topic Re: Collection letter from old account in Rebuilding Your Credit

Collection letter from old account

DJ21 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 03:12:15 GMT

Hello All,

First I would like to thank everyone on the wealth of knowledge that I have gained from this forum. I started rebuilding my credit about a year ago, and have successfully increased my score over 100 points on all 3 bureaus.

With that being said, I get a phone call last week from Enhanced Recovery, LLC in an attempt to collect an old Sprint bill from God knows how long ago ($121.53). Next, I receive a letter in the mail and it says "this letter serves as notification that your delinquint account may be reported to the national credit bureaus." My question is, wouldn't sprint already have reported it to collections and it would have fallen off after 7 1/2 years? I just started keeping up with my credit and there is not a collection on there from Sprint, not to mention, I've never had a Sprint phone (I have had Nextel and T-Mobile, but I'm pretty sure I closed the accounts years ago and they were paid in full). Should I pay this in full and then it will go away? Can they put a collection on my CR? Also, why did they wait so long to contact me? Sorry if these are redundant questions, I searched the forum, but couldn't find anyone that HASN'T been reported as a collection on the bureaus yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Re: Collection letter from old account

myjourney — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 03:37:41 GMT

@DJ21 wrote:
Hello All,
First I would like to thank everyone on the wealth of knowledge that I have gained from this forum. I started rebuilding my credit about a year ago, and have successfully increased my score over 100 points on all 3 bureaus.

With that being said, I get a phone call last week from Enhanced Recovery, LLC in an attempt to collect an old Sprint bill from God knows how long ago ($121.53). Next, I receive a letter in the mail and it says "this letter serves as notification that your delinquint account may be reported to the national credit bureaus."

My question is, wouldn't sprint already have reported it to collections and it would have fallen off after 7 1/2 years? I just started keeping up with my credit and there is not a collection on there from Sprint,
Depends on when the DofD is. Do you know the exact date you stop paying?

not to mention, I've never had a Sprint phone (I have had Nextel......Nextel is owned by sprint

and T-Mobile, but I'm pretty sure I closed the accounts years ago and they were paid in full).

Should I pay this in full and then it will go away? You need to do your research first and figure out if this account is yours....when was DofD....is it still a collectible debt before doing anything

Can they put a collection on my CR? Yes if it hasn't been 7 years from DofD

Also, why did they wait so long to contact me? Maybe its a zombie debt and their just reaching ....won't know until you do the research

Sorry if these are redundant questions, I searched the forum, but couldn't find anyone that HASN'T been reported as a collection on the bureaus yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Welcome to the forum

I recommend you visit the rebuilding forum and start with a DV to stop all collection activity until you can get the facts about this account

I'm also having your post moved to rebuilding to better help you

Good luck

Re: Collection letter from old account

juggalo9er — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 03:40:38 GMT

if you can prove the debt is more than seven years old and the letter the collection agency sent did not include something about the sol i believe its a cfpb violation....i would research this and try to collect my $1,000 like i have three times now!

Re: Collection letter from old account

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 16:32:10 GMT

"....i would research this and try to collect my $1,000 like i have three times now"

WOW - Three times? Tell me more....

Re: Collection letter from old account

DJ21 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:20:31 GMT

Update: I just called the number on the letter and the Date of Deliquency is December 24,2004 and they received it in their office May 06, 2011. I think that it may have been an old Nextel account. What should I do?

Re: Collection letter from old account

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:22:37 GMT

You need to send a DV letter to the Collection Agency as discusesd above.

Re: Collection letter from old account

starry1 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:33:35 GMT

@DJ21 wrote:
Update: I just called the number on the letter and the Date of Deliquency is December 24,2004 and they received it in their office May 06, 2011. I think that it may have been an old Nextel account. What should I do?

That is nearly 10 years old. I would check the SOL in your state, if it is less than 10 years then you can tell them to go pound sand or negotiate a settlement. If your state's SOL is 10 years or more, I would send a DV and then attempt to work out a settlement if their DV is good.

Re: Collection letter from old account

DJ21 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:39:59 GMT

I live in Louisiana so I think the SOL is 10 years. If I just pay it, will they still report it on my CR?

Re: Collection letter from old account

starry1 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:44:17 GMT

@DJ21 wrote:
I live in Louisiana so I think the SOL is 10 years. If I just pay it, will they still report it on my CR?

Probably not, but if you pay it, make sure to negotiate that they not report or delete any reporting. Get it in writing first if you can.

Re: Collection letter from old account

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:48:12 GMT

SOL ten years? - UGGHHHH. Pay it only if you think they might sue you for it - and get a WRITTEN promise of not re-aging it and placing it on your credit report.

Re: Collection letter from old account

DJ21 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:49:33 GMT

I can't find any information that says that the SOL for Louisiana Cell Phone Bills is 10 years. Can anyone verify this? I just don't want to poke anything and wake up something and it go on my credit as a recent account, because it is not.

Re: Collection letter from old account

starry1 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:51:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
SOL ten years? - UGGHHHH. Pay it only if you think they might sue you for it - and get a WRITTEN promise of not re-aging it and placing it on your credit report.

They cannot legally re-age it anyway, there is no point in getting that in writing. And make sure when you talk to them (or preferably write to them) that you say nothing acknowledging that the debt is yours. Say, I don't agree this is my debt, but I will pay it to get you out of my face.

Re: Collection letter from old account

starry1 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:55:35 GMT

@DJ21 wrote:
I can't find any information that says that the SOL for Louisiana Cell Phone Bills is 10 years. Can anyone verify this? I just don't want to poke anything and wake up something and it go on my credit as a recent account, because it is not.

Ohhh, its a cell phone. There is a Federal SOL on cell phones, which is 2 or 3 years. Tell them to go pound sand or negotiate a settlement for pennies on the dollar if they give you a paid in full letter.

Re: Collection letter from old account

DJ21 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:54:27 GMT

So basically, if I ignore them until December 24, 2014, it will be considered SOL and I won't have to pay?

Re: Collection letter from old account

starry1 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:58:05 GMT

Its already SOL per federal statute. But that doesn't mean that they can't still try to collect. They can try to collect forever.

Re: Collection letter from old account

DJ21 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 23:05:42 GMT

But, does that mean that a new collection can pop up on my credit report? Because if it can't, I am going to tell them to go play in traffic.

Re: Collection letter from old account

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 23:19:00 GMT

@starry1 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
SOL ten years? - UGGHHHH. Pay it only if you think they might sue you for it - and get a WRITTEN promise of not re-aging it and placing it on your credit report.
They cannot legally re-age it anyway, there is no point in getting that in writing. And make sure when you talk to them (or preferably write to them) that you say nothing acknowledging that the debt is yours. Say, I don't agree this is my debt, but I will pay it to get you out of my face.

I wasn't sure if that was possible in this instance. If a cell phone bill is considered an 'open ended account' then the SOL is three years:
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/statutelimitations.shtml

I'm not sure how a cell phone account is classified.

Re: Collection letter from old account

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 23:20:57 GMT

@DJ21 wrote:
But, does that mean that a new collection can pop up on my credit report? Because if it can't, I am going to tell them to go play in traffic.

No its beyond the age limit to be placed on your credit. 7 1/2 years max.

Re: Collection letter from old account

jeffeverde — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 23:49:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@DJ21 wrote:
But, does that mean that a new collection can pop up on my credit report? Because if it can't, I am going to tell them to go play in traffic.
No its beyond the age limit to be placed on your credit. 7 1/2 years max.

Which won't necessarily stop a zombie CA from reporting it, in an attempt to get a response.

DV the current CA. If they actually send you anything showing the debt goes back to 2004, file it away (or if you're a pack rat and still have any old bills or dunning letters, pull them out). Send a copy of your documents showing this is a 10-year old debt to the CRA's and tell them "Obsolete - please delete". If a CA does something silly like re-age the debt, document their FCRA violations and collect your $1,000 bounty.

Beyond that, you can send a FOAD letter to any CA's that contact you, telling them "this is out of SOL, do not contact me again".

Also, on an out of statute debt, the CA is required to state in any communications with you, that the debt is out of statue and that you can not be sued. If a CA says something like "If you don't pay this, we'll be forced to sue you", that's a $1,000 FDCPA violation - thank you very much.

Re: Collection letter from old account

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 23:03:34 GMT

My wife just received a collection notice related a similar matter... it's from Convergen Outsourcing, Inc. for an old Express store charge card that she defaulted on 11-12 years ago, we just received it today and on the notice they state that "The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt, and your debt is beyond that limitation."

On the back it has the standard "30 days to dispute" blah, blah, blah and then AGAIN notes that it's beyond the SOL. So, pretty much we can send them a FDCPA letter stating that this debt is obsolete due to age and basicly tell them to kiss off and then they can never contact us again??