I have a cellular service that was turned off for non payment a couple months ago. I cannot afford the bill right now. I would assume the account is being turned over to a collection agency soon. From what I understand AT&T deals quite a bit with NCO on their collections. Anyone have any suggestions how I can keep this off my credit report? The wireless account was setup over the Internet. No signed credit applications. Some payments were made with credit card. Never a signed check. Any help is much appreciated.
is the contract cancelled now, or do you have the option of making a minimum payment and getting the phone turned back on? if you can get the service back but can't afford to make the payments on the bill, see if AT&T has a option similar to the "vacation" payment offered by Sprint posted in this thread... http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56552 dilla
Kev, I don't mean to be mean. But we're getting painfully close to driving off the side of the road of our mission. CN was never designed to teach one how to escape legitimate debt. (That's Courtney's job). Yes, I have a suggestion which will keep it off your report. Make an arrangement with AT&T to pay it before collections. If you can't do it all at once do whatever you can. Even if it takes another part time job. Certainly "renegotiating" the terms and conditions of your original agreement would be fair enough. Maybe they'll settle for half or something. Whatever you do, don't let this charge off.
BTW - signing up for an account on the internet is a perfectly legitimate way to begin a business relationship. If a co. "routinely" does business this way it's good. Just because there is nothing with your sig on it doesn't mean it's not legit. .
The contract is cancelled now. I am not trying to get out of paying my debt, I have beautiful credit. I got this phone for a friend of mine who failed making payments. I have an obligation to AT&T Wireless and I plan on paying them what is owed. I just don't want my credit wrecked in the process. My friend owes a rather large balance. I am obligated to pay what is owed and I plan on. I just can't do it today. I am not trying to escape legitimate debt. People of creditnet routinely get legitimate charge off's and collections off their credit.
hello, i work for a major cell company(not att&t) my advise is to call their customer service department and ask for collections department (or credit services to be politically correct). just explain the situation and tell them you would like to make payment arrangments. people do it with our company all the time.
Kev wants to do it within the context of keeping his CR clean. My original suggestion naturally included this component. .
I called AT&T this morning. They were very nice but refused any type of payment arrangements. They said within 2 weeks the account will be referred out to a collection agency and only the balance in full will stop this from happening. They said while any payments is much appreciated they refuse to setup a payment plan to stop the account from being sent out to a collection agency.
Ok Kev, It was worth a try. Here's how you should be able to buy yourself some time. The FCBA allows one to dispute a debt with an OC. While that dispute is pending they may not forward out to collections. At this point it would help us to know how much they want. See the "Learn Your FCBA" in my sig line? Go there. .
HI, MAybe you could send a letter to a higher up and gear it towards the business sense of someone out there. Note that you are willing to make payments , you just don't have the $ now for a large lump sum payment, and if they do send it out to a CA, they are just going to lose precious $ to the CA for their fees/commissions. I always ask to talk to a "higer up/supervisor" until I get the answer I want. I have been told a firm NO, ISNT POSSIBLE before quite a few times by CSR and by asking to talk to a supervisor I have found my way to a resolution in quite a few situations. Don't quit with ATT until you have exhausted all of the resources you can talk to . Also quite a few CA will work with you when it comes to making payments before it ever appears on your CR. I know they aren't the best people to deal with , but they are also out there to make a buck and if they have someone who is willing to pay, they may be willing to keep it off your CR if you are making payments. I know this isn't the best scenario, but if you are planning on paying the debt, it may keep it off your CR if you know they quite possibly may validate correctly since this would be a fairly new debt. Also, you could try PFB or... quickly add your friends SSN to the account and see if he coughs up some cash!.
The balance is $2600.00. Do I dispute it with AT&T or do I dispute it once it gets to the collection agency? On what grounds would I dispute it with AT&T?
I sent the collection agency a verification/validation request. They responded but after thirty days. Isn't the law thirty days? What happens if they respond after thirty days?
There's no time limit in the FDCPA for a response...in fact, they don't have to respond at all, they only have to quit collecting until they do.
