I had a collection agency contact me after 4yrs of no activity about an old credit card debt. The last payment on the card was Aug 2007... I honestly thought the card was paid off then as I went through a divorce and the house was sold.. debt paid etc... by my husband at the time. This came as a total surprise to me. The agency said they were willing to take $5000 on the $8000 that was owed. If not... they would hand it back to Capital One and CO would sue for the whole amount... plus! She also said that after I paid my credit score would go back in good standing. I had no idea I had bad credit as I have been living very minimally for 4yrs.. no credit cards.. no debt(or so I thought).
My questions are:
What is the SOL in Ontario?. how does it work? Now that they have contacted me... does the SOL start now?
Can the collections agency give back the debt to Capital One?
Can Capital One sue me after 4 years of inactivity?
If I pay... how can I be sure that the money is going to cover the debt and my good credit will be restored?
Can I contact Capital One myself and make them an offer of settlement?. that way I make sure it gets to them?. will they take an offer of 25% of the original debt?

Thanks for any help.

Well the first question is did you check your credit score? I believe the SOL in Ontario is 4 years. So you may just be on the edge here.

Contacting you doesn't start or stop the SOL. Only payment does that. Whether they can give it back to Capitol One depends on how they got it in the first place.

Are you POSITIVE your "ex" didn't make a payment, charge something, either of which would extend the SOL.

Ontario law is: Ontario - The Ontario Limitation Act 2002 , came into force on January 1, 2004. It sets two years as the term (Section 4). This limitation will be reinstated where the debtor acknowledges the debt or makes a partial payment towards repayment of his debt. If the default occurred prior to January 1, 2004, the creditor will continue to have 6 years to pursue the claim. However, if the default occurred after January 1, 2004 then the 2-year rule applies.

Whoops, I thought it had been changed from 6 to 4. The memory is slipping :(

Talked to my ex and he has no idea of this account... the collections agency(can't remember the company) said there had been no activity on the account since August 2007. I did give her birthday as verification she had the right person but did not acknowledge the debt. I said I would have to talk to my ex to see what was going on as I am sure everything was paid in 2007. They had been sending notices to our old address. She said if they send the debt back to Capital One... then CO would sue me for the entire amount so the deal she was offering was the best... $5000 on a $8000+ debt. Is this true? Can Capital One still sue me after the SOL period is past? Would I then have to go to court and plea the SOL as defense?
I asked her to send me proof of the debt... account # etc so I may verify with Cap One or should I not do that? Do I want Cap One to know where I am? Should I just hang low and wait it out to see if Cap One sues? Then what?