CA for some old phone bill

[treehugger1]

Supposedly I owe a telephone company $120+ on an old phone service that was closed years ago. It went through several CA's and finally wound up with some out-of-state outfit (ERS.) I never bothered with a DV request. They called a while back and we discussed a possible settlement. I told them I'd get back to them. At the time, CHITI wasn't suing me. ERS is now calling a couple of times per week. I called the guy today and told him that due to a legal suit for many thousands of dollars, I would not be paying anything. I even said that at this time you might want to haul your butt down here to my county and get a small claim filed. Perhaps we can work something out in a mediation hearing. The guy had a good sense of humor and stated they probably wouldn't come down. He said I might continue to get phone calls. I guess I'll spend five bucks and send the C&D.

The account is showing up on my credit report. They have pulled the report (soft pull a few times.) Hopefully, they can see $120 is the very least of my concern.

The guy certainly understood the difference between attempted collections for $10K+ and $120.

[AngelinaCatHub]

LOL, TH; I too got an old phone bill of about $580. I simply sent them in an envelope they supplied, my BK discharge paper. Haven't heard since.

BTW, I use MagicJack, not in any phone book, works just great for me and is essentially free. Voice over IP. You must leave computer on, and have high speed Internet. I hae 911 and free 411 and good customer service. NOOOOoooo this is not an advertisement for them. It is a tip on getting rid of CAs. 'Hub

[Worried Mom]

If your phone bill is older than 2 years, it is officially out of statute.

Court Holds Statute of Limitations for Telephone Bills is Only Two Years
A federal statute, 47 U.S.C. Section 415 (a), provides that the statute of limitations for civil actions to collect on unpaid telephone bills is two (2) years. Most state statute of limitations are much longer. California's statute is four (4) years for debts based on contracts. New York's law is six (6) years.

In an interesting decision, a trial court in Queens County, New York, recently held that the two year federal statute preempts state law. If the decision is upheld on appeal, a significant number of collection actions involving telephone bills will be subject to dismissal. The key factual question is whether more than two years have passed since there was any activity on the account.

http://www.californiacreditlaw.com/2...two_years.html