collections notice

[francesgreen]

georgia, my mother received a collections notice from a cell phone service that was supposedly established by me in 1993. the past due bill according to the collections department is from 1995. neither me nor my mother remember establishing this account. this info. was put on my mother's credit report in 1995 but she was unaware until 2000 when she tried to purchase a car. we have spent the past year trying to get this straightened out with the company with no results until i contacted the president of the company. for the past seven years we have never received a bill for this account until we starting receiving a collection notice. do we have the right to demand a copy of the original statement that shows we owe them money? can we demand a copy of the original contract that shows the signature of the person that established the account? if it has been on my mother's credit report for the past seven years, should we even bother to pay the bill at this point? also, i have been at the same address since 1993, there is no reason they couldn't have sent a bill before seven years.

 

[Ladynred]

You have every right to dispute, and to demand copies of the contract, and any other bills or paperwork they allege you signed. I would NOT pay any of the bill if you did not open the account and you can prove it.

Make sure you make all of your demands in writing, and I'd send them to the collections company and the cell phone company registered mail, return receipt requested.

Did you receive a written notice from the collection agency after they first called ? By law, they are supposed to. If you don't dispute the validity of the debt within 30 days it is assumed the debt it valid.

You have 30 days after receipt of the notice from the collection agency to send written notice back to the agency stating that you do not agree with all or part of the bill, and why, in your opinion, you do not owe the money. Any subsequent communication by the collector must include the fact that you are disputing it. Teh collection agency must stop all attempts to collect the debt from you until the debt is verified by the creditor and a copy of the verification is sent to you. You may demand that the collector notify any person who received notice of the debt from them within the previous 90 days, that the debt has been disputed.

Demand the copies, and you should probably consult a lawyer anyway. There's only so much we, as consumers, can do against these people, but I've found thru reading and going thru this myself that you have to do EVERYTHING in writing just to cover yourself.

There a great book, 'Debtors' Rights" by Gudrun Maria Nickel that has helped me immensly. The author is a lawyer, and it includes example letters and such. Its worth at least a visit to the library

 

[francesgreen]

thank you for your help. the problem is the began about a year ago and until i sent a message to the president of the cell phone service recently we were unable to get any information from the collection agency. the person that was handling this bill did not tell us until yesterday that my name was on this account. she would not take or return our calls. i received a message from the president of the company day before yesterday that she was expecting our call but after the initial conversation we are back to square one. won't take or return our calls. We can't dispute or accept responsiblity for this because we haven't seen any documentation other than nasty letters from the collection agency. when we asked for a copy of the original contract, we were told this account was established in 1993 and they don't have the document.

if this was reported to the credit bureau seven years ago, how much longer will it stay on my mother's credit report? what are some of the repercussions of not paying this bill? this bill is only for 100.00

 

[tiredofFranklin]

Last September, I was sued in Justice Court in Mississippi for not paying the termination fee when we had our cellphones cut off due to horrible service (could not use cellphones half the time when in direct proximity to their tower).

The collection agency could not get copies of the contracts and the case against me was dismissed because the collection agency could not prove that I owed the debt.

Actually, I had copies of the contracts, and the contracts on two of the phones had expired, so they were trying to collect a debt that I did not owe.

I'm still having problems with this agency, as this weekend, I got a collection letter on this same account. I have filed a complaint with the FTC and have a call in to my attorney for an appointment to institute legal action against the agency.

I'm not a lawyer, but I would suggest that you do as I did and am doing...document your efforts and let them sue you in Justice Court. They've already said that they don't have the contracts, and I think the burden is on them to prove that you owe the debt. I'm puzzled as to why they are suing your mother for a debt that you supposedly incurred.

 

[francesgreen]

thank you tiredofFranklin, the reason they are trying to collect from my Mother is, the account was set up using her SS# with my name as the user. my biggest issue is, why didn't they send a bill seven years ago. also, in my opinion, if this has been on her credit report for seven years, how much longer can they try to collect on it? if we didn't pay it, can they put it on there again now that they have started the collection process which should have ocurred seven years ago. what is the statute of limitation for collecting on a debt?

 

[francesgreen]

update- i received a call from the cell phone company yesterday and they could not produce any documentation on the account not even the phone number this was on. they have closed the account as paid and will also remove this debt from my mother's credit report.