Hey everyone, I just found this site while trying to find the answer to my question online. Hoping someone here can answer my question... I know when a collection agency acquires a debt they have to send you a letter and give you 30 days to respond. However, I ran my credit report on July 19th just to see my score. On the 30th I had some time to take a closer look to see all the accounts and I saw a collection on there from Debt Recovery Solutions... it has been reporting since 10/2007. The original creditor is a company I have never heard of (Embarq?) and they are saying it is an account from 2004. At first I confused it with another debt that I already paid Debt Recovery Solutions 1 year ago (similar amounts). So, I called them to find out why they were still reporting that I never paid... meanwhile I still have the original letter stating that I paid them. They told me it was a different account and that they are going to send me all the proof within 20 days. I received a letter from them that was dated July 28th (so that was a few days before I even called them and it was sent to my old address) saying I have 30 days to respond if the debt is not valid. So basically it is the introduction letter saying they acquired the debt and that they are trying to collect. I am going to send a letter back to them in response to this letter telling them to validate the debt... that way it is in all in writing. So, my question is... How are they able to report this on my credit since 10/2007 without sending me that letter first. Don't they have to send me that letter first and give me 30 days to respond before reporting to my credit? Thanks!
Once any collection goon gets any account, by either buying the account or being assigned to them they immediately report them to the CRAs - just to ruin your credit history. But they take their time actually hounding you.
It's not illegal, and not at all unusual. The division of Sprint that provided local telephone service (not wireless) was spun off to form a new company, and that became Embarq. Did you ever have Sprint as your phone company? Go ahead and send the collection agency a DV letter. State that you have not received any notifications from their company and the first you heard of the account was when you reviewed your credit report.
As long as they can prove it was sent to an address that you once lived at, they have done their due diligence. It's not right, but basically they can pull any address from your credit report history, send it there, and call it a day. Remember the CA's are L-A-Z-Y! They are minimum wage and maximum pain in the arse!
Not only L-A-Z-Y but crooks. Most are probably high school dropouts who were hired after serving prison sentences.
The original amount I paid (in full) to Debt Recovery Solutions was for an account I had with Sprint. How can they change their name and try to collect twice? I guess I will have to wait for their response to the DV letter. I cannot believe how ridiculous these collection agency's get.
