How would you handle a collections agency who wrongfully accuses you as charging something that you didnt do?
488183
You need to contest the debt in writing. If you do not do so within 30 days, they can proceed with the collection, although if you missed the deadline you should still send the letter. The address to send you letter should be in the written notice you were sent. If you have not received a written notice, demand one next time they call. Tell them you will not discuss the issue further until you have received the written notice.\n\nIt is best to handle all of these conversations in writing. If you agree to something on the phone, followup with a letter detailing your understanding of the agreement.\n\nMake sure you write the letter in a professional, non-emotional manner. The fact that the process makes you angry does not belong in any correspondence with them, stick to the facts of the matter. Keep copies of everything you send and everything they send to you.\n\nThey have to show by a preponderance of the evidence that you incurred the debt (not beyond a reasonable doubt as in criminal cases).\n\nIf you are unable to resolve the issue and you still believe you are right, you may need to retain a lawyer. Because of this, if the amount is small, it may be better to simply settle. You can negotiate settlement with them including having the report removed from your credit report. They don't want to go to court either.
38822
call the company and explain they should not charge you
732562
you are right on track.this one is a slam dunk.though you are doing every thing right you need to contact your attorney generals office because she is adopting unfair and illegal business practices.this PERSON IS HAVING SERIOUS FINANCIAL PROBLEMS AND IS TRYING TO TAKE IT OUT ON YOU,You sound like you have enough fight in you.go get her.If I were you I would start by sending her a certified letter indicating intent to file charges against her for double dipping,and to file a $5000 dollar small claim against her for attempt to defraud.if she goes ahead with her claim to send your "bill"to a collections agency she is only giving you additional ammunition for your claims.If this thing appears on your credit you can get it removed by showing that this is an attempt to at distortion.It will also give you the additional info.you need for a successful claim.
1105227
I need more info before giving you any good advice.  \n\nIf someone got credit in your name, and you are claiming the debt is not yours, then there is a procedure already in place regarding ID Theft.  Go to the first link below and read up.\n\nYou first need to contact the local police department and get a report.  Then you will need to contact the creditors who are after you and inform them that the debt is not yours.  Send them a copy of the police report, plus a signed and notorized affidavid saying your ID was stolen and this is not your debt.\n\nIt's up to them to prove it's yours, not the other way around! \n\nNow, to clean up your credit, examine the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the Fair and Accurate Credit Reporting Act.  These laws detail exactly what you must do.\n\nFollow these instructions carefully!\n\nSend a dispute letter to the Credit Reporting Agencies demanding that the listing be removed.\n\nSend a "demand to validate" letter to the creditor, and demand that they prove this is your debt.\n\nIf this does not solve the problem, you can sue them in small claims court.\n\nThis is exactly what happened to me.  Someone used my ID to get a Holleywood Video account and run up $300 in charges.  It went to collections agency and ended up on my credit report.\n\nI did the letter writing stuff, but they still wouldn't take the listing off.  So I went to small claims court.\n\nThe credit bureau settled for $200.  The collection agent decided to fight me, and it cost them $1000 plus court fees.  \n\nThe reason they get away with this stuff is because consumers don't understand the law!  \n\nContact me if you need more advice or support.
97740
First my battle cry....\n\nYou are about to go to war.  Do not fight these guys unarmed!  Your weapon is knowledge of the law!  Go to the link below and read up on the Fair Debt Collections Act.\n\nThe debt collectors are armed...they know these laws.  \n\nStopping the calls is easy.  Use the sample letters below, and send them a CERTIFIED letter.  It's not necessary to get a return receipt, you just need to prove you sent it.  If they continue to bother you then sue them!\n\nThere are other ways, but without knowing more about the who's and why's they are bothering you I can't help.  \n\nI am not a lawyer or a credit counsoler.  I am someone who has been down this path and counsoled others in dealing with these jerks.\n\nIf you need help or encouragement contact me.
771864
Call the company and explain the situation.  They can often reverse the charge on your account when you correct the situation.  Most places are reasonable.
11083
It would be hard to deal with without a lawyer.  The simplest thing would be to show the proof, document it, and threaten to sue if they collect from you wrongfully.  If they did so after you had given them proof they likely would be liable for much more than the amount taken.  But if that didn't scare them off, you'd still need a lawyer.  You should also make sure the credit reporting agencies haven't acted on the same bad information, and make sure the collection agency hasn't caused your credit to be affected. Ask your lawyer about that -- the collection agency will have to have that cleaned up.\n\nBy the way, I disagree with a previous poster who wrote "Generally if someone takes you to court for some reason and loses, they are required to pay your legal costs." Unless there is a special reason, in the United States the loser does not pay the legal fees of the winning party. (Costs are technically something different than legal fees, and are much much less than legal fees.)
767057
If you are trying to say the the collection agency is trying to collect on checks that were written by the thief, send a written statement to the agency, return receipt requested, informing them that you dispute the debt, that the checks do not bear your signature and that you believe they have no cause to seek payment from you.  Let them know that the checks were signed by the thief who went to prison for that offese. They should then try to verify the existence of the debt and should leave you alone.  On the other hand, if the debts are unrelated to the checks, you should probably do nothing because the statute of limitations has probably expired and any contact may revive the debt.  In that case, if they sue you, you will need to assert the statute of limitations as a defense and for that you will need an attorney.
1152052
I live in Florida and I worked for an apartment complex for a couple of months.  If people broke their lease and would come to explain why, we would still charge them but we would give them like 60 days to pay before we sent it to a collection agency.
317036
Here is a method I used once to get rid of a legitimate debt that I owed. You may be ablet to adapt this and use it for yourself. \n\nI owed a $485 bill to AT&T that I refused to pay until they took down a cell phone tower that had been illegally erected right next to someone's back yard. Of course they ignored me, so I ignored them right back and things went round and round for a few years like that. finally the debt was sold to a collection agency and then to another one and finally to one in Florida. Up to this point none of them had reported it to any of the credit bureaus. Suddenly one day, there it was! A festering puss-filled sore right in the middle of my credit report! I immediately wrote a letter to the collection agency saying that the debt was not mine, that this was an old debt (by now it was over five years) that was being shopped around until they could stick it on somebody. I told them this was very damaging to my credit, that I had no other late payments, and I demanded they remove it immediately. Also, I said, at the time this debt was incurred there had been two other people living in the same county as me with exactly the same name as me, and it must have belonged to one of them. Again I demanded that they remove this thing from my credit report. About two weeks later I got a very apologetic letter from them saying how sorry they were for the mistake and yes it would be removed from my credit report immediately. It was and I never heard from anyone about this again.\n\n"Hell no," said Tom. "I'm not paying this. You can take this bill and shove it!"
643722
cancell the card like now...and check if they billed you. If they did report as fraud. Get a new credit card
929819
Under no circumstances should you fail to show up in court to answer the complaint.\n\nIf this is an old debt you should go to court and demand proof that you are the person who contracted the debt.  They must have the original paperwork showing you opened the account, with your signature, and that you are responsible for the debt.\n\nIf they are able to prove it's your account you should insist that the statue of limitations for collecting the dept has expired.  Google "debt statute of limitations (name of your state)"  Normally after a couple years, with no payments from you, the debt can no longer be collected.\n\nMany times bottom-feeders buy up old debt for pennies on the dollar.  Many times they don't have any of the original account documentation and many times the statute of limitations has expired.  They sue all the debtors knowing that most will not show up in court to contest it. They get judgments by default which can then be enforced whether the original debt was collectible or not.
863159
There are two options with this. Your account was given back to the original creditor or another \ncollection agency has taken over the accounts.\nCheck with the company you owe the money to. If they\ndon't have the account you can either keep quiet and\ncross your fingers that the account has been lost or just wait and see if another collection agency\ncontacts you.
1093197
I would contact the better business bureau and place a negative report on their business. Next I would contact the credit card agency and ask them how to dispute this charge. Since this is from December 05 you might have a hard time getting them to do anything since that is almost 6 months ago.\n\nAs far as small claims court goes, you have 2 choices in filing a case. You can report it in your precinct where you live and if they will not go across state, which i do not understand as i have done this several times with medical collections....then you can file in the precinct where the business resides. You would need to call the county clerk for that county or the sherriff's dept and they can tell you which precinct that address would fall under. Best of luck.
1083735
I would call a lawyer for a free counsutation about this. They may be charging you because you were directly involved in the jobs, doing the work.
217507
You can challenge items that appear on your credit report by disputing it with the credit reporting agency.  Go on-line to a credit reporting agency like Experian or TransUnion.  You will have to pay to get your credit report.  If there are items that you believe should not be there, you can click the "dispute" icon if you are on the internet.  Or, if you call them you can dispute it that way.  The credit reporting agency then has to investigate the inaccuracy.  If the company that says you have bad credit with them is unable to provide the credit reporting agency with any support for its report, then the credit reporting agency must delete the negative item.
290012
Okay there is really nothing you can do except dispute it until to comes into a collection agency. Not accepting the invoice will not help. Get it, and keep it. Document your dispute send him  by sending letters (certified). Also did you sign anything accepting the servies? if so get copies of everything. Keep your cool, he cannot threaten you with action he doesn't intend to take! After he sends you to a collection agency the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) kicks in and there is certain things that must happen. \nthe collection agency must verify that teh debt is good and current.\nAlso You will have a 30 day disputing period from the time the coll agency contacts you to dispute the bill, it must be marked disputed on your credit report by the coll. agency. If he cannot prove it's legitimacy to the coll. agency too. It must be canceled off your credit report and the coll. cannot persue it. a dn tehn hes pretty SOL- you can also take him to court after all this if it is false for deformation of charicter.\n\n-Hope that helps a bit