[Solamente]

It really bugs my ass when "too" is reduced to "to."

[Lunatic Fringe]

Just this weekend I noticed a new collection account on my credit report, the Military Book Club. A few years ago, someone used my name at my old address to sign up for CDs, DVDs, and books, then never paid the bill.

[Larry Lucido]

I skimmed through it. Looks like some good information.

[RexBeach]

Is this a sequel to "When College Girls Go Wild"?

[CDHart]

Thank you. We have had some high medical bills lately and this information is very helpful.

Carolyn

[Teflonic]

Here's a little secret a lawyer friend told me about outstanding debts. Just wait until you have all the money to pay back then call the original criditor and have them send you in writing an agreement to delete the account from your credit record once you pay up. Any dealing with a collection agency will only worsen your credit.

[CertainInalienableRights]

I have a very uncommon Polish surname.

Surprisingly enough, I have discovered another person with the same first name and surname. Unfortunately, he's going through foreclosure in another state (I use Google alerts to track my name on the web).

Checked my credit reports and there were several accounts under my name that weren't mine. Luckily, none were in default and all were closed. There were also previous addresses and employers who did not match my personal history.

I had to dispute everything and now the reports are clean, but I've got to keep an eye out for when that foreclosure goes through to ensure it doesn't end up on my report.

I can't imagine what it must be like to have a name like John Smith - it must take constant monitoring to keep the report clean. If the bureaus can screw up my report with an uncommon name, the rest of their data must be garbage.

[NerdDad]

Ping to good resource posted by our Florida buddy.

Have you posted this on the DR forum yet? If you have, be sure to ping the bear over that way.

[JimRed]

Who is the scumbag, really? The non-payer of a legitimate debt, or the individual hired to collect it?

[xarmydog]

My mother passed away two days before Christmas in 1989 .She was always a stickler for paying her bills.Being a private woman,not many of us children knew what was what.Then the collectors started coming.Some were dumb enough to think they could just start taking things!Not a good move!It was during the winter[Christmas],where they put your body on chill till the ground thawed.We hired a lawyer,who arranged to meet with the family to 'chop up the assets',so to speak.When the collectors showed up,the meeting place was a storage room for the bodies[o degrees]and the lawyer asked the bill collectors what is what questions they wanted my Mother to answer.They were all in shock,as they thought,they would be doing lunch,and so on.Needless to say,the bill collectors quit calling.

[5Madman2]

Ping for later

[Onelifetogive]

a great resource to help if you ever have to deal with a scumbag debt collector.

That, or you could pay the money you owe.....

[Excellence]

Without ever sending me an original bill, a radiologist sent my account to a bill collector. The bill collector had all of my medical information, and even read the radiologist's report to me over the phone.

[Solamente]

Just for the record, my comment was only a comment, off the cuff. Nothing personal ever entered my mind. Pax Vobiscum.