I have been reading some of the threads about this and I am more confused than ever. I spoke with the consumer affairs people at the government, and she told me that IF you do make payments re a very old debt ,they can put the debt back on your credit report, but since the debt was very old (1998) even though payments were made, the SOL would prevent a judgment against me in court. They do have the right to pursue the debt, but can only ask for it not sue. There seems to be a lot of conflicting arguments to this. I am on social assistance payments and it is an extreme hardship to pay anything at this time.And to make matters worse the amounts owed were run up on my cards by a resident of the house that is long gone, and hid his theft well. A lot of cash advances at the ATM's.
Need some advice on this

Its better to pay the debt, rather than to pay the interest, as the late you pay the debts, the rate of Interest will increase at the same speed.

I'll advise you to pay the debt & then let the court announce anything.

I cannot afford to pay the debt, especially as it technically isn't mine, and unless they figure it in to the welfare budget I will never be able to pay it. I cannot work as I am the sole caregiver to my severely disabled daughter. Asituation I would rather not be in, but that is the way it is. I just don't want to lose the house as be on the street with her.

When was the very last payment made on the debt and is it a credit card? Once the SOL runs out they can not longer get a judgement on you in court. It does not stop them from calling or mailing you trying to recover. Ask them for proof of the debt. Agreeing to pay even one cent or making a payment restarts the SOL. It varies from state to state and from one type of debt to another, where do you live?

Actually I am in Ontario Canada, and the ministry of consumer affairs told me that if I make a payment only gives them the ability to put it on my credite repor, not restarting the SOL.

Also. It is a credit card, and the last payment was a few months ago, but the original debt was in 1998

Ask again, specifically ask if making a payment will restart the SOL. I am not familiar with Canada's laws but I am fairly certain that promises to pay or any payments creates a whole new timeline. Also, this is likely a revolving charge account and your payemnts are applied to any remaining balnce not just to a specific charge. Was that person authorized by you to use the card?

No, the person that ran up the account was my oldest daughter's boyfriend. They were living with me at the time. It turned out that not only was he a drug addict, but he was also dealing. The dealing part I found out a few months after he left, as I ended up with my daughter's vehicle in my driveway, and two very scary people came to my door looking for him, and he apparently had bought drugs from them, never paid them, and was selling the drugs to people in town. Quite a few itms of my jewellry also went missing, and about a month after he dissappeared my credit card bills showed up with the balances being several hundred over the limits. So he had stolen my PIN, (I was using my birth date) and was taking the daily limit out at the atm's, and intercepting the mail, and when the limit was up as long as he spent under a certain amount there was never any authorization required (this was before everything was automatically donme on'line and the plates were still in use) And you may think I am stupider than dirt, but my youngest daughter is severely disabled and that few months she was pretty ill. Bo I was running back and forth to the hospital and doctor's etc. Never had a clue what was going on 'till later. He also got my oldest daughter over 10,000 in debt with her bank. The sad thing was she and I ended in a big to-do over him as I was getting a little suspicious over some of his actions and she thought I was crazy. I tired explaining all this the credit card people but the bottom line there was too bad, and we had no proof of the not authorized use of the cards. Not to mention he vanished off the face oof the earth.

Limitation issues are not always straight forward.

It is generally held that a payment on a debt will re-start a limitation period provided it has not already elapsed.

For causes of action that arose before January 1, 2004 the limitation period in Ontario is six years.

For causes of action that arose after January 1, 2004 the limitation period is two years.

Thanks for the asnwer... I think at this point I am going to just do nothing and see what happens... I found out that they can't force me to seel my house and that was what I was most worried about as it is all I have and I'm too old to start over.

If they sue you ensure that you file a defence otherwise a default judgment could be entered against you and a writ of seizure and sale registered against your home.

OK I will do that thanks