How long can a bill be held against you?

My boyfriend was married and from his marriage they have a phone bill from 1998 in both of their names. He was not living at the residence at the time of bill. He recieved the first notice in Oct of 07. So he contacted them and explained this, so uncooperative as they were. He sent in documents of his divorce, verification of residence at the time and we did not hear anything until Dec. of 07, as they sent us another bill. My question is how long can this be held against him and what are the proper channnels to get this resolved? Also he did not consent to his name being on the bill or have any knowledge of it until we recieved the bill in Oct. 07.

Ok, if this debt is from 1998, then the statute of limitations has expired on this. Legally, the phone company no longer has any remedies to force your boyfriend to pay this. So they can't sue him. Also, they cannot hold this against him on his credit report. However, the phone company can still try to collect this debt from him all they want, even though they can't threaten legal action.

As for getting the annoying letters and phone calls to stop, either have him get his ex to pay this, or pay it himself. I know neither of these options seem likely, but the phone company is considered a first-party collector and is exempted from the statutes in Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, so they can legally call you on the phone or send letters until they either give up or the account gets paid.

Also, it appears that your boyfriend did at one point consent to having his name put on the phone bill, so that is why the phone company is going after him.

Now you can either ignore the phone bill entirely, or pay the bill just to be rid of the nuisance. Either way, nothing bad will happen.

Hope this helps.

Until it is paid. Just pay it, then sue the responsible party for the money.

Apparently, your boyfriend did have his "name on the bill" as account holder. He should have terminated the phone service when he terminated his previous residence.

if his name was listed on the bill he is responsible for it.

a common misconception is that a divorce agreement affects creditors...it does not. the divorce agreement can say the wife is responsible for debt A (which they both signed for) but, in the eyes of the creditor, they are both equally liable. A divorce agreement is a contract between the 2 divorcing parties and does not include the creditor.

Now back to your issue: if a report is listed on his credit report, it will remain there for up to 7 years. Depending upon your state, there is a time limit for someone to actively collect on a debt (see here: http://www.bcsalliance.com/y_debt_sol.ht...

A private company can hold an unpaid debt against you for damn near perpetuity. While they can't actively collect on the debt, they can withhold their products or services from someone while they have an outstanding unpaid balance.

one year are two year