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The Unsettler
 
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14 year old phone bill

I just got a collection letter for a phone number that I did not recognize.

Turns out it was a line that I kept at my folks house.

Closed it down when they moved 14 years ago.

Apparently someone did not get the notice and the account stayed open till Verizon shut it down. It was reported as closed 3 months after my folks moved.

So I'm out $162 to make it go away.

I'm annoyed.

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Old 06-22-2007, 02:29 PM
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i would fight that one. sounds a "little" past usual collection date. would have expected them to write that one off as a loss?
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Old 06-22-2007, 02:35 PM
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Yeah, I'd tell them to piss off. I bet with enough *****ing to the right people they'd throw it away.
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Old 06-22-2007, 02:43 PM
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I once forgot to move a sofa I bought from an apartment in college - didn't remeber it till about 5 years later. Makes me wonder what other stuff I forgot about that I will someday remember...
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Old 06-22-2007, 07:38 PM
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Then there was that girl in Chicago that night....and we didn't have any condoms.....I wonder how THAT turned out.....I guess its a good thing I told here my name was David Crosby....
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Old 06-22-2007, 07:47 PM
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I'd write a letter denying the validity of the bill and even if it was valid the statute of limitations has run.

If it shows up on your credit report, write a letter challenging it and demand an accounting via certified mail to each of the reporting agencies. The company has 30 days to comply or the credit agencies have to remove it.
Old 06-22-2007, 07:48 PM
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Say nothing, do nothing.

Do not communicate with a collections agency - ever. Only communicate directly with a creditor BEFORE it goes to collections. Once it has gone to collections, your best course of action (even though it sounds nuts) is to do absolutely nothing. That's how our system works.

If you respond, it'll show up on your credit report as "new activity" and you'll reset the seven year clock for getting it purged off.

I'd suggest your best course of action is to send a dispute directly to the credit bureaus. Demand that the disputed item be removed from your report because it is older than seven years old. By federal law, they must remove it unless they can prove that the item is not more than seven years old.
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Old 06-22-2007, 08:41 PM
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Old 06-22-2007, 09:07 PM
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Jeff

Really?

Not responding is best? I'm surprised. I would not have thought that. BTW, my credit score on all three services is somewhere between 750 and 800, so its not like I care, more of an interest thing.
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Old 06-22-2007, 09:21 PM
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That's my understanding. Once you contact a collections agency (or creditor), they can claim new activity on the account and it'll potentially show up for another seven years. It'll also damage your FICO score because it's now activity that's recent (FICO weights recent derogatory stuff more heavily than older derogatory stuff). It's goofy and sounds counter-intuitive (you'd think our system would be set up to reward people wanting to "do the right thing" and settle up on old debts, but it doesn't work that way).

There's actually ways to dispute items less than seven years old too - essentially you take advantage of the fact that the credit bureau (as someone correctly pointed out above) have 30 days only in order to contact the creditor and verify the accuracy of the report. Since the credit bureaus are often backlogged and since creditors often can't be bothered (it costs them money and time to dig up the old records), you can sometimes succeed in getting stuff kicked off that way. Not that I'd know anything about that or anything.

I can recommend some good books on the subject (that's how I learned all this) or maybe someone on here that works in that area can chime in.
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Old 06-22-2007, 11:15 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile
Say nothing, do nothing.

Do not communicate with a collections agency - ever. Only communicate directly with a creditor BEFORE it goes to collections. Once it has gone to collections, your best course of action (even though it sounds nuts) is to do absolutely nothing. That's how our system works.

If you respond, it'll show up on your credit report as "new activity" and you'll reset the seven year clock for getting it purged off.

I'd suggest your best course of action is to send a dispute directly to the credit bureaus. Demand that the disputed item be removed from your report because it is older than seven years old. By federal law, they must remove it unless they can prove that the item is not more than seven years old.
I'll second that advice. BTDT.
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Old 06-23-2007, 04:49 AM
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get this-- i am a public works inspector for a local full service city (full service city = we own our water/sewer systems/ treatment plant as opposed to having utility districts that provide the services) and we have had a run on irrigation meter installs as of the last few weeks. we inspectors thought maybe there was an insert in the commercial bills encouraging businesses to move to irrigation dedicated meters. this is a benefit because your monthly sewer cost is determined by water usage so a dedicated meter lowers sewer costs. they figure that during the winter if a gallon flows in pretty much a gallon runs out, the summer its less of a % but charged just the same.

so i am talking to a business owner that is making the switch to the dedicated irrigation meter and he tells me the city did a recent audit and found that he had not been charged sewer cost, ever! this is a miniature golf place that has been in town since i can remember and uses alot of irrigation water. his bill for the 35+ years of sewer usage? $40K!! due and payable.

needless to say he is pissed about that sheet. pun intended!

T$
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Old 06-23-2007, 10:32 AM
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Talk to Verizon directly and if you are not able to reach an acceptable solution (bill waived), file a complaint with the local Public Utilities/Service Commision.

While talking to Verizon, if you are getting no where with them, ask to talk to "The Office of the President" and you should get transferred to a department that handles escalated complaints. They are to resolve these types of complaints before the customer files a formal complaint with the state's PUC or PSC. You should not have a problem getting this resolved since the amount is small and the bill is so old.

Do not wait until you are sent to collections, even if you ignore that and the above replies are correct, this is not something that should ever get that far.

If this was in NY, here's the link:
http://www.dps.state.ny.us/complaints.html

In CA, a dispute like this may require that the bill amount in question be sent to the commission and held in "escrow" until the dispute is resolved. The money then goes to the "winning" party.
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Old 06-23-2007, 11:17 AM
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If it's already to collections, talk to nobody. Otherwise it'll be flagged as new activity.

The only time to talk to anybody (including the original creditor - Verizon in this case) is BEFORE it goes to collections. Once it goes to a collections agency, all bets are off and the rules change. You gain NOTHING by dealing with a collections agency. Ever.
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Old 06-23-2007, 12:35 PM
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I'm starting to get the feeling that once it goes to collection, you shouldn't talk to anybody because it'll be flagged as a new activity.
Old 06-23-2007, 02:58 PM
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If the charges are in dispute, the collections agency has no right to pursue the charges. Of course you can do nothing . .just let them call and call and call and call and call and call and call and write and call and call and call and call and write and call and call and call and call ...










and call and call and call and call and call and call and call and call

But I could be wrong.
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Old 06-23-2007, 03:12 PM
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http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/YourCreditRating/IsThereAStatuteOfLimitationsOnDebt.aspx
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Ted
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Old 06-26-2007, 07:45 AM
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Having btdt, I have to agree with most of P-o-P's advice. Trying to deal with the collections agency is counterproductive and mostly useless, but there are a couple of communications that you must make to retain your full rights under the FDCPA.

First, you MUST dispute the debt within 30 days of their first notice to you about the debt. FDCPA §809 (a) [15 USC 1692g]

Second (and this can be part of the dispute letter) you should inform the collection agency that you wish them to cease all communication with you. FDCPA §805(c) [15 USC 1692c]

Word your letter carefully. Don't say that you're not going to pay the debt - say that you dispute the validity of the debt.

Quote:
Originally posted by island911
...call and call and call and call and call and ...
If they contact you in violation of your order to cease communications, especially if they harass you, then file a complaint with both the FTC and your state's Consumer Affairs department.


Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm
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Old 06-26-2007, 09:18 AM
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Quote:
Originally posted by island911
If the charges are in dispute, the collections agency has no right to pursue the charges. Of course you can do nothing . .just let them call and call and call and call and call and call and call and write and call and call and call and call and write and call and call and call and call ...










and call and call and call and call and call and call and call and call

But I could be wrong.
Maybe so, but you're not the only one...that's what I'd do
Old 06-26-2007, 09:24 AM
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Quote:
Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile
If it's already to collections, talk to nobody. Otherwise it'll be flagged as new activity.

The only time to talk to anybody (including the original creditor - Verizon in this case) is BEFORE it goes to collections. Once it goes to a collections agency, all bets are off and the rules change. You gain NOTHING by dealing with a collections agency. Ever.
That's not exactly right. If the collection agency has just started calling you, that means the account has just been listed with them. Companies have to report a Date of Last Activity, which would be the last date you made a payment, or an item was billed to your account. Talking with the collection agency does NOT affect your DLA. Ignoring the collection agency is usually a pretty bad way of dealing with them, whether the claim is legit or not. If it's not legit, you can challenge it, and, as far as I understand, until it's resolved the agency doesn't report it as collection activity to the credit bureau. However, that doesn't stop the original creditor from reporting you as a write-off, outstanding balance, etc.

By not speaking with the agency, you'll not only be leaving the blemish on your record, but interest will be adding up.

Furthermore, things only get cleared from your credit history 7 years after someone's stopped reporting you. My company reports to the agency monthly. In the case of deadbeats we can't get hold of whom still have an outstanding balance, we report their balance every month, even if there hasn't been activity for years, and even if we've already sent them to collections. So that 7 year period gets renewed each month. So when the deadbeat tries to get a mortgage or another car loan or whatever, they find out we're on their file. Oops, better clear that up...

However in a case like this, if we "found" a debt that was several years old, especially one for a hundred some-odd dollars, we'd just write it off.

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Old 06-26-2007, 11:09 AM
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