That has changed relatively recently, and I'm not sure what it was, when it changed, or what it is now. I would call your courthouse and ask for small claims

The statute of limitations for your loan, as I understand it, is determined by when it went into default.

If Raymond comes along, he knows the Ontario SOL details, otherwise, a phone to small claims at your local courthouse will answer your questions.

Would you happen to know the statute of limitations for Ontario??

I should note that the statute of limitations to sue varies depending on which province the transaction took place in. You will have to check your province's statute of limitations legislation. Just call the civil court desk at the courthouse.

Two years, not three. They have two years from the date of last activity on the account to sue you in a court of law for any debt. If they do not sue in that time, they lose the right to sue. That means that they can never sue you for the debt. They may try, but you simply have to go in and tell the court that it is past statute of limitations and it will be thrown out.

The default is reported on your credit bureau for 6 years from the date of last activity and collectors can contact you for that 6 years. In Alberta, after 6 years, the collectors can no longer contact you. Raymond tells me it is different in other provinces, but I'm not sure.

Angela

Can you explain what you mean by the creditor having to sue within 3 years?? Does that mean that after 3 years if they haven't sued - the phone calls etc stop??

thanks

OK... well, now stop hiding. All is not lost. My opinion, do not close the credit cards you currently have. They will help you to rebuild your credit when all this is behind you. Charge your gas on them and pay them off in full every month.

There is no longer any need to hide. Simply hang up on them. Record any abuse or violations so if you chose to you can go after them in court or report them to their governing agencies.

Watch your credit file for re-aged debt... keep records of the old debt and maybe a copy of a credit report with correctly aged debt... send away for it and see what's on there now.

SOL gives a creditor two years to sue you. They haven't done so, and there is no longer any legal authority to do so. Even hinting at the threat is illegal and possibly even extortion.

Hopefully things turn around for you soon.

Hello,

Yes, in spring 2003, I went into default, in the fall I tried to write letters to work out a deal, no avail, so I basically fell off the face of the earth, I had collection agencys call and thats about it, every year it would be a new company would say the debt has been sold about 3 times by now... I have seen it all including have blank envelopes put in my mail box simply with a note stating call me at this # no return address or name etc.. trying to call my previous residence where my parents live, and trick them into paying, calling me at 5 am in the morning, since the original creditor probably wrote off my debt 3 years ago, and got a tax write off, I will just lay low till these bottom feeders go away, but I did try to make good, my next step is just to get payoff my last 2 credit cards which I have kept current, and go with a prepaid credit card. I also had a coll agent company call my credit card co automated toll free line, and see where I made charges on my cards, as they knew the name of a store where I had made a purchase on my card, which was a one time purchase at a retail store.

The funny thing is in my late teens, I actually had these companies calling me weekly, and I remember arguing with them to why I don't want their credit cards, but they insisted I needed to establish credit being a teen and all, its amazing, I have wasted the best years of my life hiding from this nonsense.

It is too bad you deleted that. It is highly illegal... but I've heard it used before. If they call you with this message again... save it. Keep everything. Raymond would say that is in essence telling you they're bluffing. He's probably right.

SOL in Alberta is based on the last date of payment or written acknowledgement or charging activity... and ends 2 years from that date. If, by 2003, you mean you have made no payments, written no letters, and charged nothing on the card they cannot do anything to you, even if they want to. If the final activity was 2003, at some point during the year, even phoning or writing you letters is illegal in Alberta as it is illegal for a collection agency to call you after 6 years.

Rather than letting them be, if you can come up with a few dollars for a tape or digital (I prefer tape) recorder, you should invest and record it there.

If it is past SOL and they are threatening they are clearly breaking the law. Go here ( http://www.qp.gov.ab.ca/documents/Regs/1999_194.cfm?frm_isbn=0779743393 ) and read the legislation. It will help you to understand what they can and cannot do.

I assume this debt was incurred in and went into default in Alberta?

may be they want to negotiate with you. And plz check a new canada consumers forum at www.cnavo.com.

also the way they stated it was that you are the defendant in a statement of claim that we have received today, and the file # is 28739238 etc.. please call us ... etc... i just dont know what sense to make of this... i have spend the last 4 hours on the net trying to get info,