Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

There is a limit on the time a collector has to SUE you to collect the debt. The statute of limitations in California generally is four years. However, there is generally no limit on how long a company can attempt to collect on a debt. In the aftermath of the Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980's, a cottage industry of debt buyers formed, grew and thrived by buying heavily discounted debts from the government's Resolution Trust Corporation. To make a profit, these companies and partnerships buy your old debt for pennies, and then try to collect something (anything) over the pennies they pay. No doubt, new life is being breathed into that industry in the current environment. The problem you are experiencing will only continue to grow for a lot of Americans over the next 10 years.

The most important cautionary note is to advise you that if you admit the debt, or make ANY kind of payment on the debt, you risk restarting the time period on the statute of limitations. This is not lost on the debt collectors - and they will use every trick in the book to trip you up on this. So be very careful - they are recording the call and will produce the recording.

Assuming you have not yet fallen for the re-admission trap, I would suggest two strategies. First, challenge the debt within the requisite 30-day time frame (in other words - seek "validation" of the debt and this particular collector's right to collect it). You should receive a letter from the collector advising you of your right to do this. Until they validate it, and the statute of limitations is relevant to this validation, the Debt Collector is not allowed to further contact you or pursue collection activities. Also and seperately, send a cease and desist letter. My office can provide you with a sample - or you can find samples on the Internet.

Then, I would sign up for a service such as RecordACall.com. From that point forward, your task is to catch and record the debt collector violating the debt validation request and/or cease and desist letter. If the debt collector calls and says the call may be recorded - let them know you are recording it as well. If they don't say it is recorded, mention it yourself. However, even if you don't mention the call is being recorded - the recording itself likely would not be admissible in Court, but could be useful for you to make a "present sense impression" in the way of a transcript that could very well be admissible in Court.

Violations by the Debt Collector subject them to civil penalties of $1,000 and attorneys fees under the California Rosenthal Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The government permits an award of legal fees to help you have access to private attorneys who will take your case on contingency because they know that they will be compensated in a good case. Accordingly, you should have no problem finding an attorney to take a well-documented case.

Please view this as very general advice and just a starting point for you. We are not your legal counsel and we do not have an attorney-client relationship with you. You should consult a qualified attorney for your specific case before relying on general legal advice from this or any other website.