Legal Dispute Over Old Credit Card Debt

Author: parrothead86
Joined: 22 Apr 2004
Posts: 55
Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 11:52 am
Post subject: H.H. Bank makes me CRAZY!!

I have a perfect credit report for the last 4 years, except for one Household bank account. It is four years old and the original debt was $300. It is reporting that the current amount owed is $950. I have a credit score of 600 and the fico score estimator says that if I fix this one thing.. it will make my score go up between 80-120 points!! ( can this be right?) So, a guy comes to my door on SUNDAY and delivers what look to be court papers on this account.. only now the amount owed is $1800!! (on a $300 debt!) But there is no court date,,, So, I try several times to call the number on these papers, and always get a machine so I leave messages, but never get call backs. SO,,, I try calling HHBank and they say ( after staying on hold for half an hour, and getting disconnected twice) that they" dont have that account, it doesnt exist, have a nice day " and hang up. What can I do???? I want to pay this and have it deleted,, or at least showing as paid!! I am totally at a loss. If the score estimator is correct,, or even half correct, getting this one thing fixed would make a HUGE difference in my life!!!\ ANy ideas?

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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2148
Location: Illinois
Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 1:43 pm

Have you tried disputing this one yet with any of the CRAs (as not mine) see if this business is verifying. I would think if they can't find the account in their records it should be a done deal to dispute off of the credit report. It might also mean that they extracted the account out of their system because it is now sold to this other collection company / attorney. That is not easy to determine - collection agencies are usually not willing to confirm one way or the other if they now own the account. Will try to see if can figure that out.

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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 715
Location: NJ
Posted: Sat May 15, 2004 6:43 am

What kind of court papers? It sounds like you have been served with a subpeona requiring a court appearance to answer charges brought against you by the collection agency. Please be VERY careful here. If I'm right this is a really serious matter. If you miss a scheduled court appearance, right or wrong the collection agency can and will obtain a judgement against you in absentia for the full amount of the debt, plus interest and court costs. They can then legally go after any and all of your assets to the extent of the judgement. They can have your wages garnished, get a lein against your house, freeze bank accounts, etc. Please pay IMMEDIATE attention to this, even before disputing the legitimacy of the claim. If you're not sure, have someone else look over the documents and explain them to you.

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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2148
Location: Illinois
Posted: Sat May 15, 2004 9:54 am

Thanks Ira, I missed that, What state are you from parrothead86 - with the court papers, you need to file a response to the court house, need to appear on that date. Need to mail back a letter to them requesting debt validation, showing how they come up with the amount they are saying which you owe. If you can't obtain this by court, then ask the judge for discovery to get the company to comply with giving you this information.

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