Harassing calls from a debt collector? Here is what you need to know

Heavily I sigh, for you are promoting very persistent myths.

First the low-hanging fruit: The term is "statute" as in law, not a sculptural construct.

Next, the spoiler alert: Keeping quiet like a frightened cricket is not viable strategy when debt collectors want your savings and future earnings.

Yes, the point of statutes of limitations on consumer debt is to set a shot clock for creditor lawsuits, and SoL varies by state. The statutes do not, however, prevent the filing of those stale claim lawsuits. They also do not prevent creditors from winning judgments, even to collect on those moldy "zombie debt" accounts which they likely cannot prove valid. While consumer lawyers wish it were otherwise, SoL defenses are not self-executing. Put simply, someone on the defense side has to tell the Court why it's a dead issue. People are paying unfairly for this sort of junk debt for the rest of their adult lives because they didn't know how to fight and/or could not obtain the proper legal help.

Many, so many people confuse statutes of limitations, being state laws, with a Federal requirement under FCRA to delete derogatory tradelines from credit reports. Those two things do not intersect. Credit report entries do not prove that debt is owed and have no place in creditor lawsuits. The FCRA deletion is actually seven years plus a half because default and "date of last activity" are never the same, part of weedy rules which I wish would get streamlined.

Anyway, the passing of that seven year limit does not "expire" debt. Sure, reporting on the debt disappears and maybe its absence improves a person's score. But the debt itself has not disappeared. It remains forever legal to collect until discharged by a judge (or killed by the peculiar Repose laws of two states). In multiple states the applicable SoL won't end for another three to eight years. That's a long time to try living under the threat of a lawsuit.

The need to "engage with the collector" is frankly unavoidable if you want to fully defend your rights and also defeat a lawsuit if launched. That's why the FDCPA sets rules of conduct, and also why statutes of limitations have nothing to say about communication with debt collectors.

This has to be repeated far too often, that SoL cannot be reset by merely talking on the phone or sending letters. Sending money, what the collector wants most, does reset. Promising to pay may reset SoL, the subject of barrels of spilled legal ink on whether that's right or wrong. Crying poverty and expressing worry over how to pay may reset SoL, at least in the eyes of slanted and lazy judges who should know better.

Merely talking or writing to debt collectors does not restart any seven year FCRA clock. That's for reporting and lender risk scoring, not collection, remember? The tradeline must vanish by deadline and nothing beyond stupidity or error can prevent this. I'm sure the FCRA allows us to sue them off if those bad marks won't go quietly.

What really concerns you is getting tricked into some punishing payment plan, the kind desired by junk debt buyers and enforced by compliant judges who rubber-stamp default and stipulated judgments by the dozen every month. I've already sketched out what springs the trap. Sidestepping it means not cowering in silence and behaving like a victim. Taking those pesky phone calls is how smart defenders most often gather evidence of collector lawbreaking. If you think you can't handle phone duels, avoid them, but don't avoid all contact. Predatory debt collectors like eating the silent types best.

Time-Barred Debts  (FTC)
Time-Barred Debts: When Collectors Cannot Sue You for Unpaid Debts  (Nolo)

Portfolio Recovery Associates is the world's worst. They have been calling my sister nonstop about a Crap One Credit card she defaulted on in 2009 at the height of the "Great Recession", even though they acknowledge the SOL expired in our state years ago and they can't sue her. We learned from dealing with them years ago with my late BIL you just can't tell them to cease communication on an out-of-statue debt---not if you don't want a tax bill from the IRS. Fortunately they defaulted when I appealed the tax bill on his behalf and they failed to submit documentation substantiating their claim on the "forgiven" debt. That was a big relief and victory for him, as he could no longer work and was battling cancer--a fight which he soon lost.

I remember that story with your tortured BiL. Your conquest proved that informed resistance works on paper tigers.

I regret to learn that you've another sibling victimized by the same enemy, which so often plays a weak hand that bluffs are expected like a sunrise. I'm a little surprised Cap One never got around to suing, being historically in the top three litigious banks.

I would hate to find out that you and yours are declining to defend your rights out of fear of retaliation, done indirectly by cowards. Here's my strategic input for consideration:

Have Sis send PRA a curt notice saying that she's reviewed their kind interest in the musty and unsubstantiated credit card debt and she refuses to pay. Don't bother with any other demands or explaining herself. Send by Cert Mail with green card as usual. Maybe indicate that she's carbon copying to the state AG, CFPB, and/or FTC. (I might actually do that in this rare instance, just to put extra eyeballs on the problem and alert the watchdogs to the feared abuse of IRS forms.)

Here's where I'm risking self-repetition myself, having endorsed this response elsewhere many times. Announcing refusal to pay has the same effect as a blatant cease-comm, per FDCPA §1692c(c). Some witless agencies have been known to miss its meaning, stomping right into the bear trap.

Should PRA continue collection by any method, Sis should have but to teach PRA's house counsel how to spell her name on their settlement check. (I always started my bidding around four grand and raised another if forced to sue. I think six would be fair for recent inflation.) Said settlement can include a request to eat the debt, barring any future spiteful 1099 filing. This I know has succeeded anecdotally, but the principle of negotiating from a strong position is sound.

PRA takes much pride in its algorithmic handling of assets, which in part means they won't make the same kind of response to every alleged debtor. Maybe more like a menu of responses which work most of the time. You really don't know, much like in court, if the same results come consistently from similar circumstances. By avoiding obvious cease-communication language, my wager is that their nonhuman optical character readers won't classify your sister's "talk to the hand" as something which eventually triggers the 1099-C scare you fear.

Again, it's not a given that the "amount in controversy" and whatever other factors we can't guess would add up to another IRS dispute whether or not you resist PRA. They're gambling on your fear, and winning thus far. You can guess my bottom line on this. I don't think your sister's sanity should be bought for cheap.

I keep getting recorded messages for an unknown person at my phone number, asking me to call a long distance number with a file #, etc., etc. How do you call them back at their expense to tell them they have the wrong person?

Here is the only thing you can do to deal with this nonsense. Block the phone numbers, and when they call again, block the phone numbers, and when they call again, block the phone numbers, and when they call again, block the phone numbers... Repeto ad nauseam. Latin phrase for "repeat until it gets annoying", which I assure you, that won't take long...

Look. Don't you pay a dime until you know the date of your last activity. If the last payment was made let's say March 2013, that debt is now 12 years old. There are not many folks that keep their paid in full receipts much past 3 or 4 years. Any way you need this info first.  If you like contact the original creditor if they still exist and find out if they actually sent your file to this company.

That totally works.  Lol  I tend to opt for they are not registered to do business in my state and the should expl to the Secretary of State's office why that is.

I am getting calls from "Portfolio Recovery" They are a Bottom Dwelling Debt Collector. Every Call I get has been Blocked by my Phone as "SPAM". I call the number and get a recording that states "Thank You for calling Portfolio Recovery"---I hang up. They started calling right after Thanksgiving and call 4-5 times a week from a different area code and phone number every time. They have NEVER sent me any letters in the mail. They are trying to collect on Credit Card Debt that was DISMISSED BY FEDERAL BANKRUPTCY COURT LEGALLY IN 2012. The limit to collect Credit Card debt in my state is 7 YEARS. They have NOT sent me any letters because they know they are VIOLATING THE LAW AND IF THEY LEAVE A PAPER TRAIL IT WILL BE USE TO SUE THEM!!

They called my sister non stop for 16 years (yes, 16) on a credit card she defaulted on back in 2009. She had been paying faithfully on it when they suddenly increased the APR to 36 percent and demanded she pay it in full. She told them to stuff it. The calls suddenly stopped late last year.