And if they finally give up and write the debt off of their books, you would receive a 1099-C for the cancelled debt so you can declare it as income on your taxes.

Old debt doesn’t just go away.

There are collection agencies out there that buy up very old debts and attempt to collect on them. If the debt is past the SOL (Statute of Limitations; usually 7 years), they can still try to scare you into reopening it. They really don’t have a legal leg to stand on, but they make lots of money anyway because many folks get scared and send them the money.

If you know that your debt is definitely cleared by the SOL, DO NOT give these guys any money. If you send them even $5, it reopens the debt and resets the date of the debt to now. Their business methods may be shady, but what are you going to do? Take them to court?

Go to the below webpage:

There are two different time lines, the first is the Fair Credit Reporting Act and this says that derogatory accounts show for 7-years form the date of first delinquency which works out to 7-years and 180-days.

The second is the statute of limitations which varies by State and type of debt. This is the time that creditors can legally take you to court before the debt becomes time barred.

They can still take you to court and if you do not show up and show the court that the S.O.L. has expired they can win a default judgment.

It is your responsibility to show the court that the S.O.L. has expired and then the case will be dismissed.

I have posted a link in my source box so you can look up your State.

It depends on the statue of limitations in your state. Some are 3 years or more. ou can look it up under your states statue of limitations. In Indiana they changed it to new ones to being 10 years now.
After statue of limitations, they can still ask you for it but you don’t have to give it to them.

More details would be helpful. How old is the debt and how much? It can reported up to 7 years. There are statutes of limitations on debt which vary from state to state beyond which it is no no longer collectable. Is this the creditor who is threatening court or a collection agency? If the latter I would ask them first to validate the debt before you do anything else.

Yes, and if you protest in court that it is past the SOL if it is you may be able to not have to pay. If you don’t go to court they can get a judgment and collect what you owe them.
The credit reports have no say in what you owe just report what they are allowed to report.