I'm at my wits' end, maybe someone who understands this stuff more than me can fill me in or point me in a new direction.
In August of 2004 I bought a few things at JCPenney's with my store credit card, totalling $59.09. I paid off that balance in September.
In April of 2005 I was given a $200 Visa Check Card as a gift from a company I was doing business with at the time.
In June of 2005 I used that check card to purchase a pantsuit at JCP's for $123.90. I remember the clerk being CLUELESS about how to ring it up, and at one point she asked for my store credit card to "pull up" my address info.
The gift card was a one-shot thing, and I spent the rest of it elsewhere that day, so chopped it up that night & threw it away. (oops)
In July of 2005 I guess I had had a statement from JCP's and wasn't sure why, but assumed I had forgotten to pay the September balance, because I went online & paid exactly $59.09 again.
To my understanding the card was the clear, and I didn't intend to use it again, so I didn't send the company a specific notice when we moved 2 months later, though we did have general mail forwarding for 6 months, and I never saw a thing from them.
In February, I had a call from a credit collection agency, claiming that they were representing JCP for $175. I argued that I had paid the balance in full via check card (at $123) the day I purchased the suit (and had forgotten at that point that I'd made the July payment). After HOURS of frustrating conversations with very difficult-to-understand people, someone very snappily said that he would have JCP send me confirmation of my debt, and that they would have to send it within 45 days of my request. I said that I wanted to SEE MY SIGNATURE on a JCP card receipt before I would pay.
TODAY (6 months later) I received a packet from the credit collection agency, which only contains photocopies of my statements for this time period (including several with late fee listings that we never received via forwarding, strangely). I'm lost.
This is absolutely screwing my credit rating, I'm sure, and I don't know what to do anymore! JCP's won't talk to me since they've sold the account to a credit collection agency, and the cc agency (a) has no employees capable of carrying on a very simple discussion, and (b) has disregarded my request for exact information.
So do I (A) pay the freaking money to the cc agency and write a rebuttal letter to the big credit reporting agencies explaining my side, or (B) try to find some new way to fight them??
In August of 2004 I bought a few things at JCPenney's with my store credit card, totalling $59.09. I paid off that balance in September.
In April of 2005 I was given a $200 Visa Check Card as a gift from a company I was doing business with at the time.
In June of 2005 I used that check card to purchase a pantsuit at JCP's for $123.90. I remember the clerk being CLUELESS about how to ring it up, and at one point she asked for my store credit card to "pull up" my address info.
The gift card was a one-shot thing, and I spent the rest of it elsewhere that day, so chopped it up that night & threw it away. (oops)
In July of 2005 I guess I had had a statement from JCP's and wasn't sure why, but assumed I had forgotten to pay the September balance, because I went online & paid exactly $59.09 again.
To my understanding the card was the clear, and I didn't intend to use it again, so I didn't send the company a specific notice when we moved 2 months later, though we did have general mail forwarding for 6 months, and I never saw a thing from them.
In February, I had a call from a credit collection agency, claiming that they were representing JCP for $175. I argued that I had paid the balance in full via check card (at $123) the day I purchased the suit (and had forgotten at that point that I'd made the July payment). After HOURS of frustrating conversations with very difficult-to-understand people, someone very snappily said that he would have JCP send me confirmation of my debt, and that they would have to send it within 45 days of my request. I said that I wanted to SEE MY SIGNATURE on a JCP card receipt before I would pay.
TODAY (6 months later) I received a packet from the credit collection agency, which only contains photocopies of my statements for this time period (including several with late fee listings that we never received via forwarding, strangely). I'm lost.
This is absolutely screwing my credit rating, I'm sure, and I don't know what to do anymore! JCP's won't talk to me since they've sold the account to a credit collection agency, and the cc agency (a) has no employees capable of carrying on a very simple discussion, and (b) has disregarded my request for exact information.
So do I (A) pay the freaking money to the cc agency and write a rebuttal letter to the big credit reporting agencies explaining my side, or (B) try to find some new way to fight them??
