Make Credit Vultures Prove You Owe

It's a delight to give you some good news here. In giving you good news, we're also kicking these debt collectors in the soft parts.

Rule No. 3: Just because you owe money is no reason to pay it. Here, there's just one thing to consider: How old is the debt? Collection agencies will often threaten to take you to court over unpaid bills, but there's a statute of limitations on most kinds of debt.

For example, if you've got a credit card bill that's gone unpaid for six years in New York and a collection agency tries to take you to court for that debt, you will win because the statute of limitations on that debt has expired. Here's a great chart of different statutes of limitations for different kinds of debt in each state:

If it turns out the statute of limitations has expired on your debt, then you don't legally owe these hustlers money. It doesn't matter how much chest thumping they do or what they say, that debt is dead. If they try to take you to court anyway, just bring documentation showing that you've owed the money for a period of time greater than the statute of limitations in your state.

If we're talking about credit card debt, for example, the countdown on the statute of limitations starts on the day of your last payment to the credit card company.