Do you have to pay a creditor back after xx years?

Yes, this is true but it all depends on your state. For example in PA the SOL (statute of limitations) is 4 years from the date of your first missed payment. Say you made the last payment on a credit card debt in Jan. 2000 then they could no longer sue you for the debt after Jan. 2004. Some will still try to take you to court but can not win. What is your state and debt situation? If you at least let us know your state we can look up the SOL.

That law is called the statute of limitations, some people would say that you that no matter what you still owe the debt afterall you did borrow the money, get the goods, etc, etc. Just thought I would through that in there because somebody is gonna come on here and say that, so why not me, lol.

Any way, it is the statute of limitations, if you let us know what state you are from we will be happy to look that up for you. and of course try to help you with anything else that you need to get this all taken care of.

Hi ChrisCredit
There is a period of time known as the Statute of Limitation period, till which you are fully responsible to pay off the debt. This statute of limitation starts from the date of your last payment towards the debt and continues from 3 to 10 years depending upon the state you have signed the loan agreement. So you first need to check the SOL period of your state. If the SOL has already expired then you are no longer required to pay off the debt else you should send a DV letter to the creditor whose name appears in your credit report and pay off the debt once they validate the debt.

Yes, Carol is right. But once the SOL in your state has expired you should not pay off the debt, because if you make even a small payment towards the debt after the SOL expiry, the SOL rewinds and you become liable again for the debt and the creditor can sue you to the court to bring judgment against you to recover the debt. However, you should note that although you are no longer liable for the debt, the negative listing will stay in your report for seven years and six months from the date of your last missed payment.

Yes, Justin is right. You should not make any payment towards a debt once the SOL on the debt has expired, else SOL will start again. Now to be sure whether the SOL has expired or not, you need to pull out the credit report to check the name of the creditor whose name appears against the debt and send a DV letter. A proper validation will give you the detail of your last payment against the date from where you can find out the SOL expiry. If SOL has expired, you need not pay off the debt, else try to pay it off.

If the last payment was to the original creditor they actually will list the date you were late after all the other stuff like credit limit..amount owed..go and look at your credit report...after all the other mumbo jumbo you should see a list of dates that say..30 days as of..and so on. Now if you made a payment after the debt was sold to another collection agency then you will have to try and get proper validation so you can see when the last payment was made.

In Texas, the Statute of limitation for all the four types of debts - written contracts, oral agreements, promissory notes and open-ended accounts is 4 years. This Statute of Limitation starts from the date of your last payment towards the debt. However, the negative listing on your credit report will stay in your report for 7 years.

No matter what the states SOL is the date the debt will fall off a report is the same no matter what state. So even if one state has an SOL of 4 years and another has one for 2 years in both states the debt will still fall off 7 years after it is listed on a credit report.
Mrscool...is there any way we can help? If so just ask. A good way to find out your last payment made to the debt is by checking your credit report.

Here's a crazy question. Why HAVE a SOL then, if the 'fall-off' date ( for every state) isn't until 7 years after the first payment missed? I think I make ALITTE sense, anyway. I'm from PA, too. Yep...SOL here is 4 years, but,...........debts stay on your CR's for 7 years. Doesn't that 'defeat the purpose' of an SOL?

I think that the debtor has better protection when it is done this way. At least for the states that have a SOL less than 7 years. There is a big difference between the SOL and the "fall off"date:
SOL...period of time which a collection agency or original lender has to sue you legally, after that expires they can no longer hold you legally responsible for the debt.
"Fall off" date...Is the time an item is reported to the three credit bureaus. After the first payment missed the clocks starts to run and then when it reaches 7 years the debt will no longer appear on your report.

Sometimes all of this can get confusing. That was a great explanation, FIREYONE. Thanks. Sounds pretty 'cut and dry'.

I think that is why most of us end up here SD is because it is all too confusing. I never mind explaining anything because thats what people did to me when I came. If you need anything else about credit explained and I can help just ask. I will answer it as honestly as I can.

Yes, you are right Fireyone. SOL varies from 3 years to 10 years depending upon the state you have signed the loan agreement. Now if the SOL is more than 7 years then the negative listing will go out of your credit report after the seven year period but still the creditor can sue you to the court to recover the debt. However, if you find that the listing period in your credit report is over, and still the creditor asks you to recover the debt, you can send a debt validation letter to be sure whether or not you actually owe the debt to the creditor.

Sometimes it takes up to 7.5 years for a debt to fall off. It just depends when the creditor first reported the debt as delinquent. The states with the SOL's of over seven years seems a little ridiculous to me. I believe that once it falls off your credit record then it should just be over and done with. I do not know of too many that have an SOL that high.

There are collectors that will send you bogus information or information that does not constitute actual debt validation. I have had them send me everything from a copy of a bill to a bogus affadavit, seems unreal the lengths that they will go to just to try and get you to pay a debt. So if you do request debt validation, make sure that you understand the definition of debt validation, so you don't fall for one of their tactics. They will pull anything to get a few bucks off of you and restart the statute of limitations.

How can you verify that these letter are actually bogus? I read some where on this forum that some of the companies that send affidavits is actuall legally allowed to do so. I guess there is a clause at the bottom of your credit card statement or maybe the paper that was signed when you signed up that will give them this type of power to collect.Wonder where Mr. Moderator is that Dlete me is allowed to triple post. Let me get off a subject for a short period and my point really do become "magical" and start disappearing.

FIREYONE.......you said "understanding the defination of Debt Validation?" Isn't that 'self-explanatory'? To validate a debt from a OC or CA? I'm not trying to be ignorant, or anything, I just don't know what you mean by that statement. Is there something I'm 'missing' about DV letters?

SD chargers, I do not believe anything these days is self explanitory..that why people end up at these type of forums looking for answers. You can get debt validation from either the original creditor or the debt colllector. Whoever is trying to collect a debt from you is required to provide debt validation if you ask for it.

OH..how true!! On another post, I was reading about Validation and Verification. I just thought the two meant the same thing...in a way, anyway. It CAN get confusing.

Thats why it is important to get the facts straight. I am glad Doc came on here and started to post. He has reallt added some new infirmation and dtraightened up some old info. Soemtimes all of this does get pretty confusing. It takes people taking some of their time to help others out. As you could see from the post you were speaking of there is quite a difference between validation and verification. It could easily be confused by someone just tstarting to understand credit.

Yep...........I recently saw my CR, on line. ALOT of things have 'fallen-off'. However......some things, that haven't 'fallen-off', the SOL has exoired for them. Now...here is omething else I a bit confused on. If the SOL IS up, can the OC/CA STILL sue you to get their money? OR...are you 'safe' with the SOL expiring?

If the Statute of Limitation on an old debt has expired, the Collection agency or the original creditor cannot sue you to the court even if the they can validate the debt. However, SOL expiry does not mean that the the negative listing will go out of your credit report. If the SOL period on the debt is more than seven years, then the negative listing will go out of your report when the SOL has expired, but is the SOL is less than seven years, the negative listing will stay in your credit report for seven years.

Be aware... Third-party debt collectors REGULARLY sue people on out-of-statute debts... Especially if they think they'll get a default judgment... They aren't SUPPOSED TO, but they do it all the time...

One correction to Justin's post though... REGARDLESS of the SOL, the "obsolescence period", (seven years from the date of the first delinquency) DOES NOT CHANGE, and the item cannot legally stay on your report beyond that!

How do they get these default judgements? Wouldn't the person go and defend theirselves knowing that they are protected by the SOL? I would like to have something cleared up a little here. Say you move to another address (as I have done) and the debt collector sends out a summons to the old address (no home on that address lot) what happens to the summons? If it wasn;t delivered then how could there be a court date set since the debtor doesn;t get the summons. I always heard they could leave one at the home as long as it was left with a relative but f there aren't any then what then. You would think they would be able to find your new address by your credit report. I guess I was wondering becasue I know mine is past SOL and I have moved so I would not want them to get a default judgement over something I did not recieve.

I am not so sure there would be nothing to worry about. I read on another post where the SOL had passed and they still filed suit against a person. The person never recieved the summons and ended up the collecotr got a default judgement. I really feel when a matter is this important they should make sure the summons is delivered tpo the person being sued and not left with some relative. We all know how todays families can be.

Alot of different views and opinions on the SOL. I've heard, TOO when the SOL is up, they can't 'touch' you. I don't know for sure, though. I've had CA's trying to collect debts, even AFTER a VERY long period of time.....after 7 years. Gosh.....kinda crazy.

The court does not check whether the SOL has expired or not, it gives its verdict on the basis of the case filed by your creditor. If you are unable to present yourself to the court, you should appoint a lawyer to defend your case else a default judgment may be passes against you and the creditors can use this default judgment to recover the outstanding debt. However, even if a default judgment is passed against you, you can always file a motion to vacate the default judgment.

Hi Chargers
Statute if Limitation varies from 3 years to 10 years and depends upon the state where the loan agreement was made. Now since the negative listing stays in your credit report for seven years from the date of your last payment, the statute of limitation may not expire even if the debt no longer gets listed in your credit report.

This is very true. soemtimes the debt depending on the state can fall off your report but if you are in the states with those longer statute of limitations then you can stil be sued even if it is not on your report. If this is the case I would keep a copy of my credit report handy for after it falls off just in case you need to refer to it for dates or anything else.