Contacted by Portfolio Recovery Associates

Okay,

A few days ago I get a letter in the mail. It's from a collection agency, "portfolio recovery associates". It says I have a $2,700 debt to Capital One.

I have a credit card from Capital One, with a $300 limit and it's well below that. I got the card back in November and they have never contacted me about owing them money, and my card with them is in good standing, they even raised my credit limit recently.

So, I call the number in the debt collection letter, and they read me the riot act about how I owe them money and they are going to make sure they get it. They tell me the card was issued in June 1998, had a $1000 limit, but after four months the card was maxxed out and payments were never made, and it snowballed with interest up to around $2,700 by now.

I tell them I don't know anything about this, until last November I'd never even had a Credit Card in my life, and I'd just checked my Credit Report a few months ago to make sure there was no inaccurate information, and I saw nothing indicating anything like this.

The collector tells me this isn't on my credit report because it's been so long, but I still owe the money, and they are going to get the money by any means. I point out that the debt is 9 years old, why hadn't I heard about it before, and the collector says it doesn't matter, they are collecting it now and that's what is important. I insist that I don't know what it's about, and they say that I'll have to fill out a police report with my local police and report it as identity theft immediately or they'll collect the entire amount and they get very surly about the "we will collect from you the money you owe". I realize any attempt to be civil or polite and diplomatic is right out with those folks.

Then a few days later (today), I get a call, I don't recognize the number (but googling it is what lead me to this forum), and in heavily accented English a woman named "Shantiqua" demands to speak with me. I ask who is calling before saying it's me, and she refuses to say who she's with, or why she's calling. When I press the point, she insists that the person she's calling for knows her (patently untrue), and I say that I must know who is calling before addressing the call (in other words, I'm not saying I'm here unless I know who I'm talking to, a habit I picked up dealing with telemarketers). She becomes increasingly pushy and irate, refusing to say who she is other than "Shantiqua", and I remain calm and say that unless I know whom she is calling for or on what business, and then she angrily huffs: "you probably just lyin an it is you, I ain't got no time to waste with you if you not takin us serious!"

Now I don't know really what to do. I don't remember getting a credit card 9 years ago, and I never received any past-due notice or anything from Capital One before I got this collection letter and irate call.

My parents went through a bankruptcy about 5 years ago themselves, and so did one of my best friends, and they both said that a lawsuit over $2,700 was improbable (they usually sue over at least twice that), and they suggested I check the statute of limitations for debts, and aside from intimidating phone calls and angry letters there isn't much they are likely to do.

I checked around, and the statute of limitations in my state on credit card accounts is 5 years. The last activity on the account was October 1998 (apparently whoever opened it actually paid on it for 4 months, before suddenly maxxing it out and never paying again), and the card itself expired 5 years ago this month.

So, I'm left wondering if I really have anything to worry about, it's not on my credit report, and it's apparently beyond the statute of limitations (not to mention I'm pretty sure I never got the card in the first place).

Do I really have much to worry about?