I have recently been contacted about two old loans from Oxford Law, LLC out of PA. They do not appear to be a legit Law office, from all the comments I have read on the internet. I live in Michigan and believe the SOL to be 6 years. One of the loans they are referencing no longer is appearing on my credit report. The other loan, the last payment was made in March of 2007, according to my credit report.
Under account history of the loan, it states "Charge Off as of Aug 2008 to May 2011", the status of the account reads: Closed. $x amount written off. $x amount past due as of Jun2011, would this mean the SOL is reset to 2011 even though last payment was made in 2007? I did contact the original creditor back then to resolve, but was told the accounts were closed and nothing could be done and they would not be coming after me a later date. The credit report does show the loan with the original creditor and does not reference any where the law office contacting me or the current owner of the debt, Milan Investments.
You are working with what are two different SOL time frames (statute of limitations). One is for resetting the SOL to legitimately sue (which can happen), and the other for reaging the time for a negative item to remain on your credit report (which cannot).
One set of laws will vary by state, and the other is covered by federal Fair Credit Reporting (FCRA) laws. Lets take a look at how both apply to you given the information you shared.
SOL to legitimately sue in your state.
Michigan, similar to many other states, has a 6 year limit for how long you can be sued for collection on open accounts, like revolving consumer credit cards; loans that may be revolving, like personal lines of credit; and even loans that are fixed, and governed narrowly by a written agreement.
If it has been six years since you last paid anything on the debts at issue, Milan Investments, nor Oxford Law LLC in Pennsylvania, can legitimately sue you. That is to say, they could file the suit, but you can defend that quickly and simply as being time barred. The last payment reference of 2011 on your credit reports appears to be erroneous.
In Michigan, you renew the SOL to be sued, when you do so in writing. You can review the governing statute here. Speaking to the creditor, a debt collector, or a new debt owner does not reset the SOL clock to sue in your state (but it can in others).
Credit reporting SOL for accounts in collection.
Your credit reports will continue to show unpaid debts on your credit reports for up to 7.5 years from when you first missed your payments. That SOL for reporting is governed by the FCRA at the federal level. There are some exceptions to this, like New York law for paid collections. But I am not aware of anything different regarding credit reporting in Michigan.
With your last payment to the creditor being March of 2007, this should be coming off of your credit report in a matter of weeks. The charge off reporting showing for the following year should not impact this (but unfortunately can). And though you mention that neither Oxford Law or Milan Investments are showing on your credit reports, any collection entry on your credit reports (other than a judgment for the same debt) should fall off at the same time as the loan originators reporting (also something to be watchful of).
You can dispute the credit reporting as too old to continue to appear on your credit reports. Send and dispute to the credit bureaus certified mail retrun receipt requested. You can send a copy of your dispute addressed to the company(s) reporting the collection account. Keep a copy of all that you send, and the green return cards you get, for your records. Post a follow up to the results of those disputes, and if items continue to show in your reports that should not,let’s take it from there.
Who is the original creditor?
Anyone with concerns about resetting or renewing the SOL to be sued in your state is welcome to post questions and concerns in the comments below for feedback about you situation.
27 comment(s) for this post:
- Jools:
27 Oct 2014 Hi I have a debt thats past the Statute of limitations. I want to settle, but I am a little confused about restarting the SOS. Ive heard that acknowledging the debt can restart the SOS. Is this the case, only if it's within the SOS ( 6 years for Hawaii) or regardeless ( Past the SOS, over 6 Years) Thanks in advance, - jamie:
27 Oct 2014 Honestly, I do not recall the original creditor when I opened around 2000. Wells Fargo purchased the loan and I made payments to them for a few years before things went bad. So, I cannot imagine these people would even have my signed contract. - Jamie:
28 Oct 2014 Sorry, I was looking at the wrong loan on my credit report, the last payment was April 2008, so, I can still use SOL as a defense if they threaten to sue but have another year for the negative item to come off my report? There are no judgements, just negative items with Wells Fargo. These were private student loans, I actually had four total, but two have been removed from my credit report already. - Michael Bovee:
28 Oct 2014 I sincerely doubt they would have your signed contract. Because of the loan or entity purchase, Wells Fargo is, for all intent and purpose, your original creditor on this one. - Michael Bovee:
28 Oct 2014 That sums it up. - Michael Bovee:
28 Oct 2014 The reference I found to the Hawaii debt collection SOL being restarted is here. Locating and reviewing other references and cases did not give me a definitive on whether verbally acknowledging the debt restarted the SOL, while doing so in writing does. I can connect you with an experienced consumer debt collection attorney in Honolulu that offers no cost initial consults if you like? Who is the debt with now? - Jamie:
28 Oct 2014 Thanks for your advice Michael! Two more questions for you. I have yet to respond or talk with Oxford Law regarding these old debts. Should I? By ignoring the letters am I validating the debts and they will sue? The letter states "at this time, no attorney with this firm has personally reviewed the particular circumstances of your account. We are acting solely in our capacity as debt collectors relevant to your account". Then in bold letters at the bottom states "this communication is from a debt collector. This is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for this purpose". So do I respond? And if so how should I do so? Also, if I still have one year left for negative reporting on my credit report, should I still write dispute letters to the credit agencies to get them removed? Thanks! - Michael Bovee:
28 Oct 2014 You have a window of opportunity to request validation of the debt. If you are confident the SOL to sue is expired, and payment is not your goal, but you just want to be sure you are paying the correct party, I personally would not send the validation request. I would be more prone to send a cease communication letter so that they would go away, and I would not have to hear from them anymore. But again, only if the SOL to legitimately use the courts is passed, and if I had no intention of paying, or settling the collections. Do you have any major credit or financing goals between now and when the credit reporting is up? - Jamie:
28 Oct 2014 I do not have any financing goals in the future. I tried to resolve these when I was still working a few years back, but they didn't want to work with me. So, now, I am a stay at home mom with no income coming in. I am married, but no joint accounts with my husband. So, not planning on paying these now. As far as the SOL all I have to go by is my credit report for the last payment made. - Jools:
28 Oct 2014 Hi It's in the hands of Asset Acceptance Corp Originally Chase. - Michael Bovee:
29 Oct 2014 No finance or credit goals between now and when this drops off your credit would mean, to me, either sending a cease communication letter (certified return receipt), or doing nothing, are what I would do. - Michael Bovee:
29 Oct 2014 Settling a collection debt this old, and with Asset Acceptance, I would target at between 30 and 40 percent. - Jamie:
30 Oct 2014 Micheal, what exactly is needed to show that a debt is past its SOL? If they do sue me, is it just their word against mine? Would a credit report work? What about the account that is no longer appearing on my report due to its age? - Michael Bovee:
30 Oct 2014 Them suing means they would have to disprove your defense claim that they are time barred by the state SOL to bring any collection action. Old debts like this are hard to prove when they are within the SOL (when challenged and defended well), let alone when outside the SOL. An original creditors records about receiving the last payment might work if the original creditor employee familiar with books, records, practices were available to testify. And original creditor authentication is just not that common with older debts. It is becoming more common, but that shift is only a couple years old at best. From what you shared, your stuff is old enough to be part of some of the worst records and ability to authenticate we have ever seen. - Dustin:
18 Jan 2015 Hi Michael, I have a judgement in Oklahoma from Jan 2009. The SOL in Oklahoma is 5 years so it has already past. I also understand the judgement will fall off my credit report in just one year. Unfortunately I am trying to buy a house in the immediate future and have been told this judgement could be an issue with underwriting. The original judgement was filed by Arrow Financial Services and in Oct 2011 moved to LVNV. I would like to have the judgement settled but don't want to open Pandora's box by resetting the SOL. How and whom should I approach to settle this judgement. Thanks - Michael Bovee:
18 Jan 2015 How much is the judgment, and what are you able to pull together to offer as settlement? I want to be sure I understand what happened. Arrow got the judgment. That was transferred to LVNV. At no time in the last 6 years was the judgment renewed. Have you checked the court record or called the clerk to verify this was not renewed? With a judgment that has remained unpaid this long, and when negotiated well, I would realistically target roughly half of today's balance as a settlement. There are reasons to aim lower, but if your finances are on track well enough to be looking at buying a home, some of those reasons may not apply. If the judgment was not renewed, I may think about leveraging that for a lower settlement deal. But that would be me hitting this from an uninterested third party angle. Perhaps you would simply want to get past this in order to accomplish your goal of buying the home. The dollar amount of the debt, and how much you can afford to pay, can also impact how deep you dig your heels in when negotiating. Your calling to negotiate a settlement on a judgment will not reset the SOL. The statute of limitations to press on the extra ordinary collection options that come with a court judgment do not reset like that. But I would encourage you to talk that over with an experienced debt collection defense attorney in OK. - Christine:
08 Feb 2015 Hello, I live in WV. I have a few questions. I will begin with what I believe to be the easiest one to answer. I have a charged off and transferred loan for $6012 (original creditor is Beneficial Finance opened in 8-05). This entry removed from my credit report 7-12. It appears (from my 2010 credit report) that Hudson and Keyse picked it up in 9-09 for $6105. This entry also removed from credit report in 3-14. I received 2 letters from P&B Capital for $6105 dated 3-12 and 4-12 that never made it to my report. Next letter received from Jefferson Capital in 1-14 for $9666.53! Same debt! I looked at the back side of the letter and found a time barred acknowledgement. It stated that the debt was indeed time barred and that any payment or promise to pay would not restart the SOL for the debt and that if transferred, the new collector would be required to honor it. Now..Convergent is calling about said debt. I acknowledged my name but nothing else. What is my best course of action to put this to rest once and for all. Thank you for your time. I will address my other questions in a separate post. - Michael Bovee:
09 Feb 2015 An unpaid debt never truly goes away. Once the SOL to legitimately sue, and for credit reporting have passed, it is as good as gone. If you never want to hear from the new debt collector again you can send a cease communication letter certified mail return receipt. Keep a copy of the letter and return card you get back from the USPS. If that same collector contact you again, post an update and lets go from there. - Christine:
09 Feb 2015 Thank you Michael. Should I talk to Convergent when they call again and have them confirm the SOL expiration? Or, just send them a letter as you suggest? I am not overly concerned about additional phone calls from them..only that I cannot be sued. - Christine:
09 Feb 2015 While awaiting your response, I will address my next question. I have an account with Asset Acceptance (original creditor is Citibank for $6903 on my 2010 credit report. Date of first delinquency shown is 7-07) showing a balance due as of $10, 087 as of 11-14. No payment was made after this. This entry dropped from my credit report in 4-14. They sent a settlement offer of $1513 in 11-14 which was a great offer but still could not pay within 3 weeks. They are calling now again. I spoke with an attorney this morning on another issue, and he advised that credit cards are considered written contracts in WV and have a 10 year SOL. I am wondering about that simply because Beneficial has already been time-barred and date of first delinquency is 4-07, just 3 months prior to Citibank. Should I speak with them and see if SOL for suit has expired? I do not want to restart it if it has. If it hasn't, should I try to bargain back to the offer of $1513? I should be able to save that much by May. - Michael Bovee:
09 Feb 2015 The information you provided about the account being last paid in 2005, and the other 2 credit report entries having aged off in 2012, suggest the SOL to file a lawsuit has passed. You can certainly call Convergent to verify that. - Michael Bovee:
09 Feb 2015 Double check what the attorney said about the 10 year SOL applying, as I suspect it may be 5 years. I will send you an email with contact details to attorneys in West Virginia that I know to be active in consumer law and debt collection defenses. The fact that the debt collectors are disclosing the SOL expiration in their communications with you are also an indication. Those attorneys I email you tend to offer a no cost initial consult, so it makes sense to call and get one or more of them to weigh in. Are you looking to settle debts even if you confirm the SOL to legitimately sue has expired, and the collections are no longer appearing on your credit report? It is okay if you are, I am just curious if settling is motivated from fear of being sued more than anything else. - Christine:
09 Feb 2015 Yes, fear of being sued..again. That leads to my final question. I was sued in July 2009 by Discover (Booth & McCarthy) for $5,825. The paperwork came in the mail and I called the collector to make payments arrangements. I received notice from the court that the action had been removed from the docket. I was able to make a payment or two and that was all. I never heard another word from them. To bring this to date..I inherited a small piece of property in 96 and have been trying to sell it for quite some time. Two weeks ago I was approached with an offer. When the deal went to their attorney, I was contacted about a lien placed by a judgment by Discover. I went to our courthouse and looked at judgments and did find a judgment entered on the property dated 7-09. There were 2 entries for the same judgment on the same property. 7-09 and 2-11. The attorney doing the work for the person wanting to buy just happened to be in the records room and stopped to talk to me. I asked him why there were 2 entries and he said they were the same thing. Evidently, Booth had transferred it to Atkins Law. I am so confused. I spoke with same attorney this morning and he said because the offer was made to purchase, that he could contact them and see if they would accept what I would clear on the sale after all costs and release all claims. He couldn't guarantee it. It could be a difference of a few thousand dollars. I am now scared that they might attach other joint property (home and extra lot) or bank account. This thing has laid dormant since 2009 and now has reared it's ugly head. I honestly don't know what to do. I do not work and very worried. That's why I am trying to nail down where I stand on the other two. My story isn't as tragic as some I have read here, but please anyone reading...DO NOT let a judgment happen. - Christine:
09 Feb 2015 I should have commented above that my credit report pulled last week shows no negative information. I have been using Credit Karma to monitor and saw my score jump to 743 from 6 something in January. I did not pay extra through Annual Credit Report to get my score so I don't know what it shows but understand it should be close. Also, after my last post, I got my mail and there was a letter from Convergent offering a settlement. I have looked closely at front and back and do not see the time barred disclaimer. - Michael Bovee:
09 Feb 2015 Talk that over with one of the attorneys too. If the court case was removed, only to later appear without your being notified and given the opportunity to appear, that may be a problem. It may be better to work with an attorney, with the experience you need, in order to vacate a judgment, as compared to some form of partial settlement to move the property. - Christine:
10 Feb 2015 It didn't occur to me that there might be a legal defense to the judgment being unlawfully entered until I looked closer at the paperwork. I would appreciate any recommended experienced attorney's in WV that I can talk with. Please send me their contact info. Thank you for your time. - Christine:
10 Feb 2015 Michael, just an update on Convergent. I called them today to verify the SOL on the debt. Last payment was 4-07. I was told that their letter included the time-barred acknowledgment. It did not. I advised her that WV law requires that it be stated (thanks for the link). She said it was on the back of the letter and when she looked herself she could not find it and decided to transfer me to a supervisor. After holding for several minutes for a supervisor I realized she had hung up on me lol. I have placed a call to one of the attorneys that you sent me concerning the other two issues. Waiting to hear back. Will update any progress. Thanks again for your time.