AFNI Settlement Offer for AT&T Debt that I doubt

[sva50233]

Friends, I have a debt with AT&T which I doubt is valid. I used to have an AT&T phone account, but I canceled it in 2012. Thereafter, apparently they continued billing me without my knowledge. I had canceled the account, however prior to that I had done paperless billing, for which I never checked the bill after I canceled the account, thinking it was closed.

Eventually I received a Collection notice in green and white paper for $114 and change. I ignored it for a few months thinking it was an error (stupid me!) and then three months later I received my first Settlement offer of 80and change. The offer was only good till July of 2013. Then I got another Settlement Offer about two weeks later, for $45 and change. The offer was valid for two weeks after the original offer was valid.

Unfortunately since that time I have been mobilized and deployed to Afghanistan, from where I am typing this post. I believe I don't owe AT&T any money, and I don't want my credit score to be negatively affected, although by now it probably is affected. What do I do from this point? Do I call AFNI, or do I call AT&T, and what do I tell them?

Thanks in advance

[guiness56]

Welcome to the forums and for your service.

Who is reporting the debt ATT or a CA?

[sva50233]

I do not know who is reporting the debt. How would I find this out? All I know is from the papers I have receivd in the mail. On the bottom portion it lists Afni, Inc Account number, and then under the Creditor box it says AT&T, so my assumption is that AT&T is the creditor, and also the one reporting the debt?

[RobertEG]

My first observation would be pay the debt, provided you can avoid it appearing or continuing to appear in your credit report.

First, you need to know if either the OC or the debt collector have reported it.

You can get a free credit report from annualcreditreport.com,and determine if it has been reported.

Second, you need to know who owns the debt.  The debt collector could merely be an assigned agent of the OC, who still owns the debt, or the debt collector could have purchased the debt.  If the OC shows in your credit report and has updated the debt balance to $0, that indicates they no longer own the debt, and that the debt collector is now the owner.

Who to offer payment and whether credit report deletion,if already reported, or an offer to pay in exchange for agreement not to report, depends upon the answers to those questions.