Advice About SOL and Last Payment

[distressed]

I'm defending in Mass. small claims court on Friday 2/28 against an attorney representing Creditrust which bought an account from Discover card.

Two of the three CRA's have this debt on my report.

Equifax shows it as a charged off account and states the "Last Activity" as 12/96.

Experian (which the attorney is using) shows "Last Status" as 11-96. But also says "charge off as of 11/96 to 9/98.)

When I spoke to the attorney on the phone the FIRST time (last fall) he told me that he showed the "last payment" as of 11/97. When I spoke to him this month, he told me that there was a payment in 1999.

Now, I know that I didn't make those payments, because I didn't know the account existed. My worry is that he will mention these dates in court in order to disqualify my SOL defense. I did ask him for proof that the debt was mine when we spoke and he told me he didn't have anything but what he had on his computer system.

So my question is: how do I provide the best possible SOL defense? It seems to me that showing the section of my credit report which shows the 11/96 date is stupid because it provides the court with a visual which may make them assume the debt is correct. Certainly I will demand that the attorney furnish proof in court should he allege that the SOL defense is not valid. What else is there to do?

[Anonymous]

Something similar with me. After receiving statements from CA on a bogus account there were payments made for ma few months (1995-96) and then one in 2001! Since I have no record of such payments, especially the last one, they will also assume the SOL is still not up in my case. Since the account is fraudulent I really don't think he SOL even applies!

I would ask the CRAs or OC or maybe the CA for proof of last payment. Who knows, a miracle may happen and one of them will send it to you!

Also, in another attempted collection on me from an old account I had zeroed and closed 22 years ago, some CA claimed he had a copy of a check of a payment on the account that reset the SOL. I got a copy of that check from my credit union and it was dated two year before the alleged payment check, was for half as much, and to a doctor's office for a PPO!!!! Where these people dream this stuff up is beyond me.

[Edit by jeffbeish on Monday, February 24, 2003 @ 02:40 AM]

[bingo]

Distressed,

Sorry, don't do the cut and paste thing but I can help. Go to www.cardreport.com and go to the discussion forum. The 2nd or 3rd post there is from Why Chat and is a message to newcomers. Scroll to the bottom of the message and he has a link to his site with all of the info you need on SOL defenses. He is a retired lawyer and most helpful.