About SOL
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Posted by Robert M.
on February 10, 2002 at 02:01:08:
I talked to one of the attorneys at my prepaid legal office (don't laugh it's the best investment I've ever made) and he explained a few things about SOL (Statute of Limitations) that seem to be a source of confusion on this board and others. First, the SOL starts when the debt is first delinquent. This is usually 30 days late. The date that it was charged off, sent to collections, or last reported to the credit reporting agency has nothing to do with it. A good source to find all this info is your experian credit report. It's the only one that gives a complete, detailed history --- including the month and year of 30 day late. It will also tell you they exact month and date it is scheduled for removal from the report. Second, you cannot restart the clock on the SOL by making a payment or agreeing to pay a creditor or collection agency, however you can extend it. This is called tolling. Tolling or extention begins whenever you pay or agree to pay.Okay, say you are at 2 years and 10 months on a 3 year SOL. You make a few months worth of payments. You have extended the SOL for those months. Any time during which your creditor can still sue you for the full ammount even if the remaining 2 months on the original SOL have passed. The SOL kicks in again starting at 2 years and 10 months if and when the debt goes back to original status..i.e delinquent. Third, SOL is not an immunity from lawsuits it is a defense. You can still be sued by a creditor that assumes you don't know about SOL (believe me, they know what it is). When sued in this matter you must present your defense as expiration of SOL. NEVER ignor a lawsuit. If you do, you will automatically have a judgement ruled against you.SOL expired or not. Finally, I'm told, a creditor will rarely bring a suit against a small ammount (less than $2000). Not because they can't win but because the expense in doing so would be too great.They must pay court fees, travel fees (they must sue you in your county), employee hourly wages and even attorney fees.In the end a court may knock off most of the interest and fees they charged you in the first place. That would make them worse off than if they hadn't sued. So that's why they turn to collection agencies which are extremely overated due to lack of consumer knowledge...LEARN YOUR RIGHTS
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