I live in Ontario Canada; I was out of the country for about 3 years I just came back,

I have unpaid credit for the visa about $16,000 this is an old credit for about 3 years
I noticed the collection agencies tried to reach me during this time

What shall I do now?
What the collection agencies can do after this time?
What about Statute of Limitations (SOL) for Ontario on this credit?

Thanks,

If the date of last payment or written acknowledgement of the debt was after 01/01/04 and you have not been sued in the interim, a creditor may not use the courts as a remedy to collect the debt. This does not make the debt go away. It can still be reported on your CB file for six years from the date it was written off. If you chose to use the bank from which the Visa was issued on your return, they could take funds from your account under the set off rules and restart the limitation period. If you settle now, the account could be on your CB file as an R9 for 6 years. The best thing to do at this juncture is to wait our the final few years of negative reporting at the CB. Even if you pay the debt in full, it will be on your file for the same period.