Expert: Ray A Miller - 3/8/2011

Question
I obtained a cell phone with this company and had a two year contract. After a year, I added another line for a friend who was responsible for paying his portion of the bill. After he lost his employment he was not capable of paying the high balance..neither was I. I requested to close the account. The account remained opened for two additional months resulting in a higher balance than originally owed. The cell phone company transferred the account to a third party collection agency acting on their behalf to collect the debt. The collection agency first attempt at contacting me threaten to report the debt to the credit bureaus, was extremely rude after I dispute the actual amount refusing to give me a final statement outlining the charges, and verbally threatened to disclose my debt information to my employer stating that I would be violating some law if I failed to transfer their call. After receiving a notice from the collection agency, I asked if they could validate this debt. In addition, I filed a dispute with the FTC, Attorney General's Office, OFR, and FCC in my state. The investigation lasted approximately two months and the OFR in my state concluded that no further legal action is warranted after a statement was received from the collection agency outlining lies and displaying me as rude and uncooperative. The letter also stated the the collection agency closed my account and transferred it to the original creditor. The collection agency failed to validate the debt within the 30 day period resulting in all attempts to collect on the debt invalid. However, can a collection agency transfer the account back to the original creditor in the state of Florida?

Answer
I hope you kept your paperwork because the credit bureau can and will return the debt to the original creditor.  Be sure the original creditor gets a copy of everything you have concerning this account.  That should be enough to keep them at bay.  Good luck with this.