A collection company sent a letter to my wife saying she has to pay 1K. Apparently it is for unpaid Sprint bills. She had Sprint 16 years ago and I thought we actually paid it all. I don’t even know how I can prove we paid it now. What can I do? Can a random collection agency come after us for something that happened 16 years ago?
They should provide you proof of the bills that you supposedly did not pay. And a detailed calculation of how they arrived at this number
Check your state’s statute of limitations. You shouldn’t even have acknowledged receipt of their communications.
Won’t they ruin my wife’s credit if I don’t respond? There is no collections on the credit report yet.
Statue of limitations have long passed. But I don’t know if this applies to screwing up her credit report. I bought it was only for taking someone to court.
Lol statute of limitations is long passed. This is a dirty debt collector looking for a sucker. Send them a cease and desist letter.
They can also just ignore, block them, and pretend they never talked. Probably better than spending time on it
Do not call them. Do not talk to them. Do not pay them one cent. Send them a debt validation letter. In the letter state: - I have no idea who you are. - I have never done business with you - I reject your claim. - Prove this claim or I will contact the Atty General Send it certified mail. Check the statute of limitations in the state you live in and the state the bill was incurred in. If you moved, the time you moved out of your original state may have paused the SoL clock. I beat a $5k credit card collection like that. Look this stuff up - it's called "zombie debt" - they can't do crap to you. If you get taken to court, you can beat the court case yourself with the affirmative defense of "Statute of Limitations has expired." ( <- worked for me. A Lawyer told me to do that for my own debt )
I live in CA now. Dept is from GA. I moved out of GA 15 years ago. So you say they might have a case then?
Crap, that's not good. Yeah, this situation be touchy. Gotta check GA law on it. You have 4 years from the date of default in GA, but - gotta find out if GA residency tolls (pauses) the statute of limitations. In some states, moving out of state tolls the statute. If it doesn't - you're probably 100% clear. Definitely check with a consumer lawyer - because you've got a definite question mark on your situation.
Check if your company provides legal assistance before contacting these dirt bags again
Don’t agree to pay anything or it could restart statute of limitations.
Looks like I am not covered by SOL. We moved out of that state 15 years ago.
It's probably a scam letter. Google the address and phone number.
Hi OP, what happened to this? Did you send DV letter?
call them