Upon graduating from college, I packed 2 bills that I forgot to pay. A cable bill for $27 and a SBC bill for around $60 or less. I can't find this one - but I will. I admit to not having the best credit when I graduated and I can share a nice long sob story about parental divorce, financial aid bait and switch, and eventually just running out of money.
When I landed a full time job with benefits, I got on track with my bills and requested a copy of my credit report so that I could see what was out there. There were only two surprises on that report. One was that cable bill for which I promptly called and then sent in a check and the other was American Agencies for over $200 with no description of what they were collecting, just a phone number.
I called the number and was informed that I did not pay my SBC phone bill. I got their address and my collection account number and said that I would call them back after verifying this with SBC. SBC informed me that the account was closed and that they had no records of me owing them anything from 1998 when I ended my service with them. SBC apparently had sold the account to American Agencies for collection.
Wanting to clear my report, I sent a check for what I considered an outrageous amount due. It was my misfortune to have added incorrectly in my checkbook and the check bounced. If you thought they were mean before, try dealing with them after the apply a California law that allows them to charge a bounced check fee of 3 times the cost of the original check amount. Oh, and they still want the original amount. The total due was now just over $1000. Remember this is all for one phone bill of $60 or less, none of which will ever make it back to SBC.
Appalled at this turn of events, I cleaned up the rest of my credit and began house hunting. Guess what? American Agencies now had two things on my credit report that they were claiming to be collecting - the 'fees' for the bounced check and the original amount of the check - all of which is accruing interest.
In order to close on my house, I had to pay the hirer of the two accounts. A check was cut for over $800 to American Agencies by my title company and the account was to be paid in full. So imagine my surprise when a new collection account showed up on my credit report for $17 from American Agencies. I haven't checked that report in a while, but I can only imagine that $17 is probably closing in on $5000 or more in interest.
Throughout this process, I received one carbon copied, barely able to determine who it was from notice from them. There was no phone call about my check. I learned about that from the bank. There were no other letters. Visit their website http://www.americanagencies.com and view the demo that says how they claim to conduct themselves. When you are watching it, make sure to note the companies that use them. If American Agencies isn't afraid of lawsuits, maybe the companies that use them will be afraid of boycotts.
I'm dumping my SBC phone account in January. I plan on sending a letter explaining why I will never have an SBC account again. Here are other companies that use them that are listed in the demo: ChemDry, SBC, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Oracle, Lawn Doctor, Hawthorne Machines, Sparklets, WM Waste Management, and Bringham Young University.
It's time to take action. The bullies must face the public. Don't pay these people the outrageous interest. You can place a letter in your credit report that responds to them and allows you to tell your side of the story.
0 comments