furniture world discount warehouse destroyed my credit over 2 payments and they recieved there goods back jackson, Tennessee

this place sent me a copy of my contract witch was dated jan 14 2005. i called my lawyer and they told me as of jan 14 2012 they could no longer collect this dept. because staue of limitations has ran the 7 years for tennessee. how ever he did advise me they could still harass me and continue to put it on my credit. i never received nothing from them when they picked it up. i had to sign nothing. and they gave me nothing they just picked it up. and they didnt send me a copy of nothing signed when they picked it up. how ever im going to take the advise of my attorney and the other posters and im going to pay this dept this month. i have contacted them this morning to find out my balance and will be paying it in the next few weeks once i get paid from work. i get paid twice a month. it is a small price to pay for your credit so im just going to pay it. the contract did say i have to pay it even thow i sent it back they underlined where it said it. my advice read carefull what you sign. and ise in house financing as the other poster said avoid rent to own. i strill dont indorse doing buisness with this company but been as i now know i owe the money i will pay it. and i will hold them to there word that they will update it to my credit file. if they dont ill be back filing another report on here about them. thanks for all the info guys just pay your depts when there that small its not worth your credit. i have to completely rebuild my credit now for this little money owed.

Seems that my assumption was correct and this was a rent-to-own issue. As I said above, if that was the case, you DO owe the money and have no legal recourse. I may have been mistaken on the statute of limitations in TN (I don't live there) but even my under-estimate of 6 years would still put you well within their legal timeline to collect. If the statute actually allows for 7 years, then they have even more time to collect this debt.

Having found out the full information from both sides, I would highly suggest you pay the $170 and start getting your credit fixed. It's a small fee and your credit is worth so much more! Learn from this and next time you need to make a purchase, either pay cash or use in-store financing. Rent-to-own prices may seem reasonable in the beginning but they will ALWAYS end up being much more expensive in the long run.

The statute of limitations on debt is 7 years from the date of delinquency. Our company mailed you letters immediately after the merchandise was picked up.  Your contract also indicated that you would be responsible for past due rental payments should the merchandise be returned. 

I am aware of who you are and will provide you with the details of your payment history and a copy of your contract if you call or stop by. We apologize for the misunderstanding but are reporting accurate information to your credit.  Please be aware that if you return rental merchandise from any company (not just ours) they will attempt to collect any past due rental payments.  This does not signify bad business as part of business is obtaining funding that is owed.  Feel free to give us a call. 

The company to which you refer is a rent-to-own company.  You signed a lease purchase contract.  Therefore, compare this situation to renting a home.

 If you do not pay your rent for two months, and you get kicked out by your landlord, your landlord will rent the house to somebody else.  However, you will still owe him the past due rent.  

 I understand your confusion, but when you rent-to-own something, it belongs to the company until you pay the last dollar.  If you return the merchandise, you still have to pay what you owed them for the time you kept it for free.  They have every right to report it to your credit report.

I agree with the above poster and should have mentioned the statute of limitations in my original response to you. However, assuming you live in Tennessee (based on your post) they are still within the legal time limit to sue you for the balance. The Tennessee statute of limitations on debt is 6 years across the board for every type of contract, including Oral, Written, Promissory Note and
Open-Ended Account.

That being said, I still stand behind my original response that the store must have (or most certainly SHOULD have) given you something when you returned the furniture if this was truly a purchase using in-store financing. It just doesn't make any sense that they would accept the furniture back from you without providing a credit toward the balance due or as a complete settlement of the debt. You NEED to find that paperwork.

The only time that it might make sense that a store would accept the merchandise back without giving you any credit toward the 2 missed payments would be if the original transaction was a "rent-to-own" deal. If that is the case, they would have the right to charge you for the 2 payments you missed while you still had the furniture in your possession. Once you gave them the furniture back, they ended your rental contract. But, as I said before, you would still owe for the time you had it. It would be just like renting an apartment and moving out early. The landlord might agree to let you terminate the lease early, but you would still owe for any/all months that you actually lived there.

I would once again suggest you check all of your paperwork (the original contract for financing the furniture and any/all receipts you received when you returned it). Find out if you were on a rent-to-own contract or not. Find out what, if any, credit you were given for the return of the furniture. Find the EXACT date that you returned the furniture (this is when the statute of limitations would begin for collection purposes).

Finally, if this debt is in the hands of a debt collector, immediately send them a certified letter stating that you dispute this debt. In that letter, you should also demand that they provide you copies of all contracts and paperwork related to this debt, as well as anything that has your signature on it. The debt collector must be able to prove that (1) You legally owe this debt; (2) they have been given the proper authority to collect this debt on behalf of the original creditor; and (3) they are within the statute of limitations.

Regardless of whether you think you owe this debt or not, do not discuss anything else with the debt collection company until you have the requested paperwork from them. It is unfortunate, but debt collectors make their money by getting people like you to pay. They don't care if you actually owe the money or not. They prey on naive people who don't understand their rights. They will often lie, harass you and even threaten to sue you, etc. Don't let them intimidate you! Just repeat that you will be happy to discuss your "account" once you have received the paperwork from them. It is your right to see the paperwork and if they can't produce it, then they have no legal leg to stand on because they won't be able to sue you in court without it.

Again, I wish you the best of luck. For your sake, I hope the original contract was not a rent-to-own. If it was, you probably do owe the money and they are within the legal timeframe to collect.

   Check your state's laws for the "statute of limitations" on debts.   All states are different and most have different limits depending on the type of debt.   It's quite possible that this debt which was last serviced in 2006 may no longer be collectable.

   Debt collection companies try to collect out of date debts all the time.   Until you find out whether this is a valid debt, DO NOT make any payment to the collection company.   That will start the clock over again and could turn an uncollectable debt into a valid one.

   I also second the recommendation to find the paperwork from when you turned it in.   It does not seem logical that you would give back the furniture AND owe the $170 balance.  If you were going to owe the remaining balance, what did you get for returning the furniture?

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. It does seem a bit unfair that they waited so long to contact you about this debt. However, they do have a right to collect on monies owed. That being said, did you check your paperwork carefully?? (they should have given you something in writing when you returned the furniture). If they accepted the furniture back in lieu of any additional monies owed, it should be clearly stated on the receipt they gave you. That is what is called a debt-settlement (both parties agree to give up something to end the situation). In your case, if a debt-settlement was actually reached, you gave back the furniture and they agreed to waive the balance due. If they didn't waive the balance due, then no settlement was reached. Re-read every receipt you have to see what they agreed to. Hopefully you will find  something in there that relieved you of that debt upon their receipt of the furniture.

If you can't find anything that resembles a debt-settlement, you could always try to contact the manager of the store to see if they were able to re-sell the furniture you returned. If so, you could ask them to consider offsetting the sale price of the used furniture toward your balance. You didn't mention how much the original sale price was, so it's hard to say if $170 is a minimal amount of the value or not. They obviously could not sell a used set for the same price that you paid new. But, they may have recouped their loss (the $170 you still owed) AND made a bit more (the sale price of the used set). If that is the case, you may be able to win in court by showing that they mitigated their damages by accepting the furniture back and reselling it.

After so many years, my guess is that this account is no longer actually with the company, but has been sold to a debt collection company. It is harder to deal with debt collectors. If you would have addressed this earlier with the actual furniture store, you may have been able to get it resolved. Still, I wish you good luck and hope that any of my suggestions might help.