Expert: Michael Brotherton - 10/30/2007

Question
i received a call from a law firm about a credit card i stopped paying on.  according to the person i spoke to from the law firm the last payment on it was back in 2000.  they are wanting me to pay off the card or they say they will take me to court and sue me.  i have no assets and i live in TX so they cannot garnish my wages.  i got my credit report from all 3 agencies and NONE show the delinquent credit card account! i was hoping to locate it so that i could see when the date of last activity was on so i could mark the Statute of Limitations.  the only reason I'm worried is because some years ago (not sure if in '03,'04' or '05) i did agree to make payment arrangements (a third party collection agency then and NOT a law firm) but i never received anything in writing aside from a mail in payment stub and i never signed any sort of agreement.  i never sent in any payment.  could any of that reset the TX Statute of Limitations? when the law firm threatened to sue i told them of my current financial situations with no assets and they told me to see about taking out a loan to pay off the debt of close to $20,000.  i said i would look into it but i never called them back.
what are my options?  did i make things worse by making payment arrangements to the creditors and resetting the 4 yr SoL?  did the recent conversation with the law firm reset it, too?

Answer
The statute did not reset but you need to demand verification of the debt immediately to avoid further action. They may attempt to get a judgment which you may fight but you need to make sure the debt is a valid debt. The SOL is from the date of last payment or use of the card. You need to determine that date then act accordingly.