Being sued

[Nick55]

Hello everyone. I recently discovered that I am being sued by Capital One for a credit card that originally had a 5,000 dollar limit. I defaulted on 3,600 dollars. The account was charged off and sold to a collection agency in 2007. Two days ago,I found out Capial One is taking me to court for 11,500 dollars. Is this legal? I thought once the account was sold, they could not attempt to collect? If it is legal, what options do I have? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Game Plan]

Originally Posted by Nick55

Hello everyone. I recently discovered that I am being sued by Capital One for a credit card that originally had a 5,000 dollar limit. I defaulted on 3,600 dollars. The account was charged off and sold to a collection agency in 2007. Two days ago,I found out Capial One is taking me to court for 11,500 dollars. Is this legal? I thought once the account was sold, they could not attempt to collect? If it is legal, what options do I have? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

The best advice would be to speak to a lawyer. Also, make sure the SOL in your state has not expired.

[Lian]

Neither a charge-off nor referral to a debt collector necessarily means that the creditor has sold the debt.

Is the creditor reporting a $0 balance under their account? If not, that would indicate that the debt collector did not actually purchase the debt, but rather is/was acting only in the capacity as a collection agent of the OC.

You are correct that a party who no longer owns an interest in a debt cannot bring legal action for its recovery. I doubt that they are that stupid. I think you will find that the OC still owns the debt.

The very first thing I would suggest is to determine whether the statute of limitations has expired on the debt. If it has, then you will just have to show up in court with documentation of the date of running of the period, and if proven, will result in summary judgment on your part as being a non-collectible debt. If SOL has not expired, then either find some evidence to motion for dismissal of their legal action based on your proof that they no longer own the debt or else be prepared to address their action on its merits.

I concur that you have several legal issues to address before even getting to the merits of the actual delinquency on the debt itself, and would probably be wise to consult an attorney.