Simply stated, debt consolidation is “the act of combining several loans or liabilities into one loan.  Debt consolidation involves taking out a new loan to pay off a number of other debts.  Most people who consolidate their debt usually do it to attain a lower...

All civil causes of action are governed by the statute of limitations and debts are no different. The statute of limitations begins to run as soon as the right to suit first arises. In regard to credit card debt, that typically is the date on which the last payment...

Some consumer-friendly states provide that it is an unfair and deceptive trade practice for a debt collector or original creditor to get a debtor to acknowledge a debt that is barred by the statute of limitations or to bring lawsuit thereon. The federal Fair Debt...

Time-barred debts can be listed on your credit report, although there is a time limit for doing so.  Debts that have not gone to judgment (judgments are separate; see the article on paying time-barred debts for a discussion of judgment debts) can stay on your credit...

Although a debt is barred by the statute of limitation and even though a debt collector may be barred from misrepresenting the status or character of a debt, not all debt collectors are nice.  If they told a debtor that a debt was barred, few debtors would ever pay...