Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
Statute of limitation to put debt into collection
A pharmacy I dealt with in 1990-1993 says that I still owe them $263. The Pharmacy was sold, but before it changed hands I paid my bill in 1993 to owners who are no longer there. I do not have my cancelled checks from 1993 as I only keep them for 5-6 years. They put my account into collection in 12-98. I have never received any notice from them and the collection agency hung up on me when I called. My credit report was run last month and that is how I learned of the account. I called the Pharmacy and they said that their accountant went over the books, found that I still had money owing. They said they ried to contact me and called my old employer who said I no longer worked for the company. I know the pharmicist ( who is one of the owners) and he said that by calling my old employer they did their due dilligence. I have a # listed in the local phone book and they could have run my credit report to find my name and address too. Can they just report this 5 years after the fact...and do I have any way to get this deleted off my credit report? Iwould even repay the debt if I had to, but as a current collection account I also feel that I have been refused credit because of this. Is there anything I can do?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Statute of limitation to put debt into collection
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, (FDCPA) a Federal law, regulates the actions of collection agencies. The FDCPA forces the collection agency to notify you in writing of the right to request verification of debt. They have 30 days from your written request to get this verification from the drug store. The verification should include a detailed statement of the account including dates. Furthermore the FDCPA requires the collection agency to notify you with each conversation that they are a collection agency and any information you supply can be used to collect. If they can't provide writted verification of the debt, they can't collect.
The drug store itself if not regulated and can do almost anything to collect on a debt, including contacting employers.
The debt may be valid for up to ten years, depending on circumstances.
You can get cancelled checks from most banks for a fee. Banks generally have them on microfilm. However, it may simply be cheaper to settle on a compromise amount with the drug store than to spend the time and money to prove you are right. You may want to talk to a consumer affairs person at a newspaper or TV station to get a little public relations help. It does not sound like a battle which the drug store would want to fight.
If you refuse to pay, you can enter a statement on your credit report which explains the reason for the claimed debt and your reason not to pay. If the rest of your credit is good, this would probably not make a big dent. The debt is probably way to small for a lawsuit by the store.
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