Afni AFNI I received letter yesterday for a "DISCOUNTED PAYMENT OFFER" for a $1600.89 balance with Verizon! Internet, Internet

And, Steve, in case I havent communicated this before - although I thought I had I have the utmost respect for your knowledge on this subject.  It must be a annoying that not everyone else necessarily knows the same.   Its great that you are getting the correct knowledge out there but Im not sure its necessary to bang my head into the proverbial brick wall in the attempt to make those corrections.   Did you just get up on the wrong side of the bed?  Smoke a dube, grab a drink, whatever, and learn to take a freakin compliment and not read something I didnt intend between the lines on what I post here either OK?

No problem Steve - wasn't correcting you only clarifying a statement I had made earlier.  Always said you were right on this - and very specific. 

Simply doesn't work that way.

Once an original creditor SELLS a debt, it is gone and they DO NOT take it back, especially after junk debt buyers have sold and re-sold it for 1-2 cents on the dollar.

Not to mention, in the tax year it was sold by the original creditor, it was written off as a loss on the tax return of that original creditor.

Furthermore, that original creditor would have no way of knowing who actually "owns" it at that point!

Keep in mind here that I specifically talked about debts that have been SOLD and written off on taxes for the loss by the original creditor.. NOT debts that have simply been assigned to a third party debt collector for collection by the original creditor. BIG DIFFERENCE. A night and day difference, LEGALLY.

Maybe before correcting me on something I have actually been involved in, you would take the time to actually read and completely comprehend what I wrote. EXACTLY what I wrote.

Pay attention.

And, to correct "tagurit" on the reply to the 7 year thing regarding SOL, you missed exactly what I wrote. I did not mean to infer that most sol's are less than 7 years. That is NOT what I meant, OR what I wrote. The fact of the matter is, that SOL's on legal enforcement of debt collection ranges between 2 and 20 years depending on the state, being 2,3,4,5,6,10,15,20, etc....but the "trivia" I was identifying is that not even 1 state of the entire 50 states has a SOL on debt collection that is 7 years. Not 1.

I am VERY specific in what I write, and how I write it and would appreciate anyone coming to hammer me to actually read and comprehend FIRST.

You actually can contact the original creditor and ask them take back a debt from a third party they sold it too, sometimes. Whether you would try depends on how old debt is and whether you acknowledge it's legit or not. Whether they would take it back and let you deal with them again depends on why the debt lapsed, and for how long.

We once did this with a dept store who's stupid cashier wrote our address wrong when applying on the spot for a new card, and the bank issuing their cards took back the debt from the collection agency and let us pay them direct without penalty, but that was only a year after we incurred it.

Just pointing out it can be done.

Ask AFNI for proof of the debt and say nothing more to them. Be careful not to say anything that can be construed by them later as reaffirmation that you owe the money. Once you know the details and age, and see that your state's SOL passed already, order them not to bother you anymore (say NOTHING more) and notify the credit bureaus that you're disputing whatever AFNI tells them you owe (Maybe not even do this until you know that they put the debt on your record).

Also I should have clarified that I meant SOL as being different from 7 years.  That after 7 years it falls off your credit report.  As Steve has pointed out before SOLs are usually under 7 years.

Yep - Steve is right on this one - if they are third party junk debt collector - wasn't sure if these guys were or not.  Thanks Steve.

Verizon has absolutely nothing to do with the "debt" anymore if it is in the hands of a junk debt buyer such as  these monkeys, even if the original debt was originated with Verizon, it has been charged off long ago and sold so many times no one actually has any physical records.

In short, you NEVER contact any "original creditor" on any debt, valid or not when it is in the hands of a third party debt collector. This is simply because there is no money owed to them anymore, and they cannot discuss the accout with you as it no longer belongs to them.

The 7 year reference made means absolutely nothing as no state has a 7 year statute of limitations on the legal time to collect a debt. Not even 1 state in the entire United States has a 7 year SOL on legal debt enforcement. 

7 years only applies to the negative credit reporting on the alleged debt to the credit bureaus..

Nothing more.

The ONLY thing you need to do here is check all 3 major credit bureaus to see if they have reported this on your credit file. If they have, you simply need to dispute it in writing and send it via certified mail, return reciept requested. Be sure to put the certified number in the body of each letter and keep a copy for yourself. That's it. Wait 30 days after the little gren card was signed, and then sue if it has not been proven to be valid, or removed.

Real simple.

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Here is what to doAUTHOR: Tagurit -  (USA)SUBMITTED: Sunday, March 25, 2012POSTED: Sunday, March 25, 2012

Do not under any circumstances pay anything or admit you owe anything until you can verify (1) the bill is legitimately yours and (2) the amount owed falls within the Statute of Limitations for your state.  They are required by law to provide you this information if you request it.   If you have an account # then it will be best to check back with Verizon.   Verizon has a very bad habit of sending accounts out for collections with the phone # that belonged to the previous owner and is now the new phone # of someone else and the new person now gets all the WONDERFUL collections call.  Verizon is stupid.  What can I say.   Anyway - verify info as stated above.  If the debt is in fact your and is over 7 years old I wouldn't pay it unless you just feel you need to - it won't affect your credit report as long as you dispute it properly as being past the statute of limitations.  If you pay it now you will restart the statute and it may show up on your credit file and impact your credit rating.  If you do decide to pay it, deal with Verizon directly and make sure you have an agreement in writing that they will not report this negatively on your credit files.

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Do not under any circumstances pay anything or admit you owe anything until you can verify (1) the bill is legitimately yours and (2) the amount owed falls within the Statute of Limitations for your state.  They are required by law to provide you this information if you request it.   If you have an account # then it will be best to check back with Verizon.   Verizon has a very bad habit of sending accounts out for collections with the phone # that belonged to the previous owner and is now the new phone # of someone else and the new person now gets all the WONDERFUL collections call.  Verizon is stupid.  What can I say.   Anyway - verify info as stated above.  If the debt is in fact your and is over 7 years old I wouldn't pay it unless you just feel you need to - it won't affect your credit report as long as you dispute it properly as being past the statute of limitations.  If you pay it now you will restart the statute and it may show up on your credit file and impact your credit rating.  If you do decide to pay it, deal with Verizon directly and make sure you have an agreement in writing that they will not report this negatively on your credit files.