I had a car loan in 1997 in New York. I was unable to keep up the car payments. The car was repossed in 1998 and sold for a cheaper amount than I paid. I now live in Maryland. It is now 2008 and I just received a collection notice from a law firm in Pennsylvania requesting a payment for $6,600. I understand that the bad debt was sold to a collection agency and the company has already written this off their books. My question is isn't there a statue of limitation for collecting a bad debt. Can this collection agency legally pursue the collection of this debt.

The collection agency can pursue it until the end of time. The Statute has expired.

They can pursue, they just can't collect and are counting on you not to know that.

Tell them to never call you again and then hang up. Repeatedly.

Of course, it will stay on your credit report as a bad debt until it is paid or the time expires, usually 7 years.

Well that is unless they got a judgement on the debt.

Good catch - I missed that possibility.

If the collection agency can't collect on the debt and the statute of limitations has expired, how can they legally get a judgment from the courts. Please advise.

They can't. It's out of Statute. If you re-read my post you will see that the best advice is to tell them to stop calling you and then hang up. They can't get a Judgment on a debt that's out of Statute. They can only threaten - which they aren't supposed to do.

They can pursue you forever in the hope that you will send them some money, not knowing the law.

The people collecting have undoubtedly purchased the debt for pennies on the dollar so anything they collect is a profit to them.

Call a lawyer and inquire about it. They would know best and if they give you bad advice then its on them not you

The Statute in NY is six years. If things are as the OP says they are, there is no need to contact an Attorney. And the bad advice - unless you make an appointment and sit down with the paperwork, that opinion is not "on them." Phone calls don't count.

They MAY have gotten a judgement previously, while the SOL was still in force. This happens occasionally. You may have moved and never received notices. If no judgement was ever obtained, then they cannot use the courts to collect. But that doesn't mean you don't owe the debt or that they can't dun you for it.

You defaulted on a debt. You have a legal and moral obligation to repay the money you borrowed. All the SOL is about is limiting the methods the creditor has available to collect on the debt. And the debt being charged off has no impact on you, its simply a tax accounting on the part of the loan company.

On the other hand, you do have the right to insist that all further correspondence be by mail. You can ignore such correspondence. The only thing that can do is affect your credit.

Hello cheryl:

You have been given good advice. The answer to your question as phrased, is yes. The problem is how you and/or we define the term "legally". For you to truly understand what's going on, that term needs to be broken down.

When you borrow money and agree to pay it back, that's a legal obligation, and it goes on forever. There's no law that says otherwise.

There IS a law, however, that says they can't SUE you after a certain length of time. In your case, that time has apparently passed, or they got a judgment earlier as suggested. Lots of people get judgments foisted upon them because they moved and didn't make sure the people that needed their address HAD their address.

That's probably NOT the case here, but the agency can "legally" pursue you to your grave... Unless, you take the proper "legal" action to stop them. THAT action, as alluded to by Scott, can be found in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and THAT act gives you certain rights...

It goes a little bit further than Scott suggested, however. You can stop them from contacting you AT ALL - not just by mail.

Here's what you do. Google the act. Copy and paste the pertinent verbiage in the letter you're going to send to them. In it, tell them, pursuant to the act, NOT to contact you in ANY manner whatsoever. You might as well threaten to sue them too, if they damage your credit further than it already is... (The last is probably more to just make you feel good - but I'd put it in there, nonetheless). Send your letter certified, return receipt requested.

They'll stop bothering you.

excon

Hmm - OP referred to a collection notice. Wonder exactly what it said? Might be attempting to collect a Judgment, maybe not. Need to know what the notice says.

And, yes, no question there's a moral obligation to pay debts as well as the issue of a bad credit rating. But legally...