First of all I want to say hello to everyone... I've been reading this board for several weeks and decided to open an account and post my first post. Here is my dilemma... Back in 1999 my mom had a JCPenny account that she couldn't pay due to bad financial troubles. She had used it to buy me some clothes so I told her that I would pay it for her since she couldn't. During one of the routine calls that JCPenny made to her she told them that I would pay her bill for her and she gave them my phone number. They called me and said she directed them to me and I told them they could fax me or mail me a copy of her bill and I would get her the money to pay it. Well, I never received that fax or copy in the mail. Instead they took her entire account and placed it on my credit report as derogatory and then a few months later "charged off". Since that time when they started calling me to try to collect the money I would tell them it was *not* my account and that they needed to prove to me it was mine since I had never applied for a JCPenny's card in my life. They would always tell me they would get the proof and "prove you are lying". Needless to say, they never did provide me with that information and continued to refuse to fix the problem. They eventually sent it to GE Capital for collection and I attempted to resolve the situation through them. They always told me the same thing... they would get proof from JCPenny. Well, they never did. I have also tried to dispute the accounts with the credit reporting agencies in the past with no luck. My question is... WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW? I need to get this taken off my credit reports as it is without a doubt not my account and I'm sure a charge off is a major setback in a credit score. Any advice is appreciated. Oh, and if I've done something I shouldn't have done during my quest to fix this, forgive me. It was way before I found these boards. Thanks.
Don't talk to them on the phone anymore. Send the collection agency a validation letter (do a search and you'll find several--tailor them to your own words and situation). Don't give them any information. Just ask them to validate the debt. Also, in your validation letter, ask them to contact you by mail only, not by phone. You could also dispute with the CRAs as "not mine." If they verify, post back and we'll give you more help. If they can't verify that it's yours, they have to delete it. Keep reading, especially the posts at the top, and you'll do fine.
