15 years ago I had a little Speigal card that went bad. I paid it off about 10 years ago. I have no record of this. Today, I get an "anonomous" call and the lady says that she is with NCO on behalf of Cap. One. I instantly freaked out because I have a current cap one card that I have had for 2 years with a balance under $10 that is perfectly paid that I have been hoping is helping my score. She says that I bounced a payment in Jan. and April. I asked her why I am just hearing of this now as it is the end of Aug?? I asked her how come on my cap one statements my balance is paid in full every month and the account has never had a late payment. She says "oh, this is for an old Speigal account. Not a current Cap One card." So, she basically tricked me into talking to her about this account. Does that restart the Statute of limitations clock?? I told her that this was a 15 year old debt that I believe that I paid off 10 years ago. She said that if I had paid it off, it wouldnt have been sent to collections. I told her that collection departments do make mistakes and hung up. Nothing from this is on my credit report. I have worked so hard to have a report that is totally clean except for 2 old paid collections that fall off this coming spring. Please tell me that I didnt restart any clock and that NCO will not be able to now add this onto my credit reports. I have heard that they are monsters.
If you told her you believe you paid it off, you are hardly "acknowledging" a debt. On the contrary, you have just disputed it in its entirety. "bounced a payment in Jan. and April": Use of deception in an attempt to collect a debt. Misrepresenting the legal status of a debt. Misrepresenting that it is owed. Misrepresenting that it is within SOL. If she obtained your current Cap One information by her deception, use of deceptive pretexting to obtain financial information. If she then uses it to charge that account to pay this alleged "debt", without your agreement, various forms of telephone fraud and credit card theft. In some states, restarting SOL requires explicit written acknowledgement by the consumer, after being informed of rights. It is not an "accident". Did she claim the debt was within SOL, or that you had restarted it? I am not an attorney, but that is my understanding.
Unless they have extraordinary circumstances, this is a tradeline outside of SOL. That means they can't sue or record to credit agencies. If you want them to leave you alone, a cease and desist letter will permanently end lawful contact between this CA and you on this account. The account might get resold to another CA later, but NCO has NO threats to hit you with. My guess is they're just dunning you on junk debt they bought, hoping you're a big enough fool to pay on debt you don't have to. Unless Capital One is in some way related to this account, perhaps having bought credit accounts from Spiegal, this lady committed fraud. I would go ahead and hit NCO with an FDCPA lawsuit, but that's because I'm a jerk and hate NCO, not because the judgement $$ would be worth my time.
At this point, have you only been contacted by NCO via this one phone call, with no letter? If so, they have 5 days to send you a letter that also notifies you of your right to dispute the debt. How did she identify this debt? Did she give you the account number and original creditor? Did you give her any information about your Cap One account that you thought she was calling regarding?
