of companies, they should have never lent to these people, but then again, people need to do their research and know what they can afford. I hope we all don't end up paying for it.

Hi Fireyone
The junk collectors adds interest rates and other fees on the outstanding debts, sometimes doubling the debt amount. They do this because, they know that the debtors who are not aware of the Statute of Limitations will always negotiate the debt and they would have to reduce the debt amount by 40% to 50%. Now, these junk buyers buy the debt at a maximum of 30 to 40% of the original debt amount and so they can make huge profit even by offering a discount of 40% to the debtor after charging interest and other fees on the outstanding debt. So before paying off a debt, one should always have a look at whether the SOL for the debt has expired or not.

Thats exactly what I did. I seen I was protected so I don't even pick up any calls and haven't gotten any for a long while (thank goodness). They almost quadrupled the debt so there is no way even if I wanted to pay it that I could...even at a discount.