A friend of mine called me about a week ago to find out what options he had with respect to dealing with a collection agency who is now calling him on his local number in St Lucia. This is a St Lucian citizen who also has US residency and defaulted on a BOA credit card. The account was closed in 2006 and it was sold 3 times. Capital One now holds the account and they would not stop calling. He knows that I mainly deal with Business Credit and has always been an avid reader of creditrich.net, but he thought that I would have some answer.

In doing some research, I have found two things. He was in Maryland when he opened the accounts and the statute of limitation for debt in Maryland is three years. So technically they cannot take legal action against him. Then there is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which requires that debt collectors and attorneys stop phoning you at home and at work once you ask them to stop. So he simply asked the rep not to call back and he has not gotten a call since. This does not mean that they may never call, or the account will not be sold again, but you should know your rights and exercise them.

Marc Augustine