Hello, I have an interesting situation.
Today I was called by a collection agency. I was told I owed an amount of approx $200 to a country disctict court in Pa where I used to live. The man on the phone said he was unable to find any information as he was searching public records for the case number and asked me if I knew anything about it, which I said I did not.
I contacted the court and they informed me I had an outstanding fine of $193 from a disorderly conduct fine from 2003. I sort of remember that, but I am pretty sure I paid that 20 years ago, of course I have no proof of that because of how long ago it was. I moved out of Pa about 18 years ago.
This fine went to the collection agency about 6 weeks ago, March 2023.
My question here, of course, is what should be my action on this? I would have no problem paying the court the amount due just to make it go away, but the girl I spoke with at the court said I would have to settle this with the collection agency, which from a little research, I found they are a very shady business, known to sell information and such. Can the collection agency legally report a collection to the credit bureuau on a debt they just aquired, however is about 20 years old.
Thanks.
Today I was called by a collection agency. I was told I owed an amount of approx $200 to a country disctict court in Pa where I used to live. The man on the phone said he was unable to find any information as he was searching public records for the case number and asked me if I knew anything about it, which I said I did not.
I contacted the court and they informed me I had an outstanding fine of $193 from a disorderly conduct fine from 2003. I sort of remember that, but I am pretty sure I paid that 20 years ago, of course I have no proof of that because of how long ago it was. I moved out of Pa about 18 years ago.
This fine went to the collection agency about 6 weeks ago, March 2023.
My question here, of course, is what should be my action on this? I would have no problem paying the court the amount due just to make it go away, but the girl I spoke with at the court said I would have to settle this with the collection agency, which from a little research, I found they are a very shady business, known to sell information and such. Can the collection agency legally report a collection to the credit bureuau on a debt they just aquired, however is about 20 years old.
Thanks.