Question about bill collection
 

Received an interesting letter in the mail recently.

I moved to Arizona in Feb 2002 from the Dallas Texas area. Sold the house there two weeks afterwards and paid all the utility bills when the house closed. They have my address out here on file, and have had it since March 2002.

Now I get a letter from a legal firm in the Dallas area where I lived saying that I owe $77.62 in back utilities to the town I lived in! Not the utility company but the town.

Trying to find utility bills from 7 years ago will be fun, so they are assuming that people will just pay the bill rather than dig through their files. I do not owe the money, the utilities were paid when the house sold.

Anyone ever have this happen or any insight on this situation?

Thx,

Joe A

Did you contact them?

If not don't. After 7 years it's already been charged off and you gain nothing by paying the collection company.

Did they provide a time period that the charges covered? If after you sold then there should be records on file with the town.

Have not contacted them at all. No reason to as the bill was paid in 2002.

Time period of service is showing 8/1998-3/2002, so its well out of the 7 years time limit.

Was wondering about the 7 year time limit and why in the world they would contact me now and not March or April of 2002. They had my new address.

Thx,

Joe

If you don't contact them there will be collection activity on your credit bureau report. If you ignore it and hope it goes away, there's a (slim) possibility they could follow up with legal action. I can't see that happening over $77, though.

Call them and ask for proof of the debt.

If after 7 years it's with a collection agency it's already been charged off, it's already on record. There is nothing additional that a collection agency can do to his credit.

It's status will change from Charge Off to Paid Charge Off and could likely reset the clock on how long it shows up on your report.

Joe, I'd run a check credit check and see if it shows up and what it's status is and when it was reported.

Also get directly in touch with the town. Never know, this could be a scam. Home sales are a matter of public record.

Could be they are sending out letters and hoping, as you said, people won't remember and the amount is too low to bother with anything other than paying.

People with good credit will react to a collection agency, they'll panic and pay.

Everything I can find on the internet says that Texas uses 4, not 7 years on old debt.

Do not Call them. Otherwise good advice.

Write them and ensure you can prove you did. I would call them and ask what is your fax number?

Then fax them saying you dispute the charges. Don't go into detail -- just tell them "I dispute these charges. Please verify these charges. [date] [sig.]"

save the fax receipt

then sit back & wait

they will claim you never called if you just call

I am seeing a bug increase in spurious charges nowadays.

PS - could it be for something other than util??

Of course laws may be different there, but here they could escalate it to small claims court. If there's no response from the debtor, it goes to a default judgment then wage/bank account garnishments, all of which show up on a credit report as different entries then the initial collection action. So yes, there is indeed more they can do.

Again, this is hypothetical. Here, SCC costs run about $250 from initial claim to obtaining judgment to garnishment procedures. Nobody in their right mind would spend that on $77. Even with interest, it couldn't be more than $200.

"If after 7 years it's with a collection agency it's already been charged off, it's already on record. There is nothing additional that a collection agency can do to his credit."

can't be sure of that if they just sent it out again...

Can you believe all the shc!t going on? I mean if a collection agency tried to collect a bill that is more than 7 years old and then wants to report this to the credit bureaus? It's gotten to the point that I could give a rat's ass.

Anyone that tells me my credit isn't good using crap like this is only gonna hear, "Well, there's always another store."Thank you and kiss TransUnion's ass."

I'm guessing scam

What "utility" costs $77.62 over 3 1/2 years?

Craig,

I lived there for 3 years. They are saying that I skipped out without paying the last bill, which I did not.

Joe A

Could be a identity-theft scam to see if your info is legit.............

1) First check the contact info on the net and send any letters certified.

2) How does the city have the authority collecting for a private utility company?
Ask them to send copies of all paperwork to put the burden of proof in their court. If you have a lawyer friend, his title heading might carry some weight.

3) All outstanding debt and/or deed problems should have been handled by the title company (and their insurance) from the time of sale:
http://www.expertlaw.com/library/real_estate/Texas-deeds.html
"The Deed Without Warranty
Texas law recognizes another form of deed which is neither a Quitclaim Deed nor a Warranty Deed, but rather something in between.
-Like a Warranty Deed, a Deed Without Warranty uses the "grant, sell and convey" language to establish title in the buyer.
-Like a Quitclaim Deed, though, a Deed Without Warranty makes no warranties or covenants of title, so the seller has no liability for title defects. A Deed Without Warranty will rarely be appropriate in a sale transaction; however, because it offers much greater protection to the buyer without any additional risk to the seller it should be considered as an alternative whenever a Quitclaim Deed might otherwise be used. "

Have you pulled your own credit report?

Not in a month or so, but need to it seems.

John, thanks for the info.

Joe, I'm not a lawyer or realtor, so double-check the closing doc's carefully!

This could turn into a fiasco, so it's better to ensure your position fully, or just pay.
Reference my "negative experiences with banking" thread.

John,

Check my closing docs for what? Not sure I even have them anymore. Its been 7 years for Gods sake, cannot keep paperwork forever, especially things like a house that I have nothing to do with for this long a time period.

Thx,

Joe

Joe, rule of thumb is that tax related records should be kept for as long as you own the investment plus 7 years. A house sale certainly falls into that category.

Good luck, though, with this issue. It sounds scammy, but I'm like you, would want to know what is going on with the smallest footprint back to the instigator.

HO,

I am outside that window and to tell the truth did a major house cleaning a few months ago (did not realize that 7 years had past, was just tired of the clutter) and threw a lot of stuff away. Not even sure I have the house paperwork anymore.

I try to stay in this window and agree with this.

Thx,

Joe