what do they know?

[junker]

i am very confused about this 2nd or 3rd party efforts to collect a debt, i have been served a summons to small claims court by unifund for a very old debt. june 2002 i stopped making payments on a credit card,so by my addition it is 5 1/2 years old well beyond open OR written contracts for my state Florida, so what does this lawyer know that i am not aware of? if he is eligible for a fine from the fpcoa he doesnt seem too worried about it, he also is the 2nd collector to have this debt, palisades collections had it first and gave up. i will file a motion to dismiss at pretrial siting florida law on statute of limitations but is there anything else i need to worry about or file for? the lawyer for this collection agency is obviously not worried about the statutes so does he have something else in mind that i am not aware of? should i file a counterclaim for violation of statutes law? has anyone gone through this? thanks

[EveryDayAdam]

filing a lawsuit isn't illegal and not a FDCPA violation, even if the debt is outside of the statute of limitations. You will have to file an answer and appear at the hearing in order to defend yourself for the SOL defense to work, but it should be pretty solid defense. Be sure to bring any documents you have that prove the SOL has expired...the statement that shows when you made your last payment, a dated letter from the first collection agency, etc.

Chances are the attorney from the collection agency just has a piece of paper with your name, social, and an amount on it...You can probably bring up several valid defenses: Ask for them to prove the amount requested, including a line-by-line account of all charges, payments, and interest since the account was opened...ask to see a copy of the original contract (I can almost guarantee he doesn't have this)...bring up the SOL defense, etc.

just make sure you file a response and actually attend the hearing.

[treehugger1]

If you are beyond the SOL, you definitely want to show up and get that documented in court. Your debt does not go away, but the ability to collect on the debt does go away. That is my understanding. It IS up to you to make the SOL defense. I don't believe this is automatic.