Dear Heather,

I came across your forum when searching for some information on SOL for private student loans.

I took an unsecured student loan from Citi, which came due early 2010. Due to the recession etc, I could only make initial months of payments before I lost my job and the loan went delinquent. I reached out to Citi through their internal messaging system asking for relief etc, but never heard back from them. I also moved to Europe in 2011 for work.

In March 2012, I was contacted by a debt collection agency (A) - they used very threatening language, harassment etc, and I started a payment plan with them. Put down nearly USD 30,000 towards payment, which was most of my savings till then.

Following that, I had to stop work due to certain personal issues, and I was unable to make any more payments to A from September 2012. Additionally, the last monthly payment I attempted to make to A (Aug 2012) was declined by them, and I was unable to reach the collection agent despite numerous attempts on my part.

Now I will be starting a new job, and recently checked my credit score. It seems that my outstanding loans have been sold yet again to another agency B. I don’t know when this was sold, as I was not informed of this at all, and I have had no additional contact with A. Collection agency B has not attempted to contact me as yet.

Some questions I have:

(1) What state’s SOL applies in this case? I took the loan in PA (through Citi), I am currently in NJ, and the collection agency is in CA.

(2) When does SOL start? Is it from the time of default with original creditor Citi (early 2010), or interim payment and default with collection agency A?

I have not received any notification from either Citi or Agency A, as they sold over my loan. Do I have a case to get this dismissed?

Thanks!