Collection Laws

Oh and what is 15USC1692g(b)??

"15USC1692g(b) is a reference to a Federal law. Title 15 of the United States Code (USC), Section 1692g, paragraph (b).

That actual section of law can be found here .

It reads "(b) Disputed debts
If the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the
thirty-day period described in subsection (a) of this section that
the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, or that the consumer
requests the name and address of the original creditor, the debt
collector shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed
portion thereof, until the debt collector obtains verification of
the debt or a copy of a judgment, or the name and address of the
original creditor, and a copy of such verification or judgment, or
name and address of the original creditor, is mailed to the
consumer by the debt collector."

If they didn't provide you with the name/address of the original creditor or information identifying a court judgement then they aren't in compliance with Federal law. They don't have to provide an itemized breakdown of the charges - they only have to tell you the name/address of the creditor.

And then you can contact the original creditor to find out what the charges are.

(Good job fishin')

Did and they told me they "didn't know" because the system had been purged when the account was sold. I WILL NOT pay for something that they can't tell me what it is for. When I asked "so you want me to just pay this money because you said so?" And the girl on the phone said, "yes".

So, if they don't have to provide the itemized statment, how do they know that the phone calls in question are even mine?

I think that if this went ot court, I would have some legal ground. I can argue that I never made those calls, or ran up that bill. Since they have no documentation that the calls even exist, how can they prove that they do?

True.

Plus, if the account was "sold" to a collections agency, the original creditor should no longer have a claim.

Problem is whther or not you want it on your credit record. That's where they get by with so much. They know they have you either way.

I've spent a good 8 months trying to get rid of a collection agency claim on my daughter who is only 16. They claim that at 14 1/2 ish she received CD's in the mail (unsolicited) and didn't pay for them. DUH!

I never saw them come in the mail, but they still won't remove the claim or correct the credit report.

Check the statue of limitations in your state. And see if they can still bug you for the money. Also, after 7 years, it drops of the credit report. I'd check out everything you can. Who knows...you might have a case.


I figure I don't have anything to lose. If I don't say anything I have to pay it. If I say something and they tell me I'm nuts, I have to pay it. But if I get lucky and they can't come up with the info and don't want to bother with it, I might not have to pay. The small chance of this going away is enough to make me write another letter.

There is a lot of scam going around with collection agencies
demanding money for bogus charges. They can be very
intimidating and persistent.

Just write them a letter demanding an itemized statement
from the original creditor, otherwise you will consider
their phone calls and letters as harassment and will act
accordingly with a letter of complaint to the local authorities.

I'm sure you won't hear from them again.

From your comments I have to guess that you know who the original creditor is (a phone company). Since they can't provide you with a copy of the itemized calls you can write a letter to the credit reporting agencies simply saying the you've challanged the charges and the creditor has been unable or unwilling to identify why the charges are. Provide them with copies of any correspondence as well. If you can get something in writing from this creditor and can provide it to the credit reporting agencies they can either remove the negative comments from your report or at least provide your side of the story and let future creditors decide for themselves. The credit reporting agencies should have instructions on all of this on their WWW sites.

Thanks guys!

Missing the point.
I don't mean to disparage the comments of anyone. All of the comments are excellent but I do think you are all missing one important point here and that is whether or not Bella Dea has any responsibility to pay in the first place. I say that she very well may not have any responsibility whatever.

Parents do have responsibility to pay for the essential of life for their children but unless the items purchased by the minor child were actually related to or demanded by the childs school for some educational purpose or were somehow realted to health issues or were for such things as food, clothing or shelter the parent has no responsibility to pay for things the child might decide it wants to order without the parents knowing consent.

The idea of pleading a Statute of Limiitations defense in case of a plaintiff filing a suit is, of course excellent but one first of all must know when the last payment date which was not met fell due then add 30 days to that and you have the start of the tolling of the Statute of limitations in most states.

The date when the statute of limitations has run can best be determined by going to your local law library and looking it up. A faster and almost equally reliable way to look it up is to go to Webpage Link and they have the listings for all states. Lawdog is about the most reliable and easiest to use source of information available on the net that I know of.

Quite often folks are confused by the fact that there is a different SOL for contracts of adhesion such as credit cards or other open ended contracts or agreements and regular contracts such as mortgages or contracts to purchase vehicles or other non-revolving type contracts or agreements.

The statute of limitations having run it's course does not mean that the creditor cannot sue you because he can and quite often does and wins judgment even though the SOL has long ago run it's course, sometimes by 10 to 20 years and getting sued for old debts is becoming much more prevalent all the time due to the rapid expansion of junk debt buyers who thrive on such indebtedness. Those who do so are scumbagd in my opinion and equally so in the opinions of millions of Americans. I also think of debt collectors in general as muttonheads LOL. That is because most of them are not the sharpest tools in the shed by any stretch of the imagination.

In the event that you are sued in a situation where the SOL has run you must file a motion to dismiss with prejudice for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted with the court in order to win the case.

That is an unbeatable defense if indeed the statute has run out on them.

Obviously that is the correct response because if the law says the debt cannot be collected and is now uncollectable then the court cannot grant them the relief they seek. But you do have to plead the defense or they will get their judgment.

So whether or not you are actually liable for the items your daughter ordered is a matter you should take up with a competent attorney in your local area. I am not an attorney and quite frankly I would be too ashamed to admit it if I was.

I do hope that what I have said will give you some more things to think about.