I have paid every bill in my life on time, but when Sprint charged me $400 for ending a 2 year contract with them, I refused to pay it. I wrote a letter explaining my position to sprint and to the first collection agency. The bottom line is that I never signed a 2 year agreement. I signed a 1-year. When my phones arrived and did not work, I had to send them back. They cancelled my account and apparently signed me up for a 2 year agreement - but I did not agree to this and didn't even know about it.
I don't have any paperwork stating that I had a 1 year agreement, or a 2 year. I asked sprint to provide me with where I signed up for the 2 year but I did not get a response.
OK, now to the present. Now a company called Pentagroup is calling - and claiming they are going to garnish my wages because they have my social security number - I don't know what to think. I have the money, but I don't owe the debt so I refuse to pay. My credit score is 740. What are my options?
2007-07-27 12:25:14 · 7 answers · asked by yah00geek 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
Has the collection agency/Sprint reported this on your credit bureau? If so, you need to contact all three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union to file a dispute. You will have to provide a seperate dispute to each agency. Once the credit bureau receives the dispute then Sprint has 30 days to prove the collection is valid and that you signed a 2 yr contract. If they cannot provide this documentation or do not respond to the credit bureaus this is removed from your credit.
In the mean time, even though you have verbally disputed the debt with the collection agency, you must put it in writing that you are formally disputing the debt owed and send to Pentagroup. Usually there is a 2 week time frame, from the date the collection agency contacts you in writing to dispute. I would send this letter via certified mail to the collection agency so they have to sign for it and you can prove it was sent in a timely manner and received by the company. This will help you if they take you to court. Legally, they can take you to court and obtain a judgement to garnish wages. Of course if you went to court you could fight it and they would have to furnish your signed two yr agreement. A lot of collection agencies will threaten this but the cost of going to court is costly and it would generally have to be a large bill for them to recoup the time and money to take you to court. I hope this info helps. Good luck!
2007-07-27 13:30:44 · answer #1 · answered by yourmtgbanker 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Just ignore the collection agency. When they call, say he's (she's) not here, can I take a message?
They have no legal right to garnish wages.
If it was legal, Sprint would have done it in the first place.
To legally garnish wages, there has to be a court hearing.
Both sides will have the opportunity to present their side of the story.
The judge will decide who is at fault.
Sprint can't be bothered with a court case for only $400, so Sprint sold your outstanding dept to a collection agency for pennies on the dollar.
The collection agency will use every scare tactic it can think of till they finally give up to a lost cause.
They can't get your social security # unless you gave it to Sprint.
Ask them to read the # to you - they probably won't because they don't have it.
Here's a good one - get an answering machine with call waiting.
If it's the collection agency, just don't answer.
Just been through the same thing with a $10,000 credit card problem. No more calls.
2007-07-27 20:01:43 · answer #2 · answered by guardrailjim 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would recommend that you contact Sprint, but first you need to get yourself a lawyer. They seem to have no contract, therefore, unless they provide you with one, they lack evidence to charge you. But get a lawyer immediately. As in, tomorrow. Find any evidence you have whatsoever...hopefully you have kept a copy of the letter you sent to Sprint and the collection agency. I don't know how to Pentagroup got your SSN, did you give it to Sprint? If you didn't you need to find out why and how they have it. Keep copies of any emails, or agreements.
2007-07-27 19:40:53 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Check out this website. They have great letters you can send to a company or credit bureau to resolve your credit issues. The one listed below is for debt validation, and they have others also.
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/forms/sampleletter9.shtml
2007-07-27 22:35:11 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Get a lawyer and sue Sprint for millions. They will settle with you in a heartbeat. They are in the wrong.
2007-07-27 19:27:46 · answer #5 · answered by MrKnowItAll 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
better business bureau!!!!
go online and put in a complaint, they will resolve it , address it with the company and the outcome is usually successful.
It worke d for me with tracfone,because their c/s is really horrible too!
2007-07-28 22:49:27 · answer #6 · answered by **twin** 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
every cell phone contract i have ever seen is for 2 years.
2007-07-28 11:20:01 · answer #7 · answered by David C 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋