Hi all, this is my first post and im hoping someone may be able to help me out. So here's my issue, im in the military and moved from Maryland in March, prior to moving i scheduled my gas and electric service to be stopped the day after i left. i contacted Baltimore Gas and Electric and paid my last bill before i left the state. i forwarded my address with the post office etc and went back on to BGEs website several times after the fact to see if i had any updates and saw nothing. Well yesterday i pulled my credit report and saw a collection on it for $91! i looked through all my accounts and saw no delinquencies. it wasnt until i looked through my old utility accounts that i discovered i had a bill from BGE that was due back in May. I never received any turn off or collection notices via mail or email or follow up from BGE stating i had an outstanding balance. I am not debating the validity of the debt, as it probably covers the few days between the billing periods while i still was in my house. The collection hit my report yesterday and by today my credit score has already plummeted by almost 90 points. Due to the holiday i couldn't reach anyone at the collection agency but did speak to a billing rep at the electric company who said the collection should be deleted after i pay it but suggested i speak to someone with collections tomorrow. The electric company still owns the debt, so im wondering why "Rickart Collections" is listed on my credit report. As of now I think it may be in my best interest to work directly with the creditor and not the collection agency to try and get the collection deleted. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this? Ive finally gotten my credit to a decent point in the mid 700s and one honest mistake has destroyed my credit. Thanks for any help you guys can give. John
I would try contacting BGE's corporate office, the facts you want to emphasize is that you are in the military, moved from Md, and after giving them the correct forwarding information, you believed that their balance was completely taken care of. There are special provisions related to military, which is why I would suggest trying to move to their goodwill. The last thing that BGE wants is a news release being sent out saying that they are penalizing a member of the military for moving, and having one piece of mail getting lost in the post-movement shuffle.
