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Erroneous Charge Crashes Credit

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  • 01-26-2008, 06:12 PM
    JML2008
    Erroneous Charge Crashes Credit
    In Nov or Dec 2002, Sprint was my long distance carrier(Ohio). A charge for a call that was not made from my house appeared on my bill. I disputed the call with Sprint, by phone and by mail, but was assured that their computers did not make mistakes and that the call was made from my home or it wouldn't have been billed to my account. It is only myself and my husband, and neither of us made the call that was supposedly made to one of those 'middle of the ocean' phone numbers that charge $10 a minute to talk to psychics (psychos) and such.
    In May of 2003, Sprint turned the account ($113) over to NCO financial for collection. On May 27, 2003 I sent NCO the facts as I knew them, and heard nothing more from Sprint or NCO since. No letters to me, no requests for payment, no reports of any kind to any of the three main credit bureaus.
    In December 2007, Sprint evidently turned this five-year old receivable over to Harvard Collections, who has now put a 'collection account' on my credit report. My credit score has dropped from 775 to 648.
    In other treads here and in all the information I could dig up on fixing credit reports, having this item removed seems to hinge on whether it is accurate.
    No, I did not pay the $113 bill, and I never will, because it was never my liability to begin with. There was no way to prove Sprint's billing was in error then, and there sure isn't now. Is there any point in trying to dispute this with the credit bureaus? If not, will this derogatory information off my credit report after 7 yrs? Can something that has never been reported to any credit bureau for 5 years suddenly be pulled out of the hat and thrown out now?
  • 01-27-2008, 05:37 PM
    usedbranflakes
    Re: Erroneous Charge Crashes Credit
    It's outside the statute of limitations for Ohio if I am not mistaken. This means that, legally, while they could still sue you, you could go to court and provide the defense that you disputed it in writing, in the past, never recieved a response, refused to pay, and it's now outside the SOL.

    I collected in WV years ago and we pursued collections for utilities in Ohio, some that were 7-8 years old. Why? Because at 7 years they were due to drop off of people's credit report and getting a payment would: 1) re-age the account giving us another 7 years and 2) sometimes get PIF, or payment in full.

    A first party has the right to send the collection to third parties as many times as they wish and they will keep doing so. Legally, if we could not verify it or the first party could not verify it, we had to close the account at the agency and send it back to the utility or marke the collection as a "disputed collection"

    If it were me I would file a dispute with all 3 credit bureaus, sending a copy of the past letter (you did send a letter certified with a return receipt, right) to them and note that there was ZERO response from the collection agency at the time or sprint.

    Be advised that NCO does buy "junk paper" for pennies on the dollar.

    I would also file a complaint with the Ohio Attorney General. I had two complaints against me as a collector, one WV AG complaint and one Ohio AG complaint. Both were in my favor because the debtor was over 18 and I refused to tell them what it was about (if you owed a bill you knew who we were and what we were calling about...but our name didn't indicate collections (and it can't, legally).

    ...which brings me to my other point. If you get a letter from Harvard that says Harvard Collections on it, or someone leaves a message that they are from Harvard Collections on a voicemail, a good consumer attorney can usually get you $1,000 and their legal fees paid. In addition, the State AGs will force the collection agency to destroy all of their letterhead. My mom had an erroneous collection against her husband and they sent an envelope with an eagle on it. ...at the time that was a federal offense and the state AG in Missouri fined the company and seized their letterhead and envelopes.

    ...it never hurts to talk to a consumer attorney if they give you a free 15 minute consultation. You might wait an hour or two in their office, but that 15 minutes "free" might establish a relationship you could both leverage in the future.
  • 01-30-2008, 01:32 PM
    GreatGadsby
    Re: Erroneous Charge Crashes Credit
    Quote:

    Quoting usedbranflakes
    View Post

    I collected in WV years ago and we pursued collections for utilities in Ohio, some that were 7-8 years old. Why? Because at 7 years they were due to drop off of people's credit report and getting a payment would: 1) re-age the account giving us another 7 years and 2) sometimes get PIF, or payment in full.

    that is BS that collectors spew all the time. making a payment to a Collection agency does not change the date of first delinquency which is what determines how long the acct can stay on your report. read the FCRA.
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