Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
How to handle Collection Agency if Judgement has been Paid 4 yrs. at court?
What should I do if a collection agency calls about a Judgment that was paid on 12-4-02 and now it is 1-4-07 regarding an old credit card debt I thought I was free and clear off? What is the statue of limitations of collection agencies and why do they still have my information and not the correct information that the debt is paid in full? Can my information keep getting sold to collection agencies? Is there a law against that? Isn't that how fraud is created? How do I protect my credit from my information being passed along after this long period of time? Four years? Can they do that? How do I know they are legal? The Vital Recovery Service Inc., FH Collectors was not the company of collections at the time I paid the judgment off at the courthouse. I never heard of this company. How do I find out they are legal and not someone who kept paperwork from the past and selling it on their own to others trying to collect again and or ruin a person's credit trying to get them to pay again. Can you please help me? Thank you
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: How to handle Collection Agency if Judgement has been Paid 4 yrs. at court?
The statute of limitations has probably run. It is 4 years. If you paid this as a judgment, you should have a satisfaction of judgment. If you do not have it, get a copy of it.
Then, send the collection agency a letter telling them to provide verification of the debt and that you are disputing the debt. Keep every letter you send and every letter you get from them. If they continue to persist, you may need to talk to an attorney about pursuing a claim against them for vioalations of state and federal law.
You can read more about this at my blog, www.californiadebtblog.com
Re: How to handle Collection Agency if Judgement has been Paid 4 yrs. at court?
It appears that there was a violation of the fair debt collection act since the statute of limitation is 4 years and your judgment was paid in full. We would need to see the collection letter you received to determine if you have a case against the collection agency.
Re: How to handle Collection Agency if Judgement has been Paid 4 yrs. at court?
The statute of limitation is four years from when payment was due or from the last payment, whichever was later. If they are calling you, ask for their address, send them a letter disputing the debt and tell them that if they persist, you will take legal action for violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Put everything in a letter, a copy of which you keep. Good luck.
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