Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

Re: 1988 college tuition collection

I would not assume you owe it either. Make them send you verification of the alleged debt and consider talking to an attorney about it. If the collection people violate the law, you may end up with some consumer law claims of your own. I do these cases and can refer you if you like. My email is below if you need further help.

Re: 1988 college tuition collection

Unfortunately, there is no statute of limitations on collection agencies BUGGING you because they are only making a phone call. Virginia allows people to pay voluntarily after the SoL has expired, and therefore creditors are allowed to ASK if you will pay it, even though they cannot legally collect.

However, at 20 years the statute of limitations has expired about 4 times over again. Assuming you signed a written contract (as opposed to an oral contract) the statute of limitations would be 5 years from the date of BREACH (when it was due but was not paid on time or something else was not done as required). (3 years for an oral contract.)

One of the policy reasons for a statute of limitations is shown here, that it will be obviously very hard to figure out if you owe the money or not, so long ago. Records will be hard to figure out. While they can perhaps show charges, you ought to be able to show if they forgot to "post" some of your payments to your account. How are you going to get bank records from 20 years ago?

Also, in Virginia they are allowed to file a lawsuit even though the SoL is expired. That is because Virginia encourages people to pay voluntarily if they agree they owe the money.

But as soon as you file an objection ("Plea in Bar") that you are claiming the Statute of Limitations, the case is dead.

MAKE SURE they have your correct address, so you will be notified if there is any court filing. Virginia is the reverse of other States. It is better for them to have your address, because there is a risk of a default judgment in a court case you might never know about if they use a wrong address and sue you at that address.

Also, I have not checked this out yet, but I heard on a legal radio show that if they report this on your credit bureau by "freshening" the date (changing the date to a more recent date) this is illegal and you can sue them for it under credit bureau reporting law (federal). If that checks out, I am going to file a lawsuit or two based on that.