My fat a$$ is going to jail…

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… for nonpayment of a debit.

Back when I was much younger (and just as stupid as I am now, which was roughly 30 years ago), I applied for a Citibank Visa card, which ended up in collections. I no longer have any of the original paperwork regarding that debt.

On December 9, I get a call from Lake City Credit out of Dallas, TX stating pay up, or be sued. Since I no longer have that paperwork, once I was evicted from my late mother’s estate in 2012 by its current owner (namely, my next to youngest brother). I told Lake City to send me verification of this debt. They were reluctant to do so, and was told to Call Citibank. However, Citibank no longer has any records regarding this debt by searching their databases by account number (which was supplied by Lake City and does not appear to be a valid credit card number), nor by social security number. Upon advice of my attorney, since I’m sure the statute of limitation to collect the debt has run out, I filed a complaint with the PA Attorney General, the State of Texas Attorney General, the South Dakota Attorney General, and the Consumer Finance Protection Board of the Federal Trade Commission. I have already, on December19, heard back from the CFPB, which stated essentially that Citibank has no business relationship with Lake City Credit, and referred the matter back to Citibank. I have twice contacted Citibank Cards Customer Service, at their main phone number, and at their credit card center in Florence, KY (which is suburban Cincinnati, OH) to speak to their compliance officer, without success. Both offices ran searches for my account via Social Security card, and has come up empty each time. I have also sent a letter, via USPS to this compliance officer the evening of December 19, and carbon copied to my attorney.

At this point, I don’t know what else to do. So far, this debt has not shown up on my credit report, (I’ve been running up charges on both my Walmart Card, as well as my Apple Mastercard, and my PayPal account (when I purchased the trashcan Mac Pro, when my 4th Gen Cheesegrater Mac Pro decided to give up the ghost.). These constant call from scammers and debt collectors I have never heard from has my anxiety and my blood sugars going through the roof, which is also not helping with my chronic kidney disease. Add to the fact I owe the urologist almost $1000 for the laser lithotripsy to destroy kidney stones, and being transitioned over to a continuous glucose monitor and insulin pump operation, and I can’t handle much more stress. I’m already having thoughts of committing suicide, and have been unable to get an appointment with a psychologist or psychiatrist at Wellspan Philhaven or UPMC psychological, as both offices are extremely short-staffed.

No debt verification = no debt.

I had to deal with this when I was buying my house. I did not monitor my credit, but had no reason to expect anything there.

A debt owed to a doctor came up when I applied at the first bank. Everything was wrong with that collector. But I got lucky, when I asked for a copy of the debt I had them read back my address from the debt, and both the street and the postal code were wrong. It's a bill I never got because doctor's billing office screwed up the address, and likewise never got collections notices. As it's required to be right by law they said they'll remove it from my credit report. They were slow about it, and banks wanted to see it come off when I was applying for mortgage. I was pressed for time so on my 10th call to them I told them to remove it at once or get sued (I spoke to an attorney's office prior to the call) and be fined. They had a specialist send the update to the credit bureaus while I was still on the phone. I really put the fear of god into them. It was gone from my report the next day, and I was in the top bracket for mortgage rates. I got an excellent rate.

I don't think you have anything to worry about.

I'm sorry you're going through this stuff with your health.

You can't go to jail only for "debt." Only if you owe fines for a conviction.

That sucks, man.

Were you actually sued?

They'd have to give evidence in the paperwork.

Are you sure it's not aggressive scammers?

Even if you do owe the debt, can't they arrange some kind of repayment plan or consumer proposal?

I think Rootbeer is likely right in his advice.

There are certainly “aggressive scammers” around.

These days, it seems like it’s easier to negotiate with creditors should you receive a “dunning letter.” The person owing the debt would have 30 days after receipt of the “dunning letter” to respond.

I made lots of mistakes. I’ve had checks garnished, and there were judgements against me. You should try to avoid getting a judgement against you. It’s best to have a payment plan, though it sucks to have a collection on your credit report.

You should get a copy of your credit report.

I ran up alot of credit-card debt over a stretch of a few years. I researched the laws & regulations some. Kraftie is right that you can not go to jail for regular debt. They might could garnish your assets & income thou. However certain types of income is not garnishable like Social Security Retirement, Social Security Disability, & SSI is not garnishable for most types of debt including credit-card debt. If debt collectors are unable to collect they would be responsible for the court costs & other legal fees so they will generally not try to garnish if they do not think that they would be able to collect more than it would cost to sue. You can go to jail related to debt if you fail to appear in court or if you accumulated that debt by doing something illegal like using someone else's credit-card without permission, embezzling money, hacking someone's bank account, writing bad checks, or not paying legal fines. You do not need to panic or majorly freak out if did not do anything illegal, you do not have income or property they can take, & you are not in debt to someone like a mafia loan-shark.

In my case I told the collectors I was disabled & Social Security Disability was my only source of income; I'm not counting birthday & Christmas money as income. I check my credit reports at least 1ce a month & there's not much info except credit score, credit accounts, addresses I've lived, my phone number, & two of the 3 jobs I worked at over 15 years ago. I have not locked my credit reports in case debt collectors do try looking up my credit info. Being able to see my sparse report will collaborate my story & help show that I do not have anything they can take. I agreed to pay $25 a month for a couple months to one credit-card before the amount was supposed to increase. I renegotiated to $25 a month 2wice before the increase & I ended up getting offered $25 a month for 10 years & then I'd be responsible for the rest. I owed over ten thousand on that card after fees for being over my limit & non-payment fees which kept getting added to the interest for half a year. I set up a payment plan with the other card for $25 a month for a couple months & they were supposed to call me to see if my situation had changed to set up a new payment plan. They did not call me after my couple payments were made & I set up payments on their site to keep paying $25 a month for the rest of this year. This reminds me that I need to set up $25 payments for the next 6 months. I owed over seventeen thousand on that card after fees for being over my limit & non-payment fees which kept getting added to the interest for half a year. Neither one has contacted me since except for mailing me a letter to tell me that my payments went through or are coming up. I need to start looking for a part-time job after a couple of my health issues are addressed a bit more(I'm working on various things) & then I'd start paying more on the one I do not have an agreement with. I'd feel a lot better mentally knowing that I will not have to worry about going to court or anything in the future. Plus I screwed up & I should be held accountable for that & pay them back what I can. I'd sleep a lot better without that on my mind.

Sweet Pea hugs

Sounds like an aggressive scammer.
On the plus side ,if you go to prison you will get free medical care and a year of good insurance when you get released.

This is not legal advice. I am not a lawyer.

You will not be going to jail. You will probably not be sued.

It's not exactly a scam, but it's not exactly legit either. The bank itself wrote you off decades ago, and likely sold the debt to a debt collection agency. It may have been passed around by several debt agencies. The one currently holding your debt is likely a small one that relies on bullying and threats. They call you up and threaten you in order to scare you into paying them. Often times they offer to "settle" for a fraction of what you supposedly owe. They threaten in the hopes you'll comply, because suing costs time and money, and even if they win, they still need to get the money from you. They can't send you to jail over it. At worst, they can issue liens or garnish wages, and that has to be approved and ordered by the court, which costs more time and money. And all that is IF they even have enough paperwork to actually prove that you owe this debt from 30 years ago, AND that they are the legal owner of said debt.

If even half the people they threaten pay out, they still make money.

Tl; dr, don't worry about it, ignore them.

Have been aware of these debt collector scams for years .. now have found the calls entertaining .. and even recorded them incase , i either wish to prank a friend or just be mean to persons mean to me .. but to this date never have done that ..Had one that really put the fear into me .. It was good .. Had me expecting to see a uniformed individual at my door and the whole nine yards . Used words like subpeona and court dates . It was so good , have kept a copy of it . All done over the phone .. Cutest thing about the call was never once was my name mentioned ..
but it was very intense. .....Was temped to call their number they gave, just to see how far they would carry it.
But was quite sure, I might not be able to keep from laughing , even over the phone. .
Am quite old school , if you don't have the money you do not buy a thing. i once tried credit , but i could not stand having a outstanding debt .. So I paid it off early . That was over 40 years ago.

If it's 30 years ago, the Statute of Limitations has PROBABLY run out. Unless you kept on calling and referring to the debt. Usually, collections and such are deleted from your credit report after 7 1/2 years.

I doubt you have much to worry about pertaining to the Lake City thing.

Slightly off-topic but in case you or anyone knows~
Do credit-cards that were charged off as bad debt tend to get removed from credit reports 7 years after they were charged off or is it 7 years after the last payment occurd Like if it takes me 10 years to pay off, will it stay on my credit report for 7 years after I pay it off or will it quit showing up on my credit report before it's paid off

They aren't going to jail you for outstanding debts. If your are questioned by phone, do not acknowledge the debt...just hang up. Anything in writing that doesn't come from the court system (something saying you have a court date) you can also ignore.

The calls are merely a scare tactic trying to get you to pay on old debts. (after 7 years you are not responsible for uncollected credit card debts.)

Calm down, take a breath, and if necessary change your number.

As for the rest, if you don't have the income, you have nothing that can sue to take away from you.

Debts that were Charged off over 7 years ago should not show on a credit report. However you re-start that seven year clock if you do acknowledge that a debt to a debt collector. And if you are actively paying a debt now, it won't leave your report.

Thanx that makes sense to me. Lots of things online say 7 years but their other wording is a bit confusing.