How do I fight a collections agency over a bill that should never have existed?

How do I fight a collections agency over a bill that should never have existed?

I had a cell phone account closed 3 years ago with what I believed to be a $0 balance (otherwise it could not be closed). I received a call 3 years later saying that I owe $2.9k to a collections agency who bought the contract from the cell phone provider. It claims that I have the balance but cannot verify the records for me to see if I had a balance. All they can say is “it’s possible that you had $2.9k for a balance when you closed it”. The collections agency doesn’t have any records of the balance either. But both say I owe them. How can I fight this?

Asked on July 24, 2012 under Bankruptcy Law, Texas

Answers:

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