Sounds like some agency bought an old account of yours for 5-10 cents on the dollar. They say your credit is being affected and that the payment is there so they can equate attempting to contact you and attemting to get you to repay this. You can fax the agency and request all contact in writing and request a statement of account or proof that the account is owing (they wont have this if its from 1999 and purchased). Once they are told all contact in writing they are supposed to cease calls. Make sure you document this.

1. is this a typical collection agency call? Whats typical?
2 Do they typically lie about things like past payments? sometimes
3 Could the creditor have made a phony payment to keep the account active? Maybe/ not likely for such a small account.

Verbal acknowledgement means nothing.

your post:

So, my questions are: is this a typical collection agency call? (holy hannah). Do they typically lie about things like past payments? Could the creditor have made a phony payment to keep the account active?
I understand that most people say verbal acknowledgement will not revive a debt (must be written or a payment), but some say verbal is enough. However, even if verbal acknowledgement is enough, could this debt be revived if its last activity was 1999? I'm only really bothered by the 2004 'payment' that I didn't make.

Finally, what can I do if she follows through with her promise to call "all the time" if the statute of limitations really applies?

Thanks for the advice.

Edited to add: They called back 20 minutes later, asking about the debt again, and what my intentions are. I told them the statute of limitations had passed on the debt. They said it hadn't, since I made a payment in 2004. I told them I did not make a payment, and that if they have that information it is a mistake or a lie. I then said I do not intend to make any payments and hung up. How many times a day can they call?

It was ARO.

One thing i have learned with dealing with collection agencies is,like that old joke.How do you know a collection agent is lying? Its very simple they are talking or writing letters.

I had a department store credit card with a balance of $500 that I stopped paying in 1999. I never made another payment to the account after this date.

Today I received a call from "999-999-999999" on my call display. It was an 'operator' saying there was a call for me that was important and could she put it through. It was supposedly from BC. I asked her who was calling and she said she'd check and come back. Instead, I was 'put through' to a collection agency.

They collection agent told me she was collecting for this particular department store card. I verbally acknowledged the debt and told her right away that there had been no activity on that account for 9 years. She told me it is on my credit report and that I still have to pay it. I asked her specifically what report it was on and she said it was on Equifax. I told her I had reviewed my Equifax report recently and that it was not there. (I then checked online and it is not there, as I remembered). She then told me a payment for $540 (or so) had been made in July 2004. I know this is not true. I told her this was not true. Having now read statute laws, I am concerned that perhaps someone did 'make a payment' to keep the account collectible. Or, is this something a collection agency would typically lie about to make it seem the account is collectible?

I told her that I do not intend to pay the debt, and she told me they would keep calling me 'all the time' until I paid it. I hung up.
Interestingly, there was no 'soft' or viewable request for my credit report in the past few years that could have been a collection agency (everything I saw I knew about).

So, my questions are: is this a typical collection agency call? (holy hannah). Do they typically lie about things like past payments? Could the creditor have made a phony payment to keep the account active?
I understand that most people say verbal acknowledgement will not revive a debt (must be written or a payment), but some say verbal is enough. However, even if verbal acknowledgement is enough, could this debt be revived if its last activity was 1999? I'm only really bothered by the 2004 'payment' that I didn't make.

Finally, what can I do if she follows through with her promise to call "all the time" if the statute of limitations really applies?

Thanks for the advice.

Edited to add: They called back 20 minutes later, asking about the debt again, and what my intentions are. I told them the statute of limitations had passed on the debt. They said it hadn't, since I made a payment in 2004. I told them I did not make a payment, and that if they have that information it is a mistake or a lie. I then said I do not intend to make any payments and hung up. How many times a day can they call?

It was ARO.