State: Tennessee
I have a unique problem and I apologize if I'm in the wrong place. Any help and/or advice will be greatly appreciated.
My Capitol One credit card company called my house the other day. I answered the phone and the rep on the line said he needed to speak with the person who handled my "final affairs". I was flabbergasted to learn I had died!? I explained I was not deceased and had to confirm information they had on file to prove such. (He told me I had died on June 14, 2007 and it was confirmed thorugh Probate Court here in my county on July 5, 2007.) However, I was informed that even though the "death" on my record was in errror, Capitol One had "charged off" my account as a "death" and had sold it to a collection agency. I inquired with three different customer service reps at Capitol One as well as three different supervisors as to how they could legally charge off my account as a death when I'm clearly not dead. They had the nerve to tell me that they could "assure" me that they had a death certificate "on file"; otherwise, there is no legal way they could have done this to my account. I called the Probate Court here in my county as well as the Office of Vital Records and was told there had not been an open file on me or a request noted from anyone requesting a death certificate. I again spoke with Capitol One relaying this inofrmation and demanding whatever "proof of death" they had on file to close my account as they said they did. Again, I was given the run around and informed they had the proper proof in their Probate Dept. I asked for this department's phone number or address and no one had it, of course. Finally, I asked to speak to someone in their legal department and I was told there wasn't one. The final blow came when I contacted the collection agency that now has my account and they said they do not take payments and want the balance of $2700.00 in full. I also checked my credit report and a collection notice is on there and it damaged my credit rating. I am so upset as this puts a financial an emotional strain on me and my husband. We don't have $2700.00 just laying around. Unfortunately, we are paycheck to paycheck like most families. I did contact two different attorneys who said they believed this had been done to me illegally, but didn't know how to help me. They each referred me to other attorneys who told me the same thing. What can I do? Has anyone ever heard of this before?
Again, thanks for any info or advice.
I have a unique problem and I apologize if I'm in the wrong place. Any help and/or advice will be greatly appreciated.
My Capitol One credit card company called my house the other day. I answered the phone and the rep on the line said he needed to speak with the person who handled my "final affairs". I was flabbergasted to learn I had died!? I explained I was not deceased and had to confirm information they had on file to prove such. (He told me I had died on June 14, 2007 and it was confirmed thorugh Probate Court here in my county on July 5, 2007.) However, I was informed that even though the "death" on my record was in errror, Capitol One had "charged off" my account as a "death" and had sold it to a collection agency. I inquired with three different customer service reps at Capitol One as well as three different supervisors as to how they could legally charge off my account as a death when I'm clearly not dead. They had the nerve to tell me that they could "assure" me that they had a death certificate "on file"; otherwise, there is no legal way they could have done this to my account. I called the Probate Court here in my county as well as the Office of Vital Records and was told there had not been an open file on me or a request noted from anyone requesting a death certificate. I again spoke with Capitol One relaying this inofrmation and demanding whatever "proof of death" they had on file to close my account as they said they did. Again, I was given the run around and informed they had the proper proof in their Probate Dept. I asked for this department's phone number or address and no one had it, of course. Finally, I asked to speak to someone in their legal department and I was told there wasn't one. The final blow came when I contacted the collection agency that now has my account and they said they do not take payments and want the balance of $2700.00 in full. I also checked my credit report and a collection notice is on there and it damaged my credit rating. I am so upset as this puts a financial an emotional strain on me and my husband. We don't have $2700.00 just laying around. Unfortunately, we are paycheck to paycheck like most families. I did contact two different attorneys who said they believed this had been done to me illegally, but didn't know how to help me. They each referred me to other attorneys who told me the same thing. What can I do? Has anyone ever heard of this before?
Again, thanks for any info or advice.
