collection on credit report from 10 years ago

[em10780101]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Name of the state is Illinois.
Hello,
Couple of weeks ago I checked my credit report and to my surprise there is a collection account on it for $600 which completely killed my credit score. I called the company and they state that this is a collection for a Lord and Taylor account from 1999. It has been almost 10 years and just now they show up on my credit? I don't even remember having a Lord and Taylor account. They told me I can contact Lord and Taylor if I want but they can't provide me with the contact information. I don't know what to do now. I was about to refinance my house and now my credit is messed up. I was told by a friend that I can call the credit bureaus and dispute the collection but that doesn't change my credit report and I am unable to refinance my house with that on my record. I looked at the statute of limitation for Illinois state and it seems a bit odd that they went on my credit a month before 10 years is up as that is the statute of limitation for Illinois. I was almost compelled to pay it just so it can go away but as I found out that will not take the collections off my credit it will just show up as paid collection which still keeps my credit messed up all for an account that I don't think I ever had.
Please give some advice."What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[Seanscott]

Demand to see the original billing detailing what you purchased & when. I doubt if they can produce it.

 

[em10780101]

Thanks, but do I write to them via certified mail? Snail mail, that can take for ever and how do I make it go away from my credit report? When I talked to them they told me to contact the Lord and Taylor company but stated that they cant give me their information and I should look for it by google. I think they are being totally ridiculous yet they are stinking up my record and it seems like I can't do squat about it. Im sure when I will find L&T info they will tell me collections has it and I will keep bouncing from one to the other. I never had to deal with this stuff and feel completely stupid.

 

[TigerD]

Thanks, but do I write to them via certified mail? Snail mail, that can take for ever and how do I make it go away from my credit report? When I talked to them they told me to contact the Lord and Taylor company but stated that they cant give me their information and I should look for it by google. I think they are being totally ridiculous yet they are stinking up my record and it seems like I can't do squat about it. Im sure when I will find L&T info they will tell me collections has it and I will keep bouncing from one to the other. I never had to deal with this stuff and feel completely stupid.

Don't waste your time with L and T. Send the collection agency a cease and desist letter and dispute the entry with the credit bureaus.

In the cease and desist be simple and brief: I am instructing you to cease all communication with me in regards to this account.

They are legally allowed very limited additional contact, but the CA will go away.

You must dispute the account with the credit bureaus in writing with return receipt mail.

For most cases, collections are only allowed to remain on your credit report for 7 years plus 180 from the date of first default after which the account has not be brought current. There are exceptions such as security clearances, insurance and pre-employment checks.

Tell us now if all the information you provided is not accurate -- following the advice above may get you sued if the account is within the statute of limitations and yours.

DC

 

[buster8]

Send a RRR letter asking for validation of said debt.You have to start somewhere and work through the process.

June 13, 2001

Your Name
123 Your Street Address
Your City, ST 01234

ABC Collections
123 NotOnYourLife Ave
Chicago, IL

Date

Re: Acct # XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is being sent to you in response to a notice sent to me on September 30, 2002). Be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

This is NOT a request for “verification” or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above named Title and Section. I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you.

Please provide me with the following:


What the money you say I owe is for;
Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe;
Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe;
Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable;
Identify the original creditor;
Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account
Show me that you are licensed to collect in my state
Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent

At this time I will also inform you that if your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the 3 major Credit Bureau’s (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion) this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if any negative mark is found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent I will not hesitate in bringing legal action against you for the following:

Violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Defamation of Character
If your offices are able to provide the proper documentation as requested in the following Declaration, I will require at least 30 days to investigate this information and during such time all collection activity must cease and desist.

Also during this validation period, if any action is taken which could be considered detrimental to any of my credit reports, I will consult with my legal counsel for suit. This includes any listing any information to a credit reporting repository that could be inaccurate or invalidated or verifying an account as accurate when in fact there is no provided proof that it is.

If your offices fail to respond to this validation request within 30 days from the date of your receipt, all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit file and a copy of such deletion request shall be sent to me immediately.

I would also like to request, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment. If your offices attempt telephone communication with me, including but not limited to computer generated calls and calls or correspondence sent to or with any third parties, it will be considered harassment and I will have no choice but to file suit. All future communications with me MUST be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter by USPS.

It would be advisable that you assure that your records are in order before I am forced to take legal action. This is an attempt to correct your records, any information obtained shall be used for that purpose.

Best Regards,

Your Signature
Your Name

 

[em10780101]

Thank you, to all of you for the info this is very helpful. I keep hearing that things can't stay on your credit for longer than 7 years but as I said this was never on my credit to begin with. When I bought my house about 3 years ago I signed up for the Free Credit Report and have been checking my credit on regular basis since then. This thing has just showed up about 3 weeks ago. I don't know 100% if it wasn't on my credit report before the 3 years as I wasn't checking my credit at all prior to that. I remember working part time for L&T for about 3months over summer vacation when I was in high school which would have been about 14 years ago but don't remember ever having an account at L&T. On my credit report they show up as follows:
Account name: First Revenue Assurance
Account# xxxxxxxxxxx
Account Type: Collection Department/ Agency / Attorney
Balance: $600.00
Past Due: $600.00
Date Opened: 10/01/2009
Account status: Closed
Payment Status: Seriously past due date/ assigned to attorney, collection agency, or credit grantor’s internal collection department.
First of all when I called them and asked them what this is all about they said. L&T account from 1999 the amount on it was $345.00. They said they were unable to inform me about it the mail as they do not have my current address and asked me to give it to them.
To which all I could think of to answer was, no way till I talk to someone and know what to do. The rest I have all ready explained. If for any reason I’m just so airheaded and cant remember having an L&T account this whole thing still seems a bit fishy. If it was $345.00 why is it $600.00 on my report, and why is the date opened say 10/01/2009 if it is a debt from 1999.
Thanks buster8 for the sample letter I will certainly use it.

 

[Zigner]

Ignore this hooey. debtcollector` gave you correct advice above...

Send a RRR letter asking for validation of said debt.You have to start somewhere and work through the process.

June 13, 2001

Your Name
123 Your Street Address
Your City, ST 01234

ABC Collections
123 NotOnYourLife Ave
Chicago, IL

Date

Re: Acct # XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is being sent to you in response to a notice sent to me on September 30, 2002). Be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

This is NOT a request for “verification” or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above named Title and Section. I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you.

Please provide me with the following:


What the money you say I owe is for;
Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe;
Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe;
Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable;
Identify the original creditor;
Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account
Show me that you are licensed to collect in my state
Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent

At this time I will also inform you that if your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the 3 major Credit Bureau’s (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion) this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if any negative mark is found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent I will not hesitate in bringing legal action against you for the following:

Violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Defamation of Character
If your offices are able to provide the proper documentation as requested in the following Declaration, I will require at least 30 days to investigate this information and during such time all collection activity must cease and desist.

Also during this validation period, if any action is taken which could be considered detrimental to any of my credit reports, I will consult with my legal counsel for suit. This includes any listing any information to a credit reporting repository that could be inaccurate or invalidated or verifying an account as accurate when in fact there is no provided proof that it is.

If your offices fail to respond to this validation request within 30 days from the date of your receipt, all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit file and a copy of such deletion request shall be sent to me immediately.

I would also like to request, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment. If your offices attempt telephone communication with me, including but not limited to computer generated calls and calls or correspondence sent to or with any third parties, it will be considered harassment and I will have no choice but to file suit. All future communications with me MUST be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter by USPS.

It would be advisable that you assure that your records are in order before I am forced to take legal action. This is an attempt to correct your records, any information obtained shall be used for that purpose.

Best Regards,

Your Signature
Your Name

 

[em10780101]

Zigner,

I would love to ignore these idiots but no matter how ridiculous this is they are on my credit and currently are preventing me from getting refinanced.

 

[Zigner]

Zigner,

I would love to ignore these idiots but no matter how ridiculous this is they are on my credit and currently are preventing me from getting refinanced.

You misunderstood. I was telling you to ignore Buster's comments.

 

[em10780101]

Im sorry, I sure did. So you are saying the sample letter bellow is not a good idea? Just send them a letter telling them to stop calling? They actually haven’t called me I did because I saw the collection in black (potentially negative) on my credit report and totally wigged out when I saw what it did to my credit score.

 

[TigerD]

Im sorry, I sure did. So you are saying the sample letter bellow is not a good idea? Just send them a letter telling them to stop calling? They actually haven’t called me I did because I saw the collection in black (potentially negative) on my credit report and totally wigged out when I saw what it did to my credit score.

If they haven't called you, don't worry about contacting them. Just dispute the tradeline with the credit bureaus.

DC

 

[em10780101]

If they haven't called you, don't worry about contacting them. Just dispute the tradeline with the credit bureaus.

DC

I have been doing lots of research on this and one thing keeps on coming up. If I just dispute at the credit bureaus and don't contact the collection with some sort of dispute, will they require the collection agency to show a proof of what I supposedly owe on the original account? Will they know to look into the statute of limitation? May be Im being paranoid but from my experience I find out that unless you take care of something your self it doesn't get done right. Specially when it comes to legal things. If the credit bureaus think the collection provided enough info on this will they send it to me or will they just say "tough @#$$" we are not taking this off your credit deal with it and Im stuck paying for something I don't even know? This thing is making me crazy.

 

[em10780101]

I just noticed that on TransUnion which is the only one that shows the field for Original creditor, It doesn't say Lord&Taylor it says 12 Security Credit Services LLC. What the @#$%. I can only assume it is another collection agency. From what I found out they sell from one to the other for close to nothing. Im sure Im being totally stupid about all this but I have never heard any of this or have ever been exposed to these things. What a cluster how does anybody ever find out what and what for was the true original debt. Shouldn't the report say original creditor Lord and Taylor?

 

[TigerD]

I have been doing lots of research on this and one thing keeps on coming up. If I just dispute at the credit bureaus and don't contact the collection with some sort of dispute, will they require the collection agency to show a proof of what I supposedly owe on the original account?

No, at least not what you would call proof.

Will they know to look into the statute of limitation?

They don't care. All they care about is 7 years plus 180 days since the date of first default after which the account has not been brought current.

May be Im being paranoid but from my experience I find out that unless you take care of something your self it doesn't get done right.

Fairly accurate statement

If the credit bureaus think the collection provided enough info on this will they send it to me or will they just say "tough @#$$" we are not taking this off your credit deal with it and Im stuck paying for something I don't even know? This thing is making me crazy.

It doesn't matter if they have HD video of you signing the contract and receiving the money. A consumer tradeline comes off of your credit report 7 years plus 180 days since the date of first default after which the account has not been brought current. You dispute it -- it goes away. Inhale.


DC

 

[buster8]

Ignore this hooey. debtcollector` gave you correct advice above...

I can only tell you from experience.....I sent the letter and they could not validate the debt and it was dropped DUE TO THAT...Now maybe the amount of $91 was not enough for them to pusue validation.Of course you(OP) can call the original Creditor first...and should,but at some point if you get no results from that you will have to open channels with the debt collector and this letter will do just that.NEVER send anything unless it is RRR.

Good Luck I know exactly what you are going through.

PS all of this is of course with the understanding that you do not know about this debt or like in my case did not owe it to begin with.