How the heck is anyone supposed to know if someone who skips out on a credit card will get sued? You didn't say which province you are in but it's probably Ontario.

Credit Bureau of Collections Canada has an office on Dunlop Street in Barrie, Ontario and Brian McNulty, whose letterhead they use for 15 or 20 bucks a pop, works out of Charles Street in Milton, Ontario. CBCC services mostly the Kawartha areas in South Central, Ontario. If that's true, then the limitation period on the debt is is 2 years from the date of default. And so it must be coming up for being stats barred or close to it. Hence the reason for the last gasp legal demand letter.

But even if Amex was going to sue someone for 2000 bucks who had no assets or income, they in all probability would have done so a long time ago. I'd put it at 100:1 they are bluffing.

HOWEVER, PLEASE NOTE:

There is a trend sweeping the US and it's starting to emerge in Canada.

You word your post as if you expect that your daughter is safe from being sued because she has no assets; you expect she is judgment proof. It's often implicitly assumed that a large company will not waste their time coming after someone who has no ability to pay or assets to seize.

However, some companies will go ahead and try and get a default judgment by sending the Small Claims Court statement of claim to the last known address even if they know the person doesn't live there any longer. Sometimes by deliberately sending it to the wrong address and then falsifying the affidavit of service to the Court saying the statement was never returned to them so as to sneak through a default judgment. Often, if a debtor is young, they may not have any money currently, but a judgement is good for up to 20 years. Later on in life, your daughter may aquire assets and have a good job. Creditors, especially the American ones, know this and as soon as a default judgement is rendered they slap a Form 21 (writ of seizure) on the debtor encumbering any of the 3 categories of seizable assets they might acquire in the coming yeras

Mark Silverthorn mentions in his book that a good defence against being sued is to be broke. That's supposedly makes one "judgment proof." That may be most often true but it's not always; at least not anymore. See www.budhibbs.com if you disagree. Trends in the US invariably reach Canada.

That's why you should be careful with respect to the (albeit small) possibilty they can and do serve your daughter with a statement of claim. If so, make sure she files a statement of defence with the Court. You can represent her as long as she signs it. Getting hit with a Small Claims Court claim for 2000 bucks is no big deal, but being slapped with a default judgment would be - as several recent visitors to this site have learned the hard way.

Ray