I am not a lawyer, I have no real credit expertise (as you will plainly see, once you read this), but I finally decided to get serious about this part of my life, and this is what's going on and why I haven't been here all day.
Out of the blue a few days back, I started getting calls from some Allied Debt or something. It was a recorded call that asked me to call them back! Uh, no. And in case anyone reading this thinks I owe them money that I haven't paid in several years, you might as well know that this is not an effective means of collecting on such. But I digress. I get all sorts of these bills addressed to any number of former tenants on a weekly basis and I've been here two years, so I just assumed it was a wrong number.
Then someone called me the other day and I answered the phone. They started informing me as to how I owed them this amount on that account and I had to seriously think about it... the account in question was for something like $299 or so on a credit card. The credit card was not maxed-out, so far as I remember, but I did run into some tough times and was unable to continue paying it. This was in/around 1999-2000, and I know this because I specifically recall what I did for the New Year (hid in a reinforced bunker amidst dozens of gallons of water). Now, this chick is telling me I owe like $1100 or something!
I began telling her, "I'm pretty sure you've got the wrong guy, account, or something." Of course, she argues with me in a condescending tone - I mean real smart-assed - and keeps asking me to verify personal information, which I refused to do, and we eventually hang-up (both in disgust).
This morning, someone else calls me, stating that they are from some lawyer's office and starts giving me the same song and dance. But - now get this - they are from a different credit card company! Again, I refused to verify any personal information - not my phone number, not my address, not anything - and told her, flat-out, "Someone's tripped my name in some database or something, because I have not held a credit card since 2000 and this is 2008."
"Well, that doesn't matter."
I said, "I'm pretty sure it does."
This is when the chick got supah-mad and hung-up on me.
See, there is a statute of limitations after which these cats can no longer attempt to collect on a debt. The statute varies by state and one indicator can be found on this chart. But do not take that as the Gospel, because I have been told by more than one source that not all of these numbers are correct; the statute of limitations for my state, for example, has since changed to literally half of what is listed on this chart! Still, according to this chart, their chance expired at least 1-2 years ago; according to the new information I uncovered for my state, they are as much as 5 years late!
Further, I informed the original creditors in writing that I disputed at least one of the debts these unknown parties are attempting to collect (at least one of these debts is being pursued by no fewer than three separate parties!). That's why I haven't heard from them in x years and why all these morons have come crawling out of the woodwork 5 years too late! See, they just let it drift until they no longer had to provide the original documents because they did not want their practices dragged into the light of day and once they could no longer legally collect on the debt, they charged it off and sold it to a "junk" company for a slashed rate. The junk company can try to collect the debt, but there really isn't much they can do aside from negatively reporting it to the credit agencies.
Here is the actual Fair Debt Collection Act. Now, here is one way you can fight these debt collection agencies, who are literally just buying "junk" for pennies on the dollar and trying to harass and/or intimidate you into paying a debt that is far beyond the statute of limitations.
Regardless, debt collection agencies are not the original creditor and, technically, you owe them nothing. They "bought" the debt from the original creditor and if they lose money - good. After seven years, they cannot report the debt to any credit agency. If they do, you can usually write to the credit reporting agency and force them to remove it.
Again, do not rely on this information! Do your own research and determine what is best for you. None of this may apply to your situation and, even if it all does, you may find a more effective means of dealing with it.
If anyone else has some more advice/resources to share on this subject, I would really appreciate it - and I'm sure many other readers would, too!
© C Harris Lynn, 2008
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