Legal Question in Consumer Law in Michigan

11 years later they say I owe them money!

A collection agency for a cable television provider sent me a letter dated 4/26/06 stating I owe the cable company money. I phoned the agency & found out that this bill was from services 11 yrs ago! I have not heard from any collection agency prior to now, nor from the cable company either. I phoned the agency; when their rep. told me this bill was from that long ago I was stunned. The rep. stated that their collection agency just acquired over 100,000 unpaid accounts from this cable company. I know I paid this bill-I always pay my bills, all of them & I told the rep. this! She said to send a letter stating such; which I did. I just rec'd another letter yesterday stating that they have posted this collection on my credit report & for me to prove to them that I paid the bill. I don't have my cancel-led checks or bank stmts. from 11 yrs ago anymore! Getting bank records from 11 yrs. ago will be costly & time consuming if I can even get them at all! First; Is it legal for a company to contact a person 11 yrs after the fact (for the 1st time!) & tell them they owe money? What are my legal options here? I am furious, how can they do this? They want proof I paid the bill; i.e. a cancelled check--from 11 yrs ago! What can I do? Help!!!!


Asked on 5/24/06, 1:14 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Rochelle Guznack Law Offices of Rochelle E. Guznack, PLLC

Re: 11 years later they say I owe them money!

You cannot be sued 11 years later because the statute of limitations is 6 years unless you somehow validated the debt by making a payment or admitting to the debt. If this is on your credit report, you must dispute it to have it removed.

For more information, please feel free free to contact me at 248.679.1552.

Rochelle Guznack

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Answered on 5/25/06, 2:07 pm


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