Being sued for Sears credit card

[p_rally]

I have recently been notified of an old credit card debt. NCO Portfolio Management sent papers stating they are entering a judgement for the amount of $2400. They are calling day and night, and sent another letter today. The date of deliquency is claimed to be May of '99, but think it was a year or two before that even since the card was used. I did have a Sears charge card, might of used it twice. I was young and stupid, made a few payments and forgot about it, until now, which is what, 10 years later. I sure don't have that kind of money and really don't want a judgement on me. I have been reading about statute of limitations, and I think for Iowa it's 5 yrs. This would fit in that time frame, but have no idea where to go from here, and not sure if that is a valid reason to us. Right now, the paper said to enter a plea, admit or deny the claim of plaintiff. I will enter deny, but then what? If someone has advice on this or has gone through this before, I would sure appreciate some help.

[MaxFoncito]

I have recently been notified of an old credit card debt. NCO Portfolio Management sent papers stating they are entering a judgement for the amount of $2400. They are calling day and night, and sent another letter today. The date of deliquency is claimed to be May of '99, but think it was a year or two before that even since the card was used. I did have a Sears charge card, might of used it twice. I was young and stupid, made a few payments and forgot about it, until now, which is what, 10 years later. I sure don't have that kind of money and really don't want a judgement on me. I have been reading about statute of limitations, and I think for Iowa it's 5 yrs. This would fit in that time frame, but have no idea where to go from here, and not sure if that is a valid reason to us. Right now, the paper said to enter a plea, admit or deny the claim of plaintiff. I will enter deny, but then what? If someone has advice on this or has gone through this before, I would sure appreciate some help.

Deny the claim, file the papers and show up in court. I just went through it and it was much easier than you could ever imagine. Your debt is way out of SOL and most likely they can't even prove it is yours anyways.

[nascar]

Make sure you include statute of limitations as an affirmative defense in your answer. Did the plaintiff specify any dates in the complaint - perhaps when they acquired the account, or when it went delinquent? If they did, you might be able to move for a dismissal right away.