Collection agency bugging me about a fishy account

[slide]

What is the name of your state? Tennessee

Sorry, this is a long story.. I got a letter from a collection agency on 2/14/06 saying I owed $150 to a cable TV company. I don't remember having an account with them but it's possible that I did. I really don't know.

I called the cable company and they said the SSN on the account wasn't mine and the address was slightly wrong. I live in apartment number 748 and my address is simply '748 X Street' and they had it as '748 X Street, apartment # 14'. My apartment building is the only building on this street and all the apartments are in the 700s, there is no apt 14 anywhere on this street.

They also said the account was closed in 4/2000 and charged off in 5/2000, but not turned over to collections until 2006. I live in the same place with the same phone # and I've never gotten a call or anything from the company in those six years and there is nothing on my credit report about it.

I called the collection agency and they said it didn't matter, they only go by name and address and the name was right and address was close enough. They said I could dispute it so I told them I would. They said I had 30 days to write a dispute and that they'd write back within 10 days confirming it. I wrote the letter in Feb and didn't get anything until today.

It says 'we have verified the following information' and it lists the name and address of the cable company, an account number and a balance of $150. It doesn't say they verified the name, address, SSN or any of the fishy information. It sounds like they just called and made sure all the info they had was not a typo or something, even if the info was wrong.

So my question is, do I have to pay it? Can they screw up my credit if I don't?

I read a little bit of the law and I think it said once something is charged off it stays on your credit report for 7 years from the charge-off date. The charge-off date was 5/2000. The social security number is not mine and nothing has shown up on my credit report in the past 6 years about this.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by slide

What is the name of your state? Tennessee

Sorry, this is a long story.. I got a letter from a collection agency on 2/14/06 saying I owed $150 to a cable TV company. I don't remember having an account with them but it's possible that I did. I really don't know.

I called the cable company and they said the SSN on the account wasn't mine and the address was slightly wrong. I live in apartment number 748 and my address is simply '748 X Street' and they had it as '748 X Street, apartment # 14'. My apartment building is the only building on this street and all the apartments are in the 700s, there is no apt 14 anywhere on this street.

They also said the account was closed in 4/2000 and charged off in 5/2000, but not turned over to collections until 2006. I live in the same place with the same phone # and I've never gotten a call or anything from the company in those six years and there is nothing on my credit report about it.

I called the collection agency and they said it didn't matter, they only go by name and address and the name was right and address was close enough. They said I could dispute it so I told them I would. They said I had 30 days to write a dispute and that they'd write back within 10 days confirming it. I wrote the letter in Feb and didn't get anything until today.

It says 'we have verified the following information' and it lists the name and address of the cable company, an account number and a balance of $150. It doesn't say they verified the name, address, SSN or any of the fishy information. It sounds like they just called and made sure all the info they had was not a typo or something, even if the info was wrong.

So my question is, do I have to pay it? Can they screw up my credit if I don't?

I read a little bit of the law and I think it said once something is charged off it stays on your credit report for 7 years from the charge-off date. The charge-off date was 5/2000. The social security number is not mine and nothing has shown up on my credit report in the past 6 years about this.

Standard answer on expired SOL and/or validation and/or dispute letters. There are thousands of posts similar to yours on this forum so I have prepared a standard answer.

SOL (Statutes of limitation are DEFENSES to lawsuits; they do NOT provide a method to stop someone from suing you. This defense means when they sue you, you answer with the defense that it is barred by the SOL.)

[url]http://www.bcsalliance.com/y_debt_sol.html[/url]

[url]http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/Disputing_Collections/SoL-dispute-letter.html[/url]


Validation letter samples you can get at :
[url]www.creditinfocenter.com[/url]
and [url]www.creditboards.com[/url]

Make sure you ask for VALIDATION (and do not accept verification).


Disputes: You can write a letter of dispute to the three credit reporting agencies.

Go this website to find instructions and samples for how to dispute: [url]http://www.creditinfocenter.com/creditreports/[/url]

Sometimes errors are easy to remove and sometimes they stick like glue. It is inexpensive to try and not difficult.

I am NOT a creditor-debtor lawyer; stand by for further help.

I am NOT vouching for the accuracy of these websites!

Debt settlement:

[url]http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=293829[/url]

[Ladynred]

So my question is, do I have to pay it?

If the cable company has NO records of this and they can't connect it to you other than by name and address, then I wouldn't pay it. Ten people could have lived at that address, or the bogus one, before you, that does not make the CURRENT resident liable.

I would demand more proof than simply a name and address. Get something IN WRITING from the cable company.

Can they screw up my credit if I don't?

Chances are the collection is ALREADY on your reports, so yes, they can screw your credit even for a bogus collection. You would have to dispute it with the bureaus to get it off.

Read up on debt validation here: [url]www.creditinfocenter.com[/url] - while the initial validation period (initial 30 days) has passed, you can still continue to ask for more proof than that.

The account was closed in April of 2000.. that means that TN statute of limitations of 6 years has already expired. You could just as easily send them a cease and desist letter telling them to get lost, the debt is beyond the SOL for TN.

[slide]

Thanks folks, this has helped a lot.

Ladynred, it's never appeared on my credit report. I checked 2 agencies over the weekend and it's still not on there.

I'm going to read up a little more then probably send them an "eat my shorts" letter.