Bill from 2001 PAYED but no records any longer... was sent to debt collector - HELP

[Anonymous]

A phone bill from 2001 (Verizon) that was paid but we no longer have the records... we just received a letter saying they will settle for half of the ammount. It is not much (less than $200.00), but it WAS PAID. What should we do?

[Anonymous]

Can you go back to your bank and request records if paid by check or direct debit?

[Anonymous]

I don't think banks keep records for that long...do they? I thought WE didn't have to keep records for over 5 years (besides taxes of course).

[Anonymous]

A debtor has no legal recourse with a bill that old. The statute of limitations has run and they have no right to sue you. Firmly inform the debt collector that you are not paying ANY of it.

[Anonymous]

Excuse me that should have been "a debt collector has no legal recourse."

These people prey on the ignorance of the public...they buy up old bills for a few cents on the dollar and try to collect on them.

[Anonymous]

My husband is a lawyer and told me to ignore calls about crazy old bills (that we had paid - or because the bank didn't close an account that was suppose to be closed, they charged us some minimal fee so it went negative). I was very nervous. But the calls stopped.

[Anonymous]

You might look into contacting the Better Business Bureau, FTC or state attorney general's office.

[Anonymous]

You can actually sue the person/company who is trying to collect the debt from you are so inclined. Once the statute of limitations passes, they have no right to try to collect the debt and you can collect $1k for each action that violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

[Anonymous]

Do you have a credit report from any year between now and then?

I had this happen to me - only it was Nextel - and WON. They hit my credit with a collection and I got a notice. However, I had Equifax credit reports that showed I owed nothing on those accounts. I opened up an Equifax investigation on the phone company. In my written statement, I wrote a lot, but pointedly "Why would I, who pays all bills on time, and as someone with a 750+ credit score, not pay a bill from 5 years ago? Why would I especially not pay something from a collection agency?" I also included PDFS to show the account with a $0 next to it as what I "owed" - if I had a balance from years ago, it wouldn't have been zero.

I concurrently opened a BBB investigation on the collection agency AND Nextel.

I am not sure what worked but the WHOLE thing was dropped off of my credit report. I mean, as if it never existed. I was buying a house that year and was super upset b/c my scored dropped dramatically.

Hope that helps!

[Anonymous]

What is the statute of limitations on old bills? I got one for about 20 bucks from a debt collector from Dominion Power a few months ago. It was from 2003 and like OP I thought I had paid.

[Anonymous]

OP, do not pay this bill or agree to pay! If you do you may reopen the statute of limitations, meaning the debt becomes collectable again. Just like a PP said, deny the bill in writing to the collector and don't do anything else.