Pay Finance Charges on Debt 14 years old or see a lawyer?

Evidently my wife didn't tell a city she was moving in that she moved 14 years ago. They say she owed city vehicle taxes. Now, the city hired a collection agency to try to get the debt and interest on it. We heard nothing about this for the past 14 years. Had no idea there was outstanding debt because nobody contacted us. Upon hearing about this, we paid the principal, but we are questioning the finance charges. The finance charges are three times what the principal was. Had they contacted us 12, 10, 8, even 5 years ago, the finance charges wouldn't have been as much. Would it be worthwhile to take this to a lawyer or should I just pay it. Don't want it to negatively impact our credit rating, but it seems like they waited too long to contact us and let the finance charges inflate. Total about is under $700. Could a lawyer help or would it even be worth it?

you can tie up 700 dollars quickly with a lawyer and if you lose you still owe the money.. i would contact the folks and try to Jew them down -- if not successful pay it off and chalk it up as a bad experience.!!!

What on earth is city vehicle tax? Normally you pay taxes on your vehicle by getting a new registration sticker each year.

If she really owes this, and she agreed to the terms back then, then you should probably negotiate down or pay it. Call them and explain the situation. Tell them you will settle for the original amount, but won't pay the penalties or interest.

For $700 it is not worth getting a lawyer. Especially if she truly owes the money.

At first, I was going to say check with the local statute of limitations. However, since you paid the principle, that no longer applies. You have reset the clock on the statute of limitations by doing that.

A collection agency is definately allowed to charge interest and/or fees to get the money back. That is how they do business. With the amount of time involved I can easily see the finance charge getting out of hand.

You may want to involve a lawyer to make sure everything was done legally and see if you have any recourse. Also, a lawyer will be helpful in making sure that this does not become something that haunts you. I have heard of people "settling" with a collection agency before only to have the same debt resurface with another collection agency later on.