Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC Representing,HSBC Card Services, Merchant:Ameritech This company continues to harass me with collection letters for an un-collectable debt, over ten years old and filed in my bankrupt claim as well. They even say ,in small print, that, because of the age of this debt, they will not sue me, nor will they report it to any credit reporting agency, yet it does come up on my credit report and stopping me from getting a good score in order to get a house. Norfolk Viginia

Typically collection agencies purchase bad accounts from creditors for about ten cents on the dollar. This is how companies actually end up making even more money from bad debtors than they do from good ones. In addiiton to selling the bad accounts for immediate cash, they have already charged off the bad debts against their aggregate profits---netting them a nice tax deduction. So the collection agent who is calling you on a $1000 debt has only shelled out about $100 for it. Don't let anyone guilt you into paying for years and years and years. They are the real crooks, not you. If they are threatening you with lawsuits, unless you owe over several thousand dollars, I can almost guanatee you will not be sued. No attorney will even consider taking a colelction case of a few hundred bucks any more - it is simply not worth his or her time.  So since they won't sue you, all they can do is call and try to make your life miserable. Get caller ID, don't take their calls and get a call blocker for your phone. You can download one for free. They can continue calling you for 20 years, but they cannot take you to court after the statute of limitations has passed in your state (typically 5, 6 or 10 years).

If you included this in a bankruptcy over 10 years ago, then get a copy of the bankrutcy papers from your courthouse that ruled on your case and submit copies showing them as included to the credit reporting agencies.  By doing this, you will show that the reported debt violates FCRA by age if debt from initial delinquency date, that the debt was included in an aged bankruptcy and thus removed your debt liability by court order and the fact that debt age in itself is past CRA reporting standards of reporting structure (7.5 years).  Hope this helps.

A Consumer Lawyer and look up the laws in your state regarding debt collection. I know this company is a junk debt buyer.  Get copies of your bankruptcy judgement as well.  I am in no means an ATTY but I do know about junk debt collectors.