Yesterday I was playing “Twilight Princess”. You know, the game that I promised to write an in-depth review on and so far I haven’t yet. I wanted to play it through again because it rocks because I want to get a second chance to absorb everything so as I can write my review and impressions. While I was happily mashing buttons, Christine was checking the voicemail and, after hearing an unusual message, rushed over to me with the phone.

It was a debt collection agency. Now, I know I’m sometimes late on some bills. However, I once defaulted on a student loan many years ago and subsequently had my fair share of collection hell and the credit nightmare that ensued. I paid the price and learned a valuable lesson or two. I never let these things get too far.

So… today I called this agency up to inquire about this. Naturally, they rattled off their usual speal and informed me that I had a balance from several years ago that has found its way to them and that I had been tracked down as the individual that owes approximately $840. To say I was shocked would be the understatement of the year. “WHAT??” “Who the hell did I possibly owe that much money to!?”
They asked if I ever had an account with Bally’s Total Fitness, which I did back in 1998-2000. Now I told them, from what I remember, that my account with them was paid in full and they, in fact, withdrawled money from my bank account on a regular basis for said membership. I asked them to do an inquiry with Bally’s to make sure that they have their facts straight.

Christine overheard and was understandably shocked as well. She even remembers me saying that the last withdrawl was the final one and I was done going to the meat market health club. She said (being well versed in identity theft, being that she works in the Fraud Department for a major bank) that I should do a little investigating, myself.

I called Bally’s. I’ll spare the gory details for now but, from what I was told in my little investigation, it seems there are two people with my name that had accounts with Bally’s. One was able to be linked to me through my SSN. The other wasn’t and that one, I was told, had a balance still due! It seems I’ve been mistaken for someone else. I told the guy helping me out that I need a proof of paid-in-full mailed to me immediately so I can clear this up.

For good measure, I called the collection agency back and told them what I had found out, along with the name of the rep who helped me and his number. They said they want the proof sent to them when I get it. Well, what choice do I have, right? I no longer have any records or contract copies of my membership; really, who the heck keeps that information long after its time, especially when one does a lot of moving around.

So far I have everything that transpired today documented in a text file and I’m hoping I won’t have to be dragged through the collection mud any longer after I get the rest of the facts sent to the appropriate people. I’ll keep you all informed…

Cheers!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Personal Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.