I received a letter from a collection agency but I think there might be a mistake. What should I do?
April 16, 2010 by admin
Filed under Commercial Collection Agencies
It was sent from the Commercial Collection Service, Inc. in Santa Rose, CA. Apparently I owe $66.50 to something but I’m not exactly sure what it is. All it says in the description is: “Unbelievable.”
I tried calling them but no one answered. All I received was an automated message telling me to leave my contact info. The debt date was 04-30-07, but I just received the letter today.
They have not made any calls yet (are they suppose to by now?) and this is the only letter I have received.
What happens if I don’t pay this “debt?”
How can they actually lower my credit score when they don’t have my other personal information. How would they attain other info when all they have is my name and address?
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If you don’t owe it, don’t pay it. If you do owe it, pay it. Write to them and ask them for details.
If you don’t pay the debt off it will cause your credit score to go down. I would recommend getting a copy of your report on a site like annualcreditreport.com. It will list everything on your report and who to contact. I would file a dispute claim with the collection agency and then call the credit bureau explaining you’re filing a dispute. The original company you supposedly owe the money to has 30 days to send you a copy of the debt or they have to take it off your report. If after 30 days you receive nothing, call the credit bureau and tell them that and it’ll be taken off.
collection agencies are a b***h to deal with, and usually report you to the credit bureaus no matter what you do. I would wait a month, check your credit report for the charges, and dispute it. I have gotten a ton of stuff(that was actually valid) removed from my report this way.
Send a letter of verification of debt with return receipt requested.They will have 30 days to send you proof you owe that debt
Get a copy of your credit history from Equifax or the other two services and check it. These services can clear bad credits if you have proof. Collection agencies troll for payments by sending bills they hope you’ll pay without checking. Don;t go back to agency before researching it yourself.
The recieved your info when they recieved your debt from the original creditor. So that is how they would report you and in turn lower your credit score.
What you need to do is request a “debt validation” the link in my source will provide you with step by step description of how to do this right.
If they cannot prove the debt legitimate then you will need to get it removed from your credit report as well.
Send them a CERTIFIED letter asking to explain what the debt is. Keep your reciept to prove you sent the letter.
Either they will reply to you or they will not. If they don’t, then don’t worry about it.