Expert: Creditwrench - 5/28/2008

Question
We moved from Virginia to California in 2005 and closed all of our active utility accounts as always.  In December 2007 we received a letter from a debt collector indicating that we had a judgment against us for a debt to Verizon (less than $40) for an unpaid bill from when we lived in Virginia.  We disputed this because we feel that we closed our account with Verizon appropriately, and never received a bill or notice of late payment from Verizon.  We never heard from this debt collector after sending them this written dispute.  Today we got a letter from a different debt collector attempting to collect on the same mistaken claim of debt.  We have chosen not to pay this bill so far for three reasons: 1) We don't believe it is a valid debt; 2) Since it had gone to collections by the time we first heard about it, our credit report was smeared anyway; 3) We felt that it might make it worse from a credit standpoint to pay because we would be admitting that we had a legitimate bill that we did not pay.  What is your recommendation?  It would be easier in some sense to just pay it to get the harassment to stop, but we don't believe we actually owe the money.  This is a concern to us because other than this we always had, have, and will have perfect credit.  We're the types who pay bills early just in case.  Any ideas you have on this would be appreciated.

Answer
All I can really tell you at this time is if it were me I sure would not pay it and for exactly the same reasons you have outlined.

Bill Bauer
405-684-9297
405-227-9423

The Creditwrench conference calls will start this coming Friday evening at 7 P.M. Central time. It is free and open to the public. There is no cost or obligation other than what it may cost you for the phone call itself. You can join in and ask questions or just listen or whatever you want to do.

Dial-in Number: (712) 432-1601
Access code: 508548#

You might also want to visit our message forum at http://consumers.creditwrench.com to get answers to questions you need answered before next Friday night.

If you live within driving distance of Oklahoma City you can also come to our monthly meeting of the Oklahoma City Chapter of Jurisdictionary meetings. They are held on the 2nd Thursday of each month at Coit's Root Beer Stand which is located on the corner of SW 24th & Western Ave in Oklahoma City. The meetings start promptly at 7:00 P.M. and last for 2 hours. Attendees usually arrive about half an hour early so they can enjoy a good meal at Coit's Root Beer Stand. The meetings are free and open to the public and we can discuss your problems as well if you like.

We are going to start holding mock trials so that you can learn some court room procedures.