New Collection Account – Not Valid – Help!

Mar 072011
 

A few years ago (2008), we moved out of an apartment and into a different apartment. At the time of the move, we called the gas company and discontinued service at the old apartment and connected service at the new apartment. All was fine until we received a gas bill from the old apartment that was for service extending about 3 months after we moved out. Thinking this would be an easy fix, I called the gas company and explained the mistake. They vehemently stated that this was our fault and the charged could not be removed. I fought with them provided a copy of our expired lease, etc and eventually, simply refused to pay the bill.

 

This gas account has never been reported to our credit reports.

 

A few days ago, we received a letter from a CA trying to collect this debt.

 

At this stage, what should I do? Try to call the gas company and argue again (maybe now that time has passed, they’ll be more resonable) or should I do something directly with the CA? I have very little experience with CAs and need advice!

Young Credit User, Collection Agency and Credit Cards

Jan 122011
 

I am kinda new to all this and my personal credit is about about 5-6 years old. My mother’s cards are showing on my report, she had me added to her cards when I was little. They all are in pretty good standing, what effect would having her remove me from those account cause? Mine aren’t that good, but I would like to “stand on my own”.

 

Also, I have things that have gone to collections, 2 medical charges, Papa Johns and one from an old apartment complex. I know all of them are legit, but after reading all this information I am so confused and worried about paying them off in a way that won’t help a whole lot. I don’t know what all the abbreviations means and I don’t want to do this wrong. The apartment one I’ve gotten a notice for, Papa John’s I never have. We made a payment to medical account. How do I do this in the best way to have this removed? From what I have read they might delete it, is is best to communicate in writing? My husband and I are wanting to improve our scores enough so we can at least rent a house, we don’t want to even try to do it if we know that we haven’t at least started to improve our scores.

 

Thank you :)

Now it’s time to apply what I’ve learned…

Dec 152010
 

I’ve been lurking for the couple of months, reading and learning TONS from others. 

 

Like a lot of others, just totally ruined my credit in my 20′s.  Now that I’m all grown up :smileyvery-happy: it’s time to do the right thing.

 

A couple of months ago I got my EX FAKO score thru Quizzle and it was 617.  A couple of weeks ago, I got an offer from 1st Premier.  Having read everything I could, I decided to jump in and apply.  Much to my delight, I was approved for $700 CL.  Decided to go back and check my EX again and it jumped to 689!  Got my EQ and TU from myfico today.  Both were much higher than I expected: EQ 692, TU 700.  Outside of this new credit, the only open account is my car loan that I’ve made on time payments on since I got it in 2006.

 

My EQ shows 1 baddie.  TU shows 3-1 of them being the same one that EQ shows.  They are for an old apartment that I used to live at(date assigned: 8/2005 for  $361), library dues that I owed (date assigned 3/2007 for $174), and DMV fees (this one has  already been paid  and shows as “Paid Collections”).  

 

From the forums, I’m thinking that I should do PFD letters to the CAs for the 2 baddies that are showing as in collections and a GW letter to the one that I’ve already taken care of.  If I can get at least one of  these successfully removed, how much do you think my score would jump? 

 

Also the other thing that I’m a little unsure about is how paying off my car loan will affect my credit.  I only have 2 more payments left and this is the only installment account that I have currently.  Once I’m done with the last 2 payments, can I anticipate my score to fluctuate?

 

Thanks for any advice/help that you can give me!  

National Credit System Settlement Question

Oct 262010
 

I am down to two derog’s one for a $44 medical that is pending PFD and National Credit Systems which is for $1300 (10/09) on an old apartment that I skipped out on….long story but about $700 of it is legit.

 

My question is given the age of this is there any chance of them accepting a settlement for delete? How much should I propose to settle?  I had a 5 year old bank collection that I was able to settle for 25% once but I have no idea what to shoot for with a debt like this and age.

 

Does anyone have experience with this CA?  Much help is appreciated thank you so much!

Items I know will go to collections

Aug 292010
 

I have a bit of a dilemma and want to avoid collections hitting my report.  I have a large dental bill and my old apartment complex decided to charge me a huge amount to break my lease when I just bought my house a couple of months ago.

 

I did not know of the dental bill until a month ago (or that the insurance had finally paid everything and now I needed to pay immediately) and as far as the apartment goes, they took over a month to give me the summary of charges I owed after moving out.  So I have been able to avoid collections for a short minute.  I think I have a couple weeks before I would received any kind of notice or anything would be sent there.

 

I will be able to pay these amounts in full, but not for a few weeks.

 

My question is, if these are turned over to a CA, will they post immediately to my credit or do I have a time frame in which to pay?  And also, if they do hit collections and I DV, would I have another 30 days in which to pay?

 

Any help would be appreciated.  I had a bit of a setback, but its looking good in the months to come.

 

Thanks!

Related Blogs

Dispute Letter – Cant get old Apt # off

May 012010
 

Good morning,

 

I recently bought a new home and moved from my apartment.  While that is all well and good I would like to continue to dispute information on my report.  I have updated the my address on myFico.com, but when I create a dispute letter it is still adding my old apartment number to my current address…. even though I don’t have an apartment number anymore.

 

Any thoughts on how to get this off?  I have gone back and updated my address a couple times trying to get it off but the problem is the Apt # doesn’t show where I’m updating the address, just when I go to dispute it adds it in there to my current mailing address on the form.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

D

Help with Collection Account, paid OC

Feb 172010
 

I  desperately need some help to make sure that I am handling this situation correctly.  I moved out of an apartment and apparently had a balance for a water bill and damages, the bill was never forwarded to me ($290.49).  In Sep 09 it was assigned to a collection agency, and reported to my credit report.  I DV’d the debt and it came back with proper validation (all water bills, and damage statment from apartment, clearly showing balance owed).  I attempted to PFD and they declined it, refused to accept any terms to delete.  Sent another PFD and it was returned with the same results. 

 

This is one of my last negatives…… 

 

Today I went to the old apartment complex, meet with the apartment manager.  She told me that the account was sold to the CA, and I persuaded her to accept payment from me.  I got a money order, wrote it out to the apartment complex, got a letter on there letter head stating that this “balance has been paid in full”.

 

Now what exactly should my next move be in order to have this collection report deleted from my credit report? Were my actions proper?

 

Any advice will be much appreciated…..

Message Edited by criggs on 02-17-2010 12:27 PM