I settled an account with Fingerhut through Encore Receivables Management in January. That should have been all there was to it.
I am writing this report today because I have in my lap a thick envelope of absolutely phony bills from Midland Credit Management, for Fingerhut, that claim I still owe money on the settled and closed account. According to these bills, I never settled, and in fact accrued even more debt after they cashed my check and closed the account.
Okay. So I am tired tired tired of calling them, writing letters, sending copies of letters and cashed checks, asking why this shows up on my credit report, why they have proof that I made payments on the accoutn a full 11 months after I settled when I never sent another dime... I am really tired of calling long distance, being ran around from person to person on the phones.
Just today I was told that there is no record of my ever having an account with Encore, or Fingerhut. Today I was told that I owe this money to Midland Credit and that they mailed me all these "reptinted bills" because I had disputed the charges on my credit reports - that these mailed bill copies were proof that I owed money. I don't understand.
I had one colletctor, the one I settled the account with, tell me that I was a loser. That he was with law enforcement, that I would go to jail and always be a loser because I didn't pay my Fingerhut bill on time. He said that he was fresh out of the Air Force and was going somewhere with his life, but that I would always be poor, broke and a nobody. This man's initials are on the check that I sent and Encore cashed as part of the settlement agreement. Of course, no one at Encore can confirm or deny that this man worked for them, or that I actually had an account to be setteled.
In order to get Midland to leave me alone I have to mail them a copy of the check that I paid with (which is no problem, as I have about 10 copies of that check) and a copy of the settlement letter. The fun part is that because they claim they have no records of me, Encore cannot provide me with a letter of settlement. Okay. Whatever.
I was looking at these big bill pages in the letter from Midland, and they look like official bills that may be mailed to someone except they say REPRINT down the middle of the page. I never received any bill ever from Fingerhut. But, be that as it may, these bills are dated and have amounts due on them that I never owed.
When I first started receiving bills from other collection agencies about this Fingerhut account, after it had been settled and closed, the amounts were always around $40 or so. After a couple of years the amounts started to grow. The new amount from Midland is right under $200. It is an odd thing to me that the "bills" from Fingerhut, dated 12 state that I owed that new amount quoted to me in this new bill from Midland - $199.36. How is that?
I am not sure if I am even making sense anymore. I am just so exhausted with this. I did everything I was supposed to do, so I thought. I communicated in writing. I have called them, mailed them, disputed charges with them and the credit agencies... It isn't working. I promise, I do not owe this money. I don't know what to do anymore. It shows up on my credit report several times. I don't have the energy to deal with this anymore. I can't get anywhere with them. I get no responses to questions, voice mails or letters.
Who do I turn to now? What other course of action do I have? This bill is over 5 years old... Will it ever just go away?
How do I prove that I didn't do a thing? How can I prove that I did not make a payment when they say I did? How can I prove that I did accept a settlement when they won't send me any letters verifying that? Is it legal for them to just print up bills with whatever amounts on them to show to whoever that this debt is valid? Do those bills make validity so??? If they don't even have me in their files, and they have no records of any financial transactions with me, why are their names and banks stamped on the back of my check?
Sorry so many questions. I just don't know what else to do and this seemed like the only forum where I may just get some help.
Thank you for reading this.
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