Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Maryland
Amount of time to collect a ''debt''
I attempted to sign my youngest son up for a class through the
county rec department. I was informed that I could not sign him up
because we had a past due account from September of 1999. My
oldest son was on the county swim team and they say that I did not
pay the fee for that in full. The only way I can sign up for the class
now is if I pay the $200 or prove that I had already paid it. I do not
have cancelled checks, etc. from 4 years ago. I am sure that this
was paid (he was on the team for 3 years). I am wondering how
long they have to collect on this debt. They have never contacted
me by phone or by mail in the past and this is the first I am hearing
about it.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Amount of time to collect a ''debt''
Are you sure enough you upaid the debt to pay your bank the fee for retrieving an electronic copy of the check you believe you used to pay the bill? That seems to be the only way to prove you paid the bill if you are not saving your checks going a few years back. Maybe the County will pay the bank search fee if you are nice about showing them with proof how you did in fact pay the debt. If you did in fact pay, the county's denial of service could be a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.