Collection account??

[Eberron]

So I received a letter yesterday that reads like this.

We have previeiously notified you of the above-referenced account which remains unpaid. ( I never recieved this letter before). A credit reportingn agency has indicated that an inquiry has been made on your credit report. We hope that you are now in a better position to pay the above account. 

Can they seriously pull my credit?

Well thats my first question the other is that the bill was from 2001 when I lived in another state. Can they add this to my credit report? The sol is 6 years on the state. I lived in that home with my ex husband and never realized the bill was in my name. We were married for 15 years and he stayed in the home and I moved out of state.

Any help would be awesome.

Thanks

[Eberron]

I did some research and is it possible they are trying to reage the debt?

My ex was receiving the collection notice and it turns out he ignored it. Other then knowing it was a utility bill the ca wouldnt give me any information as far as what month from 2001 or what the date of service was. I didn't pay him anything because I don't feel I owe this. I moved at the beginning of 2001. He was addament that I pay this. 

Any thoughts on what I should do first with this? I am in the process of purchasing a home and if this goes on my credit it could really hurt things. 

[AZHeather]

CA can pull credit reports and they can chase you indefinitely - even beyond the SOL and reporting date.  Just because they are sending letters does not necessarily mean that they will report.  You have a couple of choices: (1) send a cease and desist letter (keeping them from contacting you regarding the debt); or (2) pay it and be done with it.  Regardless of what you do, I would keep one eye on your CR's just to make sure they don't slap it on there.  Also know that if you decide to go with the C&D letter, they can (and most likely will) sell the debt to another CA and it could start all over again.

That's my $.02, but someone on here may have another solution that I am not aware of.

[rckstrscott]

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@Eberron wrote:

So I received a letter yesterday that reads like this.

We have previeiously notified you of the above-referenced account which remains unpaid. ( I never recieved this letter before). A credit reportingn agency has indicated that an inquiry has been made on your credit report. We hope that you are now in a better position to pay the above account. 

Can they seriously pull my credit?

Well thats my first question the other is that the bill was from 2001 when I lived in another state. Can they add this to my credit report? The sol is 6 years on the state. I lived in that home with my ex husband and never realized the bill was in my name. We were married for 15 years and he stayed in the home and I moved out of state.

Any help would be awesome.

Thanks

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Yes. If they own a debt, they can pull your credir report. It is called permissible purpose. Essentially, what they have done is places a flag on your file, to notify them anytime you run an INQ in an attempt to get credit, Very standard for collection companies to do this. This is especially common when running credit for a home loan, since the CA knows you have to pay it off before getting the mortgage pushed through (LVNV did this to me personally)

Couple things: Did THEY put an INQ on your file, or are they just snooping?

If they debt is small I would consider offering a small settlement to legally make this go away. Just because they cannot sue you, or report, doesn't mean they cannot keep working to annoy you into paying.

I disagree about the other poster an 're-aging' -- to me this just seems like a junk debt buyer throwing spitballs hoping one sticks.

A cease and desist will stop this collection company for calling or mailing you, and in turn would probably sell this account to another junk debt buyer.

This is a game you can keep playing if you want. I have an largish older debt I have been doing this for years. Maybe when I have no other pressing concerns I will settle but right now, its cease and desist each one.

-scott

[Crashem]

1) They can report it for 7 years after the DOFD.  So if this is a bill from 2001, then they can't report it on your credit report.  Doesn't mean they won't try, but legally they can't.

2) I believe if you put security freeze on your credit reports, it will stop them (not sure on this) from making hard inquiries, but it will also make it more cumbersome when apping for mortgage.

3) One option is to contact original creditor and seeing if you can resolve.  I find this works pretty well with utility companies

4) Other option is to send harsh letter back to collector threatening all sorts of stuff.  Out of SOL, out of reporting time limit, denial of the debt, threaten them with lawsuits because they pulled without permissionable purpose (don't think this is resolved legally yet if out of reporting time limit debt gives them permissionable purpose).  Make sure to tell them no contact at all aside from mail, threaten to take them to State AG, BBB, etc.

[RobertEG]

If they are still contacting you and you dont wish to hear from them, I personally would not resort to legal threats.

They are doing a legitimate job, if the debt is legitimate, and remains unpaid.

You, in turn, have legitimate rights to require them to cease communication with you.  Simply send a cease communication letter under FDCPA 809(c).

Their "inquiry" statement is undecipherable......  It does not say they have made an inquiry.  It says a CRA has "indicated" an inquiry.  I have no idea what they are saying or implying.  I guess an implied threat to make inquiries? 

If they make any inquiries after expiration of the CR exclusion period, the only way such an inquiry would be authorized is if they had permissible purpose of collection on a debt.  With expiration of the CR exclusion period for the collection, it could arguably be asserted that the CRA must exclude any such inquiry from your CR, as it would constitute reference to an excluded item of information.

A debt collector can continue to report their collection to the CRAs forever.  The FCRA places no restriction on the reporting of accurate information.

CR exclusion is the obligation of the CRAs, not the furnishers of information.  They report, and if the CR exclusion period has expired, the CRA blocks it from inclusion in your CR.