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DEAD MAN's Collection Acct on my Credit Report What to Do???

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Anonymous
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DEAD MAN's Collection Acct on my Credit Report What to Do???

I'm 37 yrs old. Last wk there was a 14 pt. drop in my Equifax score. It was due to a collection acct being placed on my CR. I need to know what I must do to have this permanently removed from y CR? Is there a form letter from this site I can use to get this thing expunged?

Backstory: This acct is a old (17 yrs old) BellSouth home phone acct. I personally have never had BellSouth service. In 2002, this acct appeared on my equifax CR, that was when I learned of it. Apparently, a distant family member with the same first name as mine opened home phone service in my name. I never lived with them or lived in the state of GA which is where the phone acct was, that was 1991! I visited their home several times in 1990/1991 because I was going to college in Alabama, a neighboring state. That's it, haven't seen this family again.

From what Bellsouth says, they family paid the bill each month for yrs! All this was done WITHOUT my knowledge. In 2000, the family member moved his family to another state and did not pay the last bill of $437. In 2002, it was placed on my Equifax CR as a collection. I called and wrote to Bellsouth about this. They removed it from my CR as though it never happened.

Until now, 2008. I guess they sold the old collection to some new collection agency and they are the ones reporting this old bill. In 2001, the family member DIED in Michigan.

I've fought really hard to get my credit score up, currently I'm at 686, almost the 700 club! The 14 pt drop gave me a score of 662. I got a scorewatch alert today and I'm back up to 686. Equifax restored my score and the acct shows that I am disputing it. That's not good enough, I want this thing gone what do I do? Simply paying the collection won't do any good because it will simply be a paid collection and I don't have any collection accts. I need help.


edited to get some paragraphs in here, which makes this much easier to read! And moving to Rebuilding Your Credit.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 05-15-2008 05:08 PM
Message 1 of 4
3 REPLIES 3
Anonymous
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Re: DEAD MAN's Collection Acct on my Credit Report What to Do???

You can send a DV  CMRRR   OR  file a police report * ID THEFT*    then dispute as *not mine* and send the police report to the CRAs reporting.
Message 2 of 4
Anonymous
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Re: DEAD MAN's Collection Acct on my Credit Report What to Do???

What is up with all this rampant identity theft by family members? Why is it that the people who are supposed to care about our welfare the most can do these things?

Did you do the dispute with Equifax or send a DV letter to the CA? I wouldn't pay it; it's not your debt! DV the CA. I bet they can't validate and maybe it's past SOL anyway. Put a fraud alert on there as well-- what if other family members have your info? Check to see if the CA is licensed in your state. I found some who were not and after they got the DVs, the accounts were deleted.

I'm sure someone with more knowledge can offer better advice.
Good luck with taking care of this mess.
Message 3 of 4
Anonymous
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Re: DEAD MAN's Collection Acct on my Credit Report What to Do???

Thanks I am going to follow your advice with the DV. I'm going to get on it over the wkend. I know what you mean about family I would never do that to any family member, seeing that your good credit standing is all you have. I have since been more careful. The thing that burns me up is that I never knew this family had phone service in my name for years! I don't like being a party to something I don't know about, where is my benefit?? I had a fraud alert on my CR's after this incident for about 5 or 6 yrs, since it didn't seem to come back up again I lifted it. Thanks
Message 4 of 4
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