ten year old debt
Question: Ten years ago I had a catastrophic accident and was not able to pay my credit card debt I was in hospital for a long time then went through psychiatric problems. Now a collection agency has contacted me and says I owe over $17, 000. I never owed more than $5,000 at the time. I can’t pay this. What now?
Answer: You have three choices.
First, you could simply advise the collection agency that you cannot pay. Since the debt is over 10 years old, it is unlikely that they will pursue you in court.
Second, if they do take you to court, you could hire a collections lawyer to represent you. He will advise them that the Statute of Limitations has elapsed on your debt (depending on where you live). That does not eliminate the debt, but it does prevent them from taking further action against you.
Finally, you could simply declare personal bankruptcy to discharge your debts. However, there is a cost to bankruptcy, so you would need to discuss this first with a bankruptcy trustee to determine if this is the correct option for you.