Expert: Chris Ebert - 2/4/2010

Question
As a part of my cable service I rented a cable box from my media company.  At the end of my service they sent me a pre-paid mailer to send the box back to them which I had my brother do.  The cable company claimed they never received the cable box and after a period of time turned over the bill for the cable box to a collection agency.  I was notified by the collection agency about this and I sent them a letter, in writing, stating that the cable company has admitted to me that as a policy they note the tracking number of pre-paid mailers they send out and were unable to find the tracking number for my box.  It is my belief that they may have mishandled or misplaced the box and were unable to prove to me otherwise.   As such, I was disputing the claim and any further action taken against me or contact with me without further notice from the cable company would be considered harassment.  

It is now 5 months later and I have not heard from either the collections agency of the media company.  Should I follow up? or just let it go?  I looked at my credit report and there is no notice of collection on my credit report, but I don't want this coming back and biting me at some later date.  Thanks!

Answer
Kevin,

Sometimes when a claim is disputed the debt collector will close the file and send the debt back to the original creditor. In that case the debt can go to another collection agency to deal with.

If you want this to be over permanently, then you will need to contact the original creditor and have them put the final resolution on their letter head.

Chris Ebert
http://www.henleycreditlaw.com