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CubsWoo, I was wondering if you think I am doing the right thing in my situation. When I was 16 I allowed my mom to open a cell phone account in my name after much guilt tripping on her part. She didn't pay the bill and I learned my lesson about cosigning on anything for anyone ever. I opened the account sometime in 2002 and she stopped paying on the account in sometime in 2004 or 2005. I got one letter about four years ago and didn't have the money to pay so I couldn't/didn't do anything. I didn't hear anything again until about four months ago. The balance of $312 had been sold from US Cellular to a secondary company. This week I got a letter saying they would accept settlement of $215. At this point I think I should do nothing and just wait the two years for this to drop off of my credit report. I don't think they are going to sue me over less than $500. I have had many other good standing accounts since and my bank has increased the limit on my credit card by over 10x since I opened it. Am I doing the right thing?
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Jan 23, 2010 03:42
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I just received a letter in the mail about a very old debt. When I was 16 I allowed my mother to guilt trip me into opening a cell phone for her in my name. This was around 2002 or 2003. She eventually didn't pay the bill and got charged with the early termination fee plus the past due bills. The ETF tells me that her last payments were sometime in 2004 or 2005 at the latest since the phone was still under the 2 year contract. The account is old enough that it aged off of my credit report about a year ago, but it must have just gotten sold to a new agency since I started getting calls from an unknown number at the beginning of the summer and just got this letter. They are asking me to respond with a dispute within 30 days, and if I don't they will assume the debt is valid. My thought is to just ignore them since the debt is so old, but will doing so restart the clock and allow them to start reporting on my credit report again? I also can't tell if I am inside or outside the statute of limitations in Iowa since it seems to be 5 years for revolving accounts and 10 years for written contracts. I have perfect credit other than this so I was so happy to see that it had fallen off and my score was up to 750 when I opened a new bank account last month so I don't want to make a mistake that allows them to start reporting it again.
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Sep 22, 2013 18:55
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Jealous Cow posted:I'm not even sure the contract was ever valid as you were a minor. Since I was a minor she had to co-sign on the account with me. Not sure if that affects the validity or not.
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Sep 22, 2013 19:39
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fordan posted:What involvement did you have with the account after you were 18? Sign anything, have a phone on it, pay a bill? If your only involvement was signing up when 16, I'd have to think the only people they could go after legally is your mom in my not-a-lawyer opinion. The problem I see with this is proving you didn't re-up the contract or acknowledge the debt/contract by paying after reaching your majority. As far as I know she did make some payments after I turned 18. I was the primary on the account and the bills were addressed to me even though she was the one using it and paying for it. Assuming the debt is valid, is my best bet to ignore the letter or send a letter back to them? I just want it to continue to stay off my credit report.
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Sep 25, 2013 01:58
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