Legal Question in Consumer Law in Wisconsin

A "charge off" usually only means that the owner of a debt has deducted it as a loss on income taxes due to becoming uncollectable. This does not prevent collection, although anything collected would become taxable income. Usually, when a bank charges off debt, they also sell, for cents on the dollar , the right to collect it to companies which specialize in collecting troubled accounts. The rights to collect then owned by the assignee collector are as good as the bank's rights and are no better or no worse. Therefore, assuming that the bank had a provable debt with proper documentation that they shared with the collector, the collector could sue in order to collect it. In such a lawsuit, you would have all the same defenses available to you as if the bank sued you. These could include unreasonable delay, laches, equitable estoppel or any number of other affirmative defenses. If the statute of limitations expired during the four years of inactivity, you might win on that basis. However, unless you protect your rights by hiring a lawyer and fighting the lawsuit, all possible defenses would be waived and the collector will take a default judgment against you, leading to wage garnishments, etc. If you are having problems with debt, you owe it to yourself to see an experienced bankruptcy lawyer, who may be able to offer you cost effective legal solutions to solving all of your collector problems via bankruptcy or other options. My comments in this online forum are offered for public educational purposes only and are not legal advice. They do they create any attorney/client relationship between us. However, I may be able to represent you if you contact my Racine office and make arrangements see me.