On December 19, I received a phone call at my employers from CAMCO. They stated they are a collection company and were working with Bank of America to collect unpaid debts. They stated I had a unpaid debt from Bank of America from 1988 in the amount of $5,943.01, but were willing to settle for $700, which was strange to me.
First of all, I knew I didn't have any unpaid debt and second of all, why were they waiting 15 years to tell me.
I take my credit status very serious and therefore requested more information from CAMCO. They did threaten to report this collection to the credit companies if I did not cooperate. Also, they had a credit report in front of them, because they were able to tell me my credit status.
I needed to see proof that this debt was mine. They sent me a fax, but were not able to provide this information. The letter they sent me simply stated I would settle the collection for $700 and if not, the contract is null and void and the full amount is due. Again, all this sounded strange to me, so I went into the Internet and put their name in, and this website pops up. I was relieved to see this website exists and was amazed to see how many other people went through the same thing.
After I realized what was going on, I called them back and gave them a piece of my mind. I never heard from them again. It is scary to know this is going on and they have your personal information.
Because they have my personal information, such as my Social Security, I called Experian and reported fraud, which puts a security alert under your name. If someone tries to open an account with your information, which can easily be done over the phone if they have all your personal information, they will have to provide proper identification, such as a ID.
In addition, Experian passes this information to the other credit companies, such as, Transunion and Equifax. They will each mail you a free credit report. If you feel, fraud has been committed, call 1-888-397-3742, put a security alert and protect yourself.
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