ZOMBIE DEBT CONQUERED!

April 04, 2019 | By TERRI DICKERSON CDA Press Consumer Gal

A Post Falls reader fought the credit zombie monster and won!

Well, sort of.

Our reader found out that he had a collection on his credit report. Upon investigation, he discovered that he had been sent to collections by Dish Network for a charge of $575 for not returning equipment in 2012.

Remembering something he had read in this column about consumer debt having a statute of limitations in Idaho of four years, he did a little further investigating and discovered that indeed this debt fell into the category of not being collectible. Never mind that he said he had returned the equipment in question and was never properly credited for the transaction.

When our reader called the collection agency and spoke with a representative, he explained the statute of limitations, said he was contesting the debt and then demanded that the agency stop contacting him regarding this debt. The representative flatly stated there was no such statute and they would do everything they could to collect the debt, including ruining his credit if he didn’t pay up.

The outcome: Our reader was able to get this collection taken off his credit rating via a small claims court action but wasn’t able to collect the $171 of court costs or anything for his time to file and prepare the lawsuit. The collection agency didn’t bother to show up to court because they probably knew the outcome would be that the debt was uncollectible and the case would be dismissed.

The reader did say he felt better protecting his rights and was glad he ran across the information in this column. Know your rights so you can protect them.