Expert: Chris Ebert - 12/3/2010

Question
in 1997 I was a freshman in college and used PACBELL for longdistance. By my own admission I made poor choices and did not pay the final bill after freshman year. It went into collections and in about 1998.1999 i paid the outstanding debt balance (under $100) via check by phone and considered the matter closed. a couple months ago i started getting feeler calls from MCM trying to determine if i was the right person and have me confirm my social which i wouldnt do. They gave me my current address and told me they were tyring to collect on behalf of PACBELL for a balance on my current address dating back to 2002, I said I didnt live there in 2002 so it must be the wrong person I told them if they have any other concerns send me a letter. They continued to call morning noon and night only to be greeted by my voicemail - never leaving a message. then the phone calls started coming from FBSC again going to voicemail. Finally yesterday i answered and they told me they were trying to collect a debt. I asked what the date of the debt was they said it was past due in 2002.

1) that can't be as PACBELL didnt exhist as PACBELL after 2000
2) I definitely did not have any debts after 2000

I told the caller that is beyond the SOL and was told statute of limitation applied only to my credit report but they could still collect. To which I intended to ask they send me a letter but was filibustered and told they will put on the account that I refused to pay my debt citing statute of limitations. I again tried to talk and was talked over "thats ok, thatso I will make a note on the account that you refuse to pay citing statute of limitations." to which I tried to reply but was hung up on.

That night (yesterday) I came home to a letter from them trying to collect on behalf of MCM for PACBELL in the ammount of $300 something. I have no idea where that number came from or what my next step should be.

Im 32 now and paid this off when I was about 20 via check by phone and have changed banks since then. I have moved from Arizona (where the debt was made) to California (where they call me now) I have no records going back a decade and no proof this was settled. I have worked very very hard to correct my bad credit habits from college and happily have a perfect clean credit report and high scores. Im worried these aggressive collectors who know the system better than I do will again taint my credit on a debt I know to have been settled a decade ago.

What if anything can i do? do i suck it up and pay this ransom in exchange for them releasing my anxiety over my affected credit?

please help!

Answer
Caryn,

The simple answer is that they can not post the debt on the credit report again. They can however mail you and call you until you are on your death bed unless you tell them to go away.

The surest way to tell them to go away is to send them a letter via certified mail which includes a statement that this debt is beyond the 7 year SOL for reporting on your credit report and that they are to never contact you again about this debt. They may sell the debt on to someone else.

Chris Ebert
http://www.henleycreditlaw.com