Hi Here is my situation. I need help from the credit pro's. I had an account with TXU energy company (electricity company) in Texas. I moved out of TX in June 2004 and moved to CA. I thought I paid the account in full and totally forgot about the account and moved on with my life in CA. I seldom retrieve credit reports and recently after quite a while I pulled up my credit report and found out that there is a 123 charge-off reported by TXU. I called them and explained to them that I moved out of the TX apartment beginning of June, so I was not liable for the amount reported. They said If I paid the amount, they would report to the CRA's that the account is a paid charge-off. I told them that since I moved I did not get any bill from them for the last amount above, and as such was not aware of my responsibilities to pay. They said they sent the bill to my address in tx and it was returned to them by postal service as undeliverable and that they did not have my CA address on file . I was like how am I supposed to know about my financial obligation unless I get a bill. Anyways, I did not want to hassle for $123, so I offered to pay them in full for a delete the charge-off record (PFD). They did not accept my offer and now sending me the bill to my new address I provided to them and said I could disput the amount If I wanted. Can someone help me with this. This is such a small amount that I can pay it off anytime even though I believe i should not be paying for it since I was not responsible for the bill for the entire time since I moved out. My goal is to get rid of the charge-off from my report since I think I am being penalized for either a mistake on my or their part. TXU is the OC and there are no third party CA involved yet. My questions are: 1. Is it not their responsibility to send me a bill before they report to CRA? (If the mail was undeliverable, they could have send it again, but they did not) 2. Now that they are sending the bill to me. What is my best strategy to dispute it? I wanted to not go throught the hassle and wanted to pay it off. But they would not show GW gesture. 3. What course of action can I take.? 4. What can I do with the CRA? 5. What are the risks of not paying it now other than my bad credit record? Please experts! help!
No, they can report to the CRA whenever they choose. Unfortunately, and I'm being honest, not trying to lecture, it is your responsibility to make sure they had your forwarding address. Do you have aconfirmation number or something from when you arranged for disconnect? You need a copy of the actual final bill - meter reading dates, etc. You have to realize that utilities are usually billed weeks behind, so it is likely you had a balance. Secondly, did you have a deposit with them, and was it credited back properly? See above - I would dispute the bill, if you really think you weren't responsible. Make sure you have your hard copy reports from each individual CRA. Then look at each item in the tradeline to see if something is reporting inaccurately. Future utility companies may want a deposit...Universal Default could kick in on any of your credit cards. On the flip side, its about 1/2 way thru its 7 year reporting cycle, so its likely not hurting you tons, and any fallout has already been felt.
I'm sorry to hear your having to deal with TXU, they have been a thorn in my side that I have been unable to get rid of. Just for comparism this is how mine went June 2004 moved July 2004 final bill of 120 received. I made small payments on the for the next couple monthes until I had paid 120 and received nothing further from them. Feb 2007 Started repair and saw them there as a 120 CO. Disputed with all 3 CRA's. TU & Equifax deleted, Exp refused and updated as "verified" June 2007 Sent them a letter CMRR stating account was paid. They sent back a bill showing 120 more owed. I send back a reply that I was never billed that & wasn't going to pay it. Have heard nothing further. July 2007 disputed with Exp again, refused to reinvestigate. Oct 2007 Took a breather from it because it was driving me insane. They have had this supposed bill from me since 2004 & have never assigned it to a CA. I wish they would, it would prob be easier to get rid of! So for now it's rotting away on Experian. Not much help I know, but thought I would share my experience with them. Tegleg
I beleive I originally disputed as "no knowledge of this acct" because at the time, I had no knowledge of a debt still owed to them. I figured it was an error. Equifax was the first to delete & TU & Exp stated "verified" About 4 monthes later I redisputed as "account is reporting incorrectly" because it was, and TU then deleted and Exp refused to reinvestigate. I have hit brick walls after that, Exp won't reinvestigate. At least its only hanging out on Exp. If you figure out a way to get it off Exp I am all ears! Good luck! Tegleg
I think I am going to try to contact someone in the corporate office to shed some light into this matter. This is absolutely absurd that my credit suffered so much because of this $123. I am going to find a way and keep trying. I believe that when someone pays, the other party should not have the rights to keep harming the record.
