Received a call to collect on a 17 year old, charged off debt. What do I do?
There are statutes of limitations on how long they can wait before coming after you.  14 years certainly exceeds it, which I believe means you are not legally required to pay. statutes of limitations by state The most likely scenario is that this is a scam.  Second most likely is that this is a collections agency trying to trick you into paying even though they don't have legal authority to force you.  In that case if you do pay them anything, then the statute of limitations restarts and they can legally start giving you trouble, so definitely don't do that. If they keep harassing you, you can probably take legal action against them.  That's the worst case scenario, though.  I'd just ignore them. At this point, if they are legally entitled to any money, which I highly doubt, they will need to take you to court.  They are not going to do that over $1000. Blocking their number might be a reasonable idea. I would doubt whether they can even do anything to your credit rating over this issue.  If you are worried about your credit, you can check your oustanding debts and negative incidents at www.annualcreditreport.com and see if you see anything.  I would be surprised. Edit: You might read up about time-barred debts (assuming it's not a scam.  I still think it is). FTC page on time-barred debt If they are a debt collector, they must follow the requirements of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. In particular, they must provide you with verification of the debt at your written request. If they won't give you a way to do this, they are in violation of the law, and you should contact proper authorities. If they are not a debt collection agency, it does sound like a scam, in which case you should also contact the appropriate law enforcement agency.
"I think your confusion comes from the negative impact when a creditor writes off your bad credit and ceases attempting to collect it. ""Chargebacks"" as you call them are an attempt to undo fraudulent charges on your card, whether from stolen credit card info or from a merchant who is using shady business practices. For what it's worth, if you joined on December 20, January 20 seems like a reasonable date for the next billing cycle, with the December 31 date reflecting the fact that their system couldn't automatically bill you the day you joined. I also think it's reasonable for you to ask them to refund the bill for the second month if you do not plan to use their gym further. So the dispute seems like a reasonable one on both sides. Good luck." Do not provide any personal information. If the debt is not yours, ask the caller to provide all the identifying information they have over the phone to verify whether they have your information, or are just following up on similar names. Even if they have information that is yours, do not provide more information. Always make them tell you what they know. If they provide information that is not yours, simply state that it is not your information and politely end the call. If they persist in calling you, there are local agencies you can report them to.  If they have your information, then ask for all of the details of the debt -- who is it owed to, when was the debt incurred, what was the original amount of the debt, what is the current balance, when was the last activity on the account, what is their relation to creditor.  Once you know the creditor, you can contact them directly for more information. It is possible they may have written off the account and closed it, selling it to a debt collector in order to get some sort of return on debt. If they truly have a debt that is yours, and you did not incur it, then you will need to file a police report for a case of identity theft. Be prepared for some scrutiny. If one does pay, one should only pay after they get a letter stating such a payment fully satisfies the debt. Then, one should only pay via money order or cashiers check.  Never pay by personal check or credit card.  Send such a payment via certified mail to ensure delivery. As stated in other answers: There might be an issue of honoring your debts, but that doesn't come into play here.  You already didn't pay your debt, and the original owner of the note already took money.  Paying this debt is only money in pocket of the debt collector.  The scammier they are, and the worse they treat you would factor in. "As a former debt collector myself, I can tell you that we did occasionally get someone claiming that they weren't who they really were. However, it was pretty obvious who was telling the truth after a while. Above all else, just be calm and polite. Technically, you can also say ""do not call this number again"" and they have to stop calling, but I wouldn't do this right off the bat. Its best if they are convinced that you aren't the guy they're looking for. Calmness and politeness are traits that debtors usually lack, sometimes because they are just normal people overwhelmed with their situation, and sometimes because they are irrational loser (sorry, but its true). Either way, if you are consistently calm and unconcerned about their threats, they will either give up or realize you aren't the guy. Eventually they will stop calling you (or at least I know I would have stopped calling you)." Request verification in writing of the debt. They are required to provide this by law. Keep this for your records.  Send them a notice by certified mail stating that this is not your debt and not to contact you again. Indicate that you will take legal action if they continue to try and collect. Keep a log of if/when they continue to call or harass you. Contact counsel about your rights under the fair debt collection laws, but if they keep harassing you after being provided proof of your identity, they are liable. You could win a judgement in court if you have proof of bad behavior.  If your identity is stolen, you are not legally responsible for the charges. However it is a mess to clean up, so pull your credit reports and review your accounts to be sure. "I would not concede your money to your dad IF he is really wronging you - and we need much more detail to tell.  This is the first lesson in life that actually following up on ""wrong"" things will save you thousands of dollars throughout your adulthood.  It is really easy to turn the other way and be out a few thousand dollars.  Then the hospital overbills you and you let it go and so on.  Follow up, it is your money. The laws behind this are pretty cut and dry.  Basically if you put money into one account and only your money was touching the account then it is your money.  As a minor this is an expectation and once your turn 18 in the US you have a right to your money.  That is given that the money was in the account at 18. So if your dad truly did not touch the account and withdraw the money before you turned 18, it is cut and dry.  If your dad took money out before 18 or added his own money to the account it gets rather fuzzy since it is easy for dad to say that I took money out for your expenses. As for this being ""nuclear"" as keshlam suggests - he is right.  His advice is fine but sets you up for people taking advantage of your throughout your life, especially your family.  In fact the situation is already nuclear but you were the only thing the bomb hit.   So talk to your dad.  Explain that you will have to go and file a small claims trial if he does not agree to give you the money.  If your situation is already over the top I would bring the paperwork with you filled out.  (a person at your local clerk's office will help you find the right forms) You on the other hand better weigh this conversation.  We ""internet peoples"" are only hearing one side of the story.  We do not understand your situation at your home.  We don't understand who pays for your car, gas, clothes, and room and board.  You are 18, so there is no obligation for parents to pay for these things.   If I had an 18 year old that had 3K in the bank under my name and they hadn't helped around the house in a year, didn't buy their car, had a poor attitude, and so on I would probably have the same action as your dad.  Yea it's ""your money"" but is it really?  When I was 18 I bought ALL my clothes, bought my car, bought my gas/insurance, and so on.  I paid for my toothpaste.  If this is where you are at and you help out around the house like an adult would then you have solid ground to stand on. If not... I would laugh if I were your dad.  My first thought would be you want your money, that is fine.  But you are paying rent.  Car is gone, get your own.  You would be paying for everything.  But you would have ""your money"".  So you have some pros and cons to weigh here and taking the money could cost you a TON of money in the future.  However if your dad is just being a pure jerk (I kind of doubt this but who knows) then you have an obligation to fight for what is yours. (Note that the end goal of any meeting like this in your life shouldn't be court.  It should be an agreement so that the right action is taken and both parties are happy.  It could be very well that your dad would be happy with something that has nothing to do with the money.  Also there are people with really really bad situations at their homes.  A controlling parent is a pretty good ""bad"" situation and an easy one to solve at 18 - move out.  If you don't want to move out then accept your family members, not complain about them.  No matter how controlling your dad is your question spews of ungrateful teenager.  I am sure you aren't that bad and I am sure your dad isn't that bad.) (And another note:  In no way, shape, or form am I suggesting you drop the money issue.  There is nothing worse than not talking about it even if you think your dad will kick you out of the house.  Resentment building up in yourself or family is the worst possible thing.  This needs to be dealt with.)" I cannot speak specifically to the Netherlands or the UK specifically, but my prejudice has me believing that there would be more consumer protection in those two countries than that we have here in the the US, certainly not less. Debt collectors mostly do their job by bullying.  Here in the US they are mostly toothless and typically obtain payments when they invoke an emotional reaction.  In your case they are attempting to invoke fear.  Legal action over €400?  Get real.  It will cost them 20 times that to bring action, and they are equally likely to get a sympathetic judge to toss out the case. Now you very well know you should have returned the box, please don't be coy.  If you still have it, you should attempt to return it.  If not you should attempt to settle.  Offer them €80, going no higher than €160.  Get it in writing, that this satisfies the debt and use either a one time use credit card or a bank check/money order. "It's probably a scam or maybe some amateur agency trying to put pressure on their target. Normal garnishment goes through the court system. Just ignore it. Tell your employer they obviously have the wrong person since the SS is wrong.  Suing clowns like this is not worth it. Just to clarify this some more for you: Trying to collect on a random person with the same name is called ""tagging"" in the collection industry. Before 2010 it was common because it was actually easier to legally bully the wrong person (who had money) than the right person who does not have money. That was then, this is now. Various federal and state laws have been passed since that time to prevent identity theft and these laws create big liabilities for debt collectors that try to bully the wrong person. Therefore, it rarely happens anymore, though of course sometimes agencies will still call you if they think they have a soft target. That's what the call to your employer is, just a test. A pro collector (like a law firm) would never call an employer, because they could get sued for doing that, but some amateur working out of his basement might. That's what you are dealing with: some joker in a basement. Such people never sue, they just buy old debt for pennies on the dollar and try random harassing phone calls. Ignore it and he will move on to the next ""John Smith"" on his list. A lot of lawyers will advise you to ""talk"" to the collector, correcting their misinformation, blah blah. Lawyers like talking, because the more talk there is, the more money they make. In the real legal world: never talk to your enemy or give them information. The way real courts and judges work is that they don't like plaintiffs who sue the wrong person. In fact, they do not like it VERY MUCH. Very bad things happen in courtrooms to people who sue the wrong person. Judges have VERY short patience in general and they DO NOT LIKE IT when somebody wastes their time by suing the wrong person. Basically what this means is: ignore the guy and he will go away." "A day or so later I get an email from the mattress company where the rep informs me that they will need to issue me a paper check for the full amount and that I would have to contact Affirm to stop charging me. To which I rapidly answered ""Please confirm that with Affirm prior to mailing anything out. On my end the loan was cancelled."" To which the rep replied ""confirmed. It has been cancelled."" I think your communication could have been more explicit mentioning that not only was the loan cancelled, you got your initial payments. You have not paid for the mattress. The refund if any should go to Affirm. The Rep has only confirmed that loan has been cancelled. at what point, if any, am i free to use this money? I was planning to just let it sit there until the shoe drops and just returning. But for how long is too long? Sooner or later the error would get realized and you would have to pay this back." From a page on consumerfinance.gov A debt collector generally may not contact your employer or other third-parties about the debt. Debt collectors may ask your employer to verify your employment, or ask for your address or telephone number. Note - they aren't even allowed to tell the employer that they are trying to collect a debt. So - even if you were the guilty party, this isn't allowed.  They've already broken very clear laws and thus are probably not trustworthy, so (echoing what others have said) don't give them your own personal information.  If they've done one day's research on the law governing their industry they know this is illegal.  If they've actually gotten any money from your employer, it's theft.  If they haven't then it's just attempted theft.  Contact the police regardless. Also - contact a lawyer.  You may well have the right to sue them.  They've broken Federal laws in a way that causes you injury.  Odds are they've broken state laws as well. One last point - do you even have proof that these are debt collectors collecting a real debt, rather than people trying to get you to give them your SSN?  Perhaps their business plan is to look at company webpages and send bogus requests to the employers for some random employee and then see what information they get back (I'm not him, here's my personal information).  Be very careful to not give any personally identifiable information (date of birth, address, SSN, mother's maiden name, etc).  Anything they ask about you don't provide. "This is somewhat unbelievable.  I mean if you had a business of collecting debts, wouldn't you want to collect said debts?  Rather than attempting to browbeat people with these delinquent debts into paying, you have someone volunteering to pay.  Would you want to service that client?  This would not happen in just about any other industry, but such is the lunacy of debt collecting. The big question is why do you need this cleared off your credit?  If it is just for a credit score, it probably is not as important as your more recent entries.  I would just wait it out, until 7 years has passed, and you can then write the reporting agencies to remove it from your credit. If you are attempting to buy a home or similarly large purpose and the mortgage company is insisting that you deal with this, then I would do the following: Write the company to address the issue.  This has to be certified/return receipt requested.  If they respond, pay it and insist that it be marked as paid in full on your credit.  I would do this with a money order or cashiers check.  Done. Dispute the charge with the credit reporting agencies, providing the documentation of no response.  This should remove the item from your credit. Provide this documentation to the mortgage broker.  This should remove any hangup they might have. Optional:  Sue the company in small claims court.  This will take a bit of time and money, but it should yield a profit.  There was a post on here a few days ago about how to do this.  Make part of any settlement to have your name cleared of the debt. It is counterproductive to fall into the trap of the pursuit of a perfect credit score.  A person with a 750 often receives the same rate options as a person with 850.  Also your relationship with a particular lender could trump your credit score. Currently I am ""enjoying"" the highest credit score of my life, over 820.  Do you know how I did it?  I got out of debt (including paying off the mortgage) and I have no intentions of ever going into debt for anything.  So why does it matter?  It is a bit ridiculous." You havent signed a contract, so you are only an authorised contact so you have nothing to worry about at all.  Your credit reference can only be affected if you are a signed party on the contract.  I would imagine that they wont remove your details as you may assist them by contacting your emplorer, and effectively chase the debt for them especially if you seem to be family member or a friend of the business owner. How did you find out about the debt, did they phone you?  If you really want peace of mind, you could write to them and confirm that you are not authorised to be contacted by phone or in writing regarding the debt, and that you are not in anyway liable for the debt and that your contact details must be put beyond use, and as you are concerned, say that if they take any further action against you such as affect your credit ref etc then you will take them to 'your' local magistrates court to seek compensation.  Use strong terms and insist they must do what you ask rather than just say that you would like something done etc.  Say that you 'Will' take further action which is generic, and that you 'May' do specific things so that it sounds strong but you haven't have committed to any thing in particular.  This would most likely be more than enough to stop further contact. "Without more info to go on (such as a screenshot of the relevant portion of the statement or what country you're in), I will run with the answer that ""balance"" is the amount the collection agency is attempting to collect from you, including any and all fees the agency may have added. One important idea to keep in mind is that depending on how old the debt is, the amount involved, and the importance to the agency to collect it, you may be able to negotiate a settlement for less than the full amount.  This isn't always possible, but sometimes you get lucky, and it doesn't hurt to try. Collection agencies work in several ways.  Some will actually buy the outstanding debt from the original creditor for some percentage of the debt's face value and then take their chances on whether they collect anything at all, while others work on behalf of the creditor and earn some percentage of what they manage to recover.  In the latter case, your chance of negotiating a reduced amount is better, because the agency is being evaluated by the creditor on how quickly and efficiently they collect debts.  An agency that is slower or less effective than another is less likely to continue earning the creditor's business. I hope this helps. Good luck!" "Accept that the money's gone.  It could, as others have mentioned, been a lot more. Learn. Make sure your son (and you!) have learned the lesson (at least try to get something out of the $650).  The world isn't always a nice place unfortunately.  Don't wire money to strangers - use an escrow service or paypal or similar.  As the saying goes: ""Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"". Report it to the authorities. Does have the advantage of the domestic rather than foreign bank account used.  The scammer might have closed it by now, but there should be some paper tail.  I imagine the id required for opening a bank account in the US is as strict as it is most places these days.  They may have used fake Id, but that's not your problem. Assuming contact was made over the internet, bearing in mind IANAL (or American), this could be a crime of Wire Fraud, in which case I believe it's a case for the FBI rather than your local police.  The phone calls your son is still receiving could also be construed as attempted extortion and if across state lines could also come under federal jurisdiction. The FBI have a better chance of catching such a scammer, generally having more chance of knowing one end of a computer from the other compared to a local beat cop.  If other victims have also contacted the authorities, it will probably be taken more seriously. Give as much information as you can.  Not just the bank account details, but all communication, exact time of phone calls, etc. The cops may say there's nothing they can do as it's a civil matter (breach of contract) rather than a criminal one. In which case you have the (probably expensive) option of going the civil route as described by Harper above. Inform Others. Assuming initial contact with the scammer was made through a website or forum or similar.  I imagine this must be a niche area for hand made toys.  Post your experience to warn other potential victims.  Inform the site owner - they may ban the scammers account where applicable. Stop the calls. Block the number.  If the number's being withheld, contact the provider - they should have a policy regarding harassment and be able to block it their end.  If the calls keep coming, your son will need to change his number. Don’t let it get to you. You may have warm cosy fantasies of removing the guys kneecaps with a 2x4.  Don't however dwell on the b*stard for too long and let it get under your skin.  You will have to let it go." As per JohnFx's comment above, consider whether it's worth more to you to just write this off. If not, if you feel that your son will be able to consider this without taking it personally, or you're willing to risk that relationship, then talk to him about it. Lay out the reasons why you need the money. If there are other children, it might be a simple matter of fairness to them. Based on your idea of deducting the money from his inheritance, I assume that the value you're docking from his inheritance will go somewhere else. Offer alternatives. You say that you can't take any money from him now, but letting him know that he can pay you in the future in lieu of loss of inheritance might be worthwhile. Be prepared with an idea of what to suggest if he says he can pay you some amount of money. Figure out what might be an acceptable payment plan and how to handle it if, at some point, he can't make payments for a time. This is a potentially ugly situation, and I can't guarantee that it will turn out better, but the more you prepare for the questions he's going to ask, the better off you're going to be.