Complaint Review: Midland Funding

In 1997 we borrowed $3660.00 from Beneficial Finance at an interest rate of 28.5%. We paid every month but the amount owed kept going up. We attempted to pay down this debt through a debt consolidation company at the lower rate of 6% until I lost my job. Beneficial stepped in when we couldn't make the monthly payments and claimed that we now owed them over $6000.

By 2002 we had already paid Beneficial twice the original debt owed so we ignored their harrassing phone calls & collection attempts. In December 2006 Beneficial sent us a letter stating that they "recently sold, transferred and assigned the account referenced above to MIDLAND FUNDING, LLC".

On 01/19/2007 Midland Funding, LLC contacted us for the first time attempting to collect this now 10 year old debt purchased from Beneficial. It is important to note that we moved out of state in November 2006 and all corespondence from Beneficial & Midland Funding came to our old address.

Can we be sued in a state we no longer reside, for a a 10 year old debt we may no longer owe to a company that only recently bought the account? What should be our next step?

Sandy
Burlington, Vermont
U.S.A.