Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

This could be a scam. Make sure they are really attorneys licensed in North Carolina. An attorney who is not licensed in North Carolina will have trouble filing any lawsuit here. There are a lot of scammers who try and collect on stale old debt by making threats like this. Do not give any personal information such as your Social Security number, bank account number, credit or debit card number. If they are legitimate, they will send you something in the mail which you can look at to verify you really owe the debt. Take a look at this link for helpful information:

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0258-fake-debt-collectors

This really tells me nothing. It could be a scam as noted. It could also be legitimate.

Your post is full of misconceptions though. It does not matter how old a debt is or how many years since its been paid. Once a debt always a debt - debts never go away until they are discharged in bankruptcy or resolved. So debt collectors can always try to collect on bad debts and no law stops them from calling or sending letters.

Lawsuits are a different matter. In NC, NY and maybe in other states (check with a lawyer in those states), debt collectors cannot sue on a debt barred by the statute of limitations. In other states they can. If you are sued in one of those states, then its up to you to assert that the debt is barred by the statute of limitations (if that is the case. The statute of limitations is only a defense that is raised in an answer to a complaint and only applies in court.

Bad debts can only stay on your credit report for about 7 1/2 years from your last payment. If what you say is true, the debt is or will soon be dropping off your credit. So there is no reason why you should pay a debt like this (and a partial payment will start the statute of limitations running again so I would not recommend doing that).

The proper response is to write a letter to the debt collector (there are ways to figure out who is calling and get the address). Telling them on the phone does NO good unless followed up in a writing. Advise in the letter that collection of the debt is barred by the statute of limitations, that a lawsuit thereon is precluded by NC law (if this is an NC debt) and that the debt collector cannot contact you any more about this matter.

Also, if this is for an NC debt, is the debt collector licensed in NC? You can check by looking at the NC Insurance Department (www.ncdoi.com) - they regulate the licensing of debt collectors. If the debt collector is licensed, then get their permit number and verify. If they are not licensed then the debt collector is committing a crime and if you really want to have some fun, tell them you are going to report them to the NC Insurance Department for unlawfully attempting to collect a debt.

I have a few articles on this as well at my website: www.rachelhunterlaw.com.