Coming up on my SOL

[SwimminUpStream]

Feb will be 4 years since I made any payments on my credit cards. At that time we had retained an attorney and were going to file Chap. 13. Chose not to and ride the waves and see where we ended up. We live in Florida and are both employed. Debt was all credit card.

We have had one lawsuit (Chase) filed by Marcadis & Assoc.. I had ALOT of debt with Chase, like 4 credit cards with high balances on 3 of them. For some reason, they only sued 18 months ago on one with a 6K balance. Settled out of court for 35 monthly payments, which I make each and every month.

If I am understanding correctly, the SOL is from when you STOPPED making your payments...I did continue to Feb, March, April maybe a little longer to refer to Attorney, never speaking about the debt with the collections.

I guess what I am trying to get at here is A. Am I correct in that my SOL is Feb/March this year?

B. I believe most of the cc's were done via internet...Had so many that I do not recall exactly how they were done

C. I do still get phone calls, but of course debt has been sold over and over..Get very few letters. I do not answer the calls, they sometimes leave a message but most times hang up

D. How do I make sure I am in the "clear" so to speak, in case I do get sued I want to be able to prove SOL

Thanks!

[HHM]

1st, I will take you at face value that the SOL is really 4 years (I don't know FL).

Let me start with letter D...there is no way to guarantee you are clear. All you can do is wait for the lawsuit, hope they actually serve you so you can react.

Frankly, I am not a fan of this strategy, had you filed chapter 13, you would only have 12 months to go, and have COMPLETE certainty as to the status of the debt. For the foreseeable future, you will still need to deal with collection and illicit attempts to sue you.

Not sure what your credit looks like, but if it is like most people in your circumstances, lots of older debt being constantly traded around and re-aged on your credit report, it can't be pretty. Had you filed BK, you would probably be in the low 700's by now.

[GoingDown]

SOL varies from state to state. If your state has a 4 year SOL for credit card debt, and if you stopped paying them 4 years ago, then yes, these debts will be beyond the SOL next month.

In some states, simply making a payment on an old debt revives the SOL. So for example, if you went without paying the debt for 2 years and then made one payment on it, you would have to wait for another 4 years after that last payment for the debts to be beyond the SOL.

Other states require a written letter acknowledging the debt and promising to pay it in addition to the payment to revive the SOL for the debt.

Personally speaking, if anyone sued me on a debt that was anywhere near the SOL, I would fight it in court anyways. If you use the SOL as an affirmative defense in your written answer to a lawsuit, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to prove that the debt is still within the SOL, and my guess is that the crappy lawyers they use to file these suits won't have his act together enough to prove it and almost certainly won't any documentation to prove his case about the SOL.

If you look at your Equifax credit report, you will see Date of First Delinquency (DOFD) for each bad debt. Take that date and add your state's SOL to it, and in most cases, that will be the date your debt slips past the SOL.

[DYLAN150]

Florida appears to be 5 years on SOL on debts.

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-state-statute-limitations-1282.php

I may be wrong, it may be 4 years, some sites say 4 some say 5.

[GoingDown]

In that case, add 5 years to your DOFD on your Equifax credit report.

[SwimminUpStream]

HHM, there were many reasons why we chose not to file BK, after paying the attorney the 1800- downpayment. That was almost 4 years ago now, and we still do not regret that choice.

Florida IS 4 years on credit cards...That I am sure of, even though it appears confusing is some places.

I will pull my credit report and see. I can say within the past 6-8 months we have received probably 6 "pre-approved" offers for credit, which of course we did not accept. Do not need to head down that road again, and I do not see the economy improving any time too soon...

[mountanddo]

HHM, there were many reasons why we chose not to file BK, after paying the attorney the 1800- downpayment. That was almost 4 years ago now, and we still do not regret that choice.

Florida IS 4 years on credit cards...That I am sure of, even though it appears confusing is some places.

I will pull my credit report and see. I can say within the past 6-8 months we have received probably 6 "pre-approved" offers for credit, which of course we did not accept. Do not need to head down that road again, and I do not see the economy improving any time too soon...

I haven't paid my credit cards in over a year and was served a summons by one just before I filed C13 in November 2011. I get "pre-approved" offers all the time. Just because they send them to you doesn't mean you really are "pre-approved". I'm sure if I had tried to apply for them I would of been declined right quick.