Credit Card Debt In Pennsylvania

Credit agencies are TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. Any adverse reporting can be reported for 7 years, from the date the agency received the unfavorable rating that was reported to it.

2006-08-09 20:32:16 by brion88200

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I know it is 4 years for secondary creditors (debt collectors) but what is the SOL for the original creditor (example: a bank)?

It's 4-years also.

See the link in the source box.

2008-02-28 13:43:50 by Doc Biz

Some guys calls me and says to serve me some papers. I ask what for. Of course he says he doesnt know he just serves the paper and has been instructed to wait to I get home. ( the address he has is my old house which is empty and I occasionally bring friends over). Anyways so he gives me this number to call with a case number. Already suspecting another sleezy debt collector I call. The guy answers and says that the guy that called you is in reference to XYZ acct. He is there to serve you some papers. Well I did some research (last year) and I told him the statue of limitations is 4 years for PA. That this account is from ten years back. He gets pissed (and surprise) and says the account is 9 years old I again repeat the statue of limitation and tell I had contacted the State Attorney Office. He says something about the judgment statue of limitations is ten years I say to him this account is from ten years back. He says the statue of limitation on judgment is ten. I told him i spoke to my State Rep office about this and they said I dont have to pay anything on account so old. He gets more upset and says we will still pursue this good day and hung up. So my question is what recourse do these people have an old account. Is this guy that is going to serve these papers is going to stalk me to I show up at that house??
Bud it was a long time ago. I was maybe 20 or 21. I just turned 34 I made some mistakes. I am sure a lot of people did. Didnt know any better...Got over my head and stop paying my debt some ten years back...Cant believe this is still haunting me ten + years later...Didnt say i was a victim..Not sure what judgment he is speaking maybe trying to scare me ??

Did the creditor take you to court and win a judgment against you on this old debt? If the answer is "no," then:

This debt is WAY outside the statute of limitations for all 50 states...it is also past the allowable 7-year reporting cycle on credit reports....so they can't place this on your credit file . This is ancient, time-barred debt....because of this, the collection agency is powerless over you....other than trying to scare/annoy you into paying.

Technically, a debt collector can come after you forever for defaulted debt...however, once the statute of limitations is up...they've lost the power to successfully take legal action. For ancient Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you can send them a "cease communications" letter and that will be all that you need to do. Per this law they must cease collection activity.

Send the collection agency a letter via Certified Mail + Return Receipt stating:

Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, I am requesting that you cease communication with me about this alleged debt.

2008-12-18 16:58:57 by axpert989

Pennsylvania here. Unf about 4 years ago I had to let my credit card debt of 2500.00 go to default and did nothing about it, the debt was sold to a collection agency, and I of course like alot of people just ignored them and did nothing about it, several months ago I received a letter stating that they were filing suit in court, again I ignored them. cause so much time had passed. Another letter came stating they had won and received a cash judgement. Once again under the anxiety and stress of having let my credit go I ignored it. Today I rec'd a letter from my sherriff's office in Westmoreland County, stating that they were going to freeze my accounts with my bank and had forwarded a letter to them, sure enough when at the grocery store that afternoon my sale was declined, and when I went to the ATM I rec'd a message "unauthorized user" I am going to contact my bank tomorrow and see what the situation is. My uderstanding was that a credit card was "unsecured debt" and although a judgement may be made against me, and of course hurt my credit, but didn't think that would give them the ability to freeze and take my checking account. Can anyone give me an idea about this? As i also have a friend who had credit cards with a much higher amount, he had to let go in the past year or so and he is now panic'd . I realize that simply leaving these go and he agrees, was dumb, but we had no choice. What should or could I do. For him I beleive bankruptcy laws have changed from a few years ago, and simply cannot afford an attorney, but he has no way of even neg with his debt and paying anything with a fixed income of 700.00 a month now on soc sec. Sorry to be so long winded, just obviously a shock.

First of all let's get the record straight

PA is one of the few states does DOES NOT allow for wage garnishment (someone was wrong in that area)

By ignoring them, they won the case in what is called a "default judgment" because you ignored the court summons. You would have had a chance to set up a payment schedule had you appeared in court.
All they can do is seize any assets you have, funds in bank accounts, property, autos (if paid) or any other large items you own.

You can forget any tax refunds as those will also be seized.

Your only way around it is to cash your paycheck and pay for everything in cash, close your bank accounts. If you do not want to do this, then you will simply have to pay off the judgment.

In PA the time limit for reporting a judgment is 5 years but under the FCRA it is 7 years so it will remain on your credit report for the full 7 years.

As to your friend, his income can not be garnished nor his accounts seized if his sole income is from Social Security.
The only exceptions are for debts such as back child support, taxes owed, over payments and fines or restitution involving a criminal act.

Hope this helps answer your question

2009-05-29 23:20:09 by Krysty D

I'm looking to settle my credit card accounts, and have stopped paying them for one month. I understand after several months they will try to settle for less then the actual amount owed, or I can work with a debt settlement company.

I'm concerned though, that they can freeze, or directly withdraw money from my bank account to pay on those debts.

I live in Pennsylvania and have seen cases similiar to this on Judge Judy and those types of shows.

Credit cards are unsecured debt. They cannot freeze or put liens on any of your assets without first getting a judgment from a civil court.

Do not voluntarily give them any of your banking information.

2007-04-06 06:57:24 by tenrab