Thankfully found this forum on google. I have taken some time to read the forums but could not find an answer related to my questions. Perhaps I used an unrelated search phrase. Please forgive the kind of long post. I'll try to keep my questions short and concise.
My question is, a company named Santander Consumer USA (I assume is a third party debt collector, because their letter states original contract date is from 2012 and they stated my original auto loan creditor sold the account) is trying to collect a charged off auto repossession loan from 2012. Their letter that I just received, states that the original creditor has sold my account to a Credit Union. Now as of March 2020 the original creditor "has transferred the servicing of my account to "Santander Consumer USA Inc."
The message at the end of the letter says I have 30 days to after receiving this notice that I dispute the validity of the debt or they will assume the debt is valid.
My questions are:
1. Can they legally come after me for this debt that has already been discharged and has fallen off my credit report? (From researching online, California statute of limitations is 4 years from last failure to pay date)
2. Should I respond to their letter and ask for validation? (What would be the worst possible scenario if I do?)
3. Would it be advisable to ignore all communications from them since the debt is older than 4 years? (What implications would this have?)
4. I'm in the process of doing a legal name change (for work related purposes), will this affect how they are or are not able to come after me?
5. If it comes down to it, what if any are my options of going after them to take legal action against them for any violations of the law?
From the short time I have spent reading some other posts, there seems to be some very knowledgable people on this forum. Thanks in advance to any and everyone who does respond to my post. Im at a loss about what to do next. Also if there are any other resources that anyone could point me to, I would greatly appreciate it. My hope is also that someone in my similar situation can learn from this as well. I apologize in advance if this is the the proper forum for my questions.
