Midland - Settled: But Now Found Receipt

[Yawo64]

Hello, 

 

Midland is contacting me regarding a T-Mobile account ($388) that goes back to 2008/2009 and Midland has been attempting to collect since 2011.  Though I knew I probably had paid off the balance on the account before it went to collections, I could not prove it since I did not have the receipt and the account is too old for T-Mobile to track.  So, I decided to bite the bullet and settled the account for $200 and Midland is going to report the account as paid.

Now, I have found an email receipt showing that the I paid the account.  What should I do at this point?  All I want is to get the trade-line off my credit reports.  

Thanks - Yy

[TomnTex]

If you already paid Midland, I would say you can kiss that money good by. You can try and send them a copy of the recipt and ask for it back. But doubt that happening.

[Flyingifr]

If Midland demanded any payment from you within the past 12 months that is a FDCPA violation independent of your settlement. Here's how I see it:

 

1: The Settlement - you settled with them rather than get sued. That is a common action and the validity or reality of the debt has nothing to do with it - you settled to avoid legal and Court costs.The merits of the case are irrelevant - it is the credible threat of lawsuit. They could have threatened to sue you because they think you are ugly and you settled with them to avoid the legal and court costs proving you are not ugly, along with the uncertainty that the Judge may say you are legally ugly. The settlement turns all that uncertainty into a known quantifiable certainty.

 

2: The fact that they demanded payment from you on a debt you did not owe is a FDCPA violation - misrepresenting the legal character of the debt - that you owed it at all. FDCPA is a Strict Liability Statute so once the violation is made it cannot be corrrcted except by paying you $1,000 Statutory Damages.

 

If the last time they demanded money from you is less than a year ago it is still within Statute. Look at the settlement. Does it state you are settling "all issues and controversies" or just this one? If all, then it is all over. If just this one then they need to settle with you over the FDCPA violation.

[nascar]

Did Midland claim to own the account at the time you paid them the $200, or were they merely collecting on behalf of T-Mobile? Is T-Mobile reporting? Is Midland reporting, or both?