I had a mobile home repo’d in 2001. I was never contacted by the company for the difference after the sale at auction. So I never worried about it. I’ve since found out the dept was sold to a collection agency after the auction. Again, no attempts to collect for 5 years. Now I get a letter saying pay in full or legal action will be taken. How does the statue of limitations work with this? Does the statue start at the time of the default on the loan, or at the time of the sale of the dept to the new company? The original creditor is not reporting to the credit bureaus, but the collection agency is? I live in Illinois, and the statue is different for contracts vs. collections? Does the signed contract for the mobile home purchase still stand, even though it’s with an entirely differnt company now?
2 Responses to “Mobile home repo, dept now sold to collections?”
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Sounds to me like a great question to take to a lawyer! You may have to pay a small sum to learn what the law says, but you’ll be far better off getting teh truth from a professional than taking the word of some questionable answer here.
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The Statute of Limitation for written contracts in Illinois is 10 years.
The SOL starts at the default of the loan, it does not matter how many times the debt has been sold and resold.
Since it was a repossession, the UCC may apply. That SOL would be 4 years.
The signed copy still stands, if the collection agency can produce it. Most likely, the collection agency is a Junk Debt Buyer who purchased the debt for pennies on the dollar. JDBs purchase large portfolios of debts that are transmitted to them electronically. They sometimes have trouble producing documentation that tie you to the debt.
Send them a “Debt Validation Letter”.
JDBs tend to get aggressive right before the SOL is about to run out. If they should take you to court, you must answer the summons to avoid a default judgment against you.
They should not win without the proper debt validation.
If the SOL has expired use that as an affirmative defense. The lawsuit should be dropped.
Good Luck