I received a letter from a credit bureau last week, and called them to see what the debt was regarding. Apparently, I had an outstanding balance from an address I lived at 8 years ago.

Since that time, I've had accounts with the company who I "owe" the debt to (I'm not admitting debt at the moment, since I honestly don't remember owing the debt). They have had my more recent addresses and have not followed up on this "debt." I find this pretty confusing, especially since I paid those accounts off in full. I'm not some kind of skid. There are many problematic things with this situation, never mind the treatment I received when asking for details from the collection agency (I called them to ask about the debt, they have not called me, only written a letter). I don't understand why this company would start up an account with me if I had this long outstanding debt. I have never changed my name, I've only moved around the same city.

I'm wondering what the Statute of Limitations is for the collection agency to try to collect this debt from me. I find 8 years to be pretty lengthy, especially since I can't make a proper defense of this claim.

Oh, and I live in Manitoba, Canada. Sorry for not specifying.

Hi, well they are able to contact you at any point. The debt will never disappear if you do not pay it. However there is a statute of limitations on how long after the fact they can sue you.

Basically in most areas after 6-7 years they can no longer sue you in court to recover the amount they claim you owe.

But they can still ask you to pay it. If you can prove that you closed this account and at the time it was closed you owed the original company 0 get proof from the original company and mail a copy of this statement to the collection agency.

Always be careful to never admit you owe them this money or they can take this as proof they have the right to collect.