dabuddha
Lifer
Story:
I received a letter yesterday from a collection agency. They claim that Sprint has sent my account for collections for ~$33. I asked him when did this supposed account close and he tells me March of 2000. So of course I asked him why are they sending me a bill 3 years after the fact when I have never heard a peep from them. (For the record, back in 2000 I lived at home with my parents so it can't be a long distance bill since the phone lines in my dad's name. I've never used a phone card and my Sprint PCS account is closed and paid for from last October) I've been on the phone with Sprint for almost 2 hours now being passed from one CSR to another. No one can seem to find anything regarding this charge. I finally got ahold of someone from the billing dept and they tried to lookup the account with my old home number, my name, and my social security number. No go. I'm very reluctant to pay the collection agency because I never did rack up this charge. And I'm suspicious because the guy kept telling me the best thing to do is just pay it regardless if I owe the money or not. I told him I'd like to dispute it and his response was it'd have to go on my credit report. He said if I pay it, it won't go on my credit report. Is there any type of statute of limitations regarding this sort of thing? Any suggestions? It's not a lot of money but its the principle of the matter. It feels like extortion if you ask me. And it really sucks because I just paid off all of my credit card debt 2 months ago and now this crap.
Summary:
[*]Collection agency claims I owe money from March 2000
[*]Called Sprint and no one seems to know anything about it
[*]Collection agency tells me to pay or it'll go on my credit report
Update
Well equifax said they never received any response from Sprint Long Distance so they've removed the charge from my credit report. But now the other company, Afni Inc., has placed the charge on my credit report! I started an investigation on this as well. The CSR told me I have to contact Experian and TransUnion myself to dispute the Sprint charge. This is getting more and more difficult. And she told me Sprint can re-enter the charge anytime legally. WTF am I supposed to do about that.
I received a letter yesterday from a collection agency. They claim that Sprint has sent my account for collections for ~$33. I asked him when did this supposed account close and he tells me March of 2000. So of course I asked him why are they sending me a bill 3 years after the fact when I have never heard a peep from them. (For the record, back in 2000 I lived at home with my parents so it can't be a long distance bill since the phone lines in my dad's name. I've never used a phone card and my Sprint PCS account is closed and paid for from last October) I've been on the phone with Sprint for almost 2 hours now being passed from one CSR to another. No one can seem to find anything regarding this charge. I finally got ahold of someone from the billing dept and they tried to lookup the account with my old home number, my name, and my social security number. No go. I'm very reluctant to pay the collection agency because I never did rack up this charge. And I'm suspicious because the guy kept telling me the best thing to do is just pay it regardless if I owe the money or not. I told him I'd like to dispute it and his response was it'd have to go on my credit report. He said if I pay it, it won't go on my credit report. Is there any type of statute of limitations regarding this sort of thing? Any suggestions? It's not a lot of money but its the principle of the matter. It feels like extortion if you ask me. And it really sucks because I just paid off all of my credit card debt 2 months ago and now this crap.
Summary:
[*]Collection agency claims I owe money from March 2000
[*]Called Sprint and no one seems to know anything about it
[*]Collection agency tells me to pay or it'll go on my credit report
Update
Well equifax said they never received any response from Sprint Long Distance so they've removed the charge from my credit report. But now the other company, Afni Inc., has placed the charge on my credit report! I started an investigation on this as well. The CSR told me I have to contact Experian and TransUnion myself to dispute the Sprint charge. This is getting more and more difficult. And she told me Sprint can re-enter the charge anytime legally. WTF am I supposed to do about that.
