statute of limitations

[floridian]

i was reading about the statute of limitations on debt... it appears to me, that if you could keep from getting your wages garnished, you would be better off to let the statute run its course... in my state, its 5 years of credit woe on a lot of it, compared to 7 years of grief for a chap thirteen..
maybe im missing something....

[magyar123]

Mathematically it does make sense - but - if they don't collect them all before the end of the 5th year they can easily renew those judgments and keep on garnishing your wages.

[Nicollette]

Mathematically it does make sense - but - if they don't collect them all before the end of the 5th year they can easily renew those judgments and keep on garnishing your wages.

I might be misreading this but, I always thought once the SOL is up, all attempts to sue and get a judgement can't happen?

[HHM]

i was reading about the statute of limitations on debt... it appears to me, that if you could keep from getting your wages garnished, you would be better off to let the statute run its course... in my state, its 5 years of credit woe on a lot of it, compared to 7 years of grief for a chap thirteen..
maybe im missing something....

Its a pipe dream. The SOL is only a defense to a lawsuit. They can still SUE you, and unless you appear at that law suit to assert the SOL defense, guess what, a judgment will be issued.

Also, the SOL does nothing to stop non-judicial collections...they can call you every day, every hour, etc until the dogs come home, or until you decide to sue them under the FDCPA.

What do you mean by 7 years of grief?

[justbroke]

i was reading about the statute of limitations on debt... it appears to me, that if you could keep from getting your wages garnished, you would be better off to let the statute run its course... in my state, its 5 years of credit woe on a lot of it, compared to 7 years of grief for a chap thirteen..
maybe im missing something....

I would say that years ago... skipping on a debt was common and you weren't pursued so rigorously.

Now enter the 21st century with very good skip tracing ability and the sale of debt to Collection Agencies who just love this stuff... and you have a recipe for disaster!

The SOL defense, as HHM posted, is only good, if you actually use it in Court. And, once a judgment is entered, there is no SOL defense anymore. They can continue to attempt to realize that judgment for 10, 20 and even 30 years in some States (by renewing it every 10 years).

That seems a lot worse than any Chapter of Bankruptcy that I know of.

Again, I think the issue here, these days, are these mega-Collection Agencies that are now aggressively collecting debt. There's no more hiding for 4-5 years to beat the SOL clock.