Got a collection notice. 357.00 bill for a verizon acct in ny. Not mine. Not on credit report. What do I do.?

Answer 1

If it is from a company called AFNI, it is a scam. They bought a ton of worthless charged-off debts from the mid-90s (when Verizon was acutually GTE) for pennies and now are trying to collect on it.

Please go to the budhibbs.com site, look under "Agencies to Avoid" for more information.

Then you immediately DISPUTE the debt, stating it is not yours...make them VALIDATE, or prove that the debt is yours...they can't. One misconception consumers have is that they have to be able to prove to a collection agency/Junk Debt Buyer aka bottomfeeders that they don't owe the debt...wrong! It is up to them to prove that you do, and they can't. They will try to send you a printout and try to pass that off as validation...it isn't. Email me later today, and I will send you a great validation letter to send to them.

Answer 2

I'm not sure if the CA laws are different than the US, but even if you paid the collection, legally it can stay on your credit report for 7 years after and the collection reporter is not required to remove it simply because you paid the bill, it will just show that they had a collection against you at one point and that it's status is paid. Only after 7 years pass can you request that it be removed without issue. You could however write Equifax and tell them you want to dispute that line on your credit report and here's the big thing DON'T give them any more information than that. This way they will investigate if it is valid and you have a 50/50 chance that it will be taken off your report. When they contact the company and they see it has been paid you might get lucky and they will let it come off. You can file a dispute online at their website.

Answer 3

The only way you will resolve this, is to call Verizon, calmly tell them you received a bill for a service that you do not have, and did not start. Then find out how they got your name, when the account was started, and whatever information they have.
But do NOT give them any of your personal information that they do not already have, such as your social security number, or anything like that. Find out what information they DO have.
Once my wife had lost her credit card, and had not even realized it, until I saw a charge on the bill, and asked her about the charge. When she looked for the credit card was the first that she realized she no longer had it.
Someone apparently found it, & used it to make close to $1,000.00 in purchases on a porno web site, from what we figured out from talking to the company that the charges were from.
The surprising thing was, they gave a different address, and the credit card company accepted it anyway. I know this is different from what you described, but that is why I say you need to find out what information they DO have.
There is a possibility that someone got hold of some of your information somehow, and started the account in your name. You need to try and figure out if someone else HAS actually gotten hold of your personal information, and if you can figure out WHAT information was compromised, as to try to get a handle on things, and have your account at the credit bureaus flagged if necessay, so that no more additional accounts are started in your name elsewhere as well. Here are the phone numbers for all 3 main credit reporting agencies, should you need to call them to have your account flagged:

Equifax 1-800-685-1111.
TransUnion 1- 800-916-8800.
Experian 1- 888-397-3742

You can also go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp , to get your free credit report, compliments of the U.S. government, if you have not requested it in the past year, since it should be available for free once each year. You can check your credit report, online if you would like to, so you do not have a mail delay from all three, so you can to make sure that there have not ALREADY been other accounts started in your name that you are not yet aware of, as soon as possible.
If there ARE others that show up on your credit report as well, you will then have to also contact them. The reason I am saying this, even though you mentioned the Verizon bill did not show up on youtr credit report, is because quite often, different places use only one credit bureau, instead of all three. So if you have only checked one credt bureau for the Verizon bill to show up, it may actually still be on one of the other two main creit bureaus' reports.
I hope this helps you to get a handle on things, and quickly. --Tom.

Answer 4

First of all get a copy of the exact bill!! Collection agencys sometimes can not produce this because they buy these bills. But you MUST have a copy of it to even have a fraud claim. Once you get a copy of it you can verify the dates and times and then take it to Verizon. If after you have verified it with Verizon you still claim it is not yours, only then you can go to your local fraud department within your local police and file a claim with them. Verizon may remove the charges, but I would still most definately take it to the police. Not really much they can do because it is usually done by someone out of state, but they will fax a copy of your report to the other police department. Good luck it can be a nightmare (from the voice of experience)

Answer 5

I've seen advice to call Verizon or the collection agency......you need to contact both.

Send the collection agency a letter to demand validation and dispute this debt. This will stop them from doing anything stupid like posting to your credit report (I'm betting they already have).

Then contact Verizon and see if they can straighten out their records and call off the dogs. Again, I'm betting they will continue to screw this up some more before anything gets resolved. Verizon is terrible with customer support.

Be sure to get names and dates, and follow up with a certified letter. If this isn't resolved and they trash your credit, you will need this evidence to prove you followed the dispute procedures and prove their neglect. It could be worth $1000 to you...so spend a few moments of time to document this.

Answer 6

First you will want to call verizon. It could possibly show up later on your credit report. They will give you the steps to take & also due a fraud investigation. Some one can have got your info. These days most phone companies have a way of getting service set up on-line. This way the consumer dont have to sign anything or show id.

Answer 7

Someone opened one in your name .
Report the account to your local police as ID theft then send a copy of the police report to Vz .
Save a copy of the police report in case it ever ends up on your credit report anyways .

Unfortunately , cell phone salesmen want the commissions & can be very lax on checking the info .

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Answer 8

Call Verizon first, explain the situation. Ask for a copy of your signed contract, which they will not be able to provide, they should not make you pay it in good faith. This similar situation happened to me with a cable bill and this was the result. Good luck.

Answer 9

Depending on the state, if you write them and tell them that this is not your account, you've never lived there, etc, they cannot bother you for it again. Then again, you could just ignore it. Watch your credit report to make sure it doesn't show up and keep the letter.

Answer 10

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