Question on CBCS Collection Account

Anonymous · ‎02-11-2008

Approx. 12 years ago my mother used my name on a phone account when we used to live in Florida so that we could have phone service. I am not sure why she didn't have it in her name unless she had bad credit and could not do so. Of course I told her it was ok since I still lived with her and I knew nothing about credit at the time.

Well come to find out a bill never got paid and they came after me for it. To make a long story short, the credit report showed this account and it finally (I'm guessing after 7 years) fell off of my report. I've only been dedicated to keeping my credit report clean and good for about 2-3 years so the past issues with my credit report are a little hazy.

So anyway I got this in the mail about a week ago regarding the same account and I am unsure what to do. I have not attempted to contact them or send them any money as I am not sure this will help the situation. My guess is that this company is doing this as a last desperate attempt to collect something from me even if it's been several several years later. There is currently no collections on my accounts and my credit #'s are good. I just basically need to wait for my credit to age to get my numbers better. But now I am afraid that this phone account will really hurt me.

I guess my question is, what can they really do and what should I do? Can they legally put themselves back on to the credit bureaus as unpaid account when it's been on there before and fallen off? If I pay the above amount then could they then legally put themselves back on to the credit bureau reports?

They have not attempted to call or contact me in probably at least 4 years. this just came out of the blue to me and quite frankly I forgot all about it. Should I just ignore them?

Thanks for any input you all can provide. I really want to thank everyone that has helped me in the past. This forum/website is absolutely the best place to go for credit information and as helped me greatly in my journey for better credit. I will continue to recommend myfico to my friends and family.

Thanks again!

I have scanned and attached the letter I received in the mail from CBCS. The letter should show up as an img below.

Message Edited by Glitche on 02-11-2008 10:11 AM

Anonymous · ‎02-11-2008

You are past SOL and CRTP. This cannot be re-entered onto your reports. They are in violations if they do.

Since it is not paid, they can try to collect forever if they choose. But, they cannot sue and collect or report. Send them a FOAD letter.

Anonymous · ‎02-11-2008

This may sound stupid but lets say I wanted to pay off this debt to get them off my back (although I haven't heard anything from them in ages), then can it show up on my credit report?

Anonymous · ‎02-12-2008

Glitche wrote:
This may sound stupid but lets say I wanted to pay off this debt to get them off my back (although I haven't heard anything from them in ages), then can it show up on my credit report?

You can pay them, but remember, you are only helping the CA out. This is junk debt. Bellsouth/AT&T have long since wrote this off, so, they will see nothing. But to answer the question, NO, they cannot put this back on your reports if you do decide to pay the CA for something they probably paid 2 bucks for.

Anonymous · ‎02-12-2008

Just the answer I was looking for. I appreciate your input.