Just recently a collection company contact me by mail. Saying that a I owe a landlord that I had back in 2001 2500.00... They said that if I don't pay it then they will put a 20 year judgment on my credit report... I have not acknowledge that I owe this debt yet. Can they do this?

I forgot to tell you guys. I live in ontario canada... so i don't know if the statue of limitations helps me at all.

If they can get a judgement they can continue to renew the judgements if they prove there is still a chance to collect, so yes it can be possib le to keep a judgement active 20 years, But they have to get one first.

And basically if you don't owe it, nothing to worry about, they can't prove you do, if you do owe it, working out payments before they get a judgement would be a good thing

Here is the thing. I lived there seven years ago.. I know I was late on some rent but I don't think I didn't pay for three months. I asked them to validate the debt. The collection agency is saying they have bounced cheq's. Welll just because I bounced the cheque does not mean that I didn't make a payment after it bounced. Don't they have to be able to validat that I never made a payment. I would think he would have had to evict me if I didn't pay... Do the bounced cheq's validate the debt?