<prompt> Human: My girlfriend has a non government student loan of 12,000 from about 8 years ago that her late mother had set up for her. The account went into default and hit her credit report about 8 years ago now. Debt collectors are trying to get her to pay it currently. My question, is that is it worth paying off since it has been so long and already affected her credit? Shouldnt it fall off of her credit since it is already over 7 years old? what would be the best course of action to get this off of her credit score? trying to buy a house  <response>: Do not make any payments, before you do 3 things.1. see who the original loan is through.2. See who is trying to collect 3. Look up the debt laws in your state. And the state that the debt was from.Some states are as short as 3years others are 10 or more. 