letter from a lawyer in attempt to collect a debt (UPDATE post 24!!!!)

[ready123go]

Love that letter!!

We've had several agencies try to shake us down for others' debts over the years.

One was AT&T - years ago they had my area code mixed up with someone else's and said I was responsible for their illegal third-party long-distance charging. They were horrible & I finally figured out the area code thing. They weren't even my long-distance provider at the time. Eventually they owned up to their mistake.

Another was a shady collects agency in Ontario, trying to collect on 900-PSYCHIC on calls made from a phone number we were hadn't been associated with for a few years (how good were the psychics if they couldn't see that one coming ). Turned that one over the State's Attorney's office.

DH has had different collectors try to get him to pay his deadbeat departed father's debts.

We still have the occasional collector call trying to get us to pay the credit card debts of the woman who used to own our house. think they are simply using our address with a reverse phone book search to get a current phone number. They simply conveniently overlook the name associated with the address & number.

And at some point DH's deadbeat brother must have used our address. Ugh!

Scams and predators come in all shapes and sizes (including relatives). Good luck!

 

[Lorelei Lee]

Yes, the laziness of collection agencies.

I have a second phone line in my house. It's a dedicated line for my home office, I use some sort of voice internet protocol software that forwards my business calls to that phone, and when I make outgoing calls the recipient's caller ID shows my employer's number, not mine. No one has the number, no one calls that number.

But at least once a day, that phone will ring. It's a robo call from a collection agency. "Press 1 if you are _______. If you are not ________ please hang up."

The person they are calling hasn't had this phone number in over a year.

The company never identifies itself. Trying to get an actual human being on the phone is almost impossible. Eventually I am going to have to take the time to get them to stop.

 

[Caropooh]

Tne letter was delivered yesterday morning, so now we wait for them to reply!

 

[Caropooh]

WOO HOO!!!!!
Received a response back from Ms. Francine Clair Landau today!!! It said:
Please be advised that the above account has been closed in this office and a request has been made to the credit bureaus for deletion of the account on your credit file.

Thank you SO much to everyone for the help and info you gave me. Looks like she couldn't/wouldn't provide the information I requested. I'm keeping both letters she sent me, just in case this comes back to haunt me at some point down the road.

 

[ready123go]

WOO HOO!!!!!
Received a response back from Ms. Francine Clair Landau today!!! It said:
Please be advised that the above account has been closed in this office and a request has been made to the credit bureaus for deletion of the account on your credit file.

Thank you SO much to everyone for the help and info you gave me. Looks like she couldn't/wouldn't provide the information I requested. I'm keeping both letters she sent me, just in case this comes back to haunt me at some point down the road.

Yay!!!

 

[sookie]

Be very careful in contacting the debt collection company. There is a statue of limitations on debt. check to see what it is in your state. It maybe that just in contacting the debt collection co. may start the statue over. I would make a copy of the letter you were sent ( this is so you have a copy). Then send it back. Once a debt is so old the company that was the original debt sends it to collections. They do this so they can write off the debt. Debt collections co. buy these contracts for penny's on the dollar. If they can get just a few people to pay the amount that is asked -- they make good money.

Debt collection Co. can not call you at work, call once you have told then you have no idea what they are talking about, call late hours or early morning hours, and they can not dial you back to back for hours on end.

Best is to look up statues in your state.

Having an attorney write a letter for you stating there is NO debt owed.

This is correct. Just making contact can restart the whole statute of limitations. First things first - get those credit reports! It may be fraud, it may be that your ID has been stolen - but you will have no clue until you pull the reports.

 

[sookie]

CONTACT does not revive an expired statute of limitations. Partial payment may revive the debt, but demanding proof that a debt is owed cannot revive it.

It depends on the state and the type of debt. The SOL length can also vary depending on the state as well.

 

[Lorelei Lee]

It depends on the state and the type of debt. The SOL length can also vary depending on the state as well.

Want to give me a citation for that?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Want to give me a citation for that?

Try this http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/SOL-by-State.html#10

 

[OceanAnnie]

OP, thanks for the follow up. Glad things worked out. Good information for everyone. I know you are glad that is behind you!