I signed up for privacy guard for the trial period and noticed my transunion and experian reports were 40 points lower than my equifax, and the only difference is a collections thing from ATT Broadband which is on those 2 accounts. This collections thing was total BS. I had returned 3 cable boxes to them after moving, and they lost record of the return, and I had to come in THREE times to show them the receipt that I returned them for them to stop sending me collections notices. During that time it seems they dinged 2 of my credit reports. I filed a dispute with both agencies but was wondering if there is something I should also send to ATT to try and get them to take it off, or if that is all I can do? Also, do you think this alone would account for a 40 point difference between the credit accounts? Thanks a lot.
If this is your only negative tradeline and you have it removed you may very well see a 40 point jump- typically the last negative tradeline removed from ones reports provides for a nice jump in score.(FICO wise, not certain w/FAKOs) Im not sure if you received word back from the CRA's yet, but a simple dispute may take care of this. In the meantime do some research on the board(s) in regard to how to deal with OC's and furnishers of information. There are options if the CRA dispute does not provide satisfactory results. Search for posts that have had similar experiences with ATT. This situation is unfair but in the end the main thing is to get it off your reports. good luck bugman
Thanks for the reply... Just filed the disputes w/ experian and transunion last night, so I assume it will be at least a few weeks before I hear anything back. Hopefully this will be enough to get it off, would really like to apply for a mortgage in about 2 months, and getting this off would make a big difference I have a feeling. Thanks again.
Welp..here's an update to my situation. I got a response from Transunion, and as far as I can tell (from their paperwork which made NO sense and from privacyguard which I've been monitoring) nothing has changed Here is what privacyguard says about the collection: CRED PROTECTIONS ASSOC Transunion: Acct Type: Collection Account Acct Status: Closed Monthly Payment:N/A Date Open: Oct, 2002 Balance: $0 Terms: N/A High Balance: N/A Limit: N/A Past Due: N/A Remarks: Paid collection Payment Status: Payment after charge off / collection Experian: Acct Type: Collection Department / Agency / Attorney Acct Status: Closed Monthly Payment: $0 Date Open: Oct, 2002 Balance: $0 Terms: Unknown High Balance: N/A Limit: N/A Past Due: $0 Remarks: N/A Payment Status: Paid, was a collection account, insurance claim or government claim or was terminated for default Also, experian is showing i did a charge off on the account in December of 2003, which makes no sense..this issue was resolved LONG before that (almost a year) I've tried reading all the suggested threads to figure out what to do, but there is just so much information to try and take in I'm a bit overwhelmed. It seems I need to send some sort of letter to the Collections agency, but I'm not sure which, and what to say in it. This whole situation is really frustrating. Applied for a mortgage about a week ago, and because of my scores(I think due to this, we didn't get anywhere near the rate we were hoping, we still can pay the loan and got approved for enough money, but could save quite a bit if I could just get my score up a tiny bit, and I think this would do it). But, I have a few more months before we sign final papers on the loan because the house won't be built for about 7 months, and the broker said if I can get my score up we can rerun the numbers and should be able to get a much better loan. Any help/suggestions/links to threads I may have missed going through 87 threads on the board on how the heck I can just totally get this off my report would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot
that response from TU seems awful quick, are you sure it was a response to your dispute and not some other type of letter like a list of all tradeline furnishers contact info? or the "your using a CRO"? have you heard from experian? as far as CPA here's a letter i used and it worked. It is known as the dancerat technique. search the boards for the threads so you understand the technique. Also be sure to change this letter to fit your needs and personalize it.
Thanks a lot, I'll be sure to do more research on that letter. Almost positive the response from TU was about the dispute, forgot to bring it to work with me today, but it said something about "this is in regards to your dispute with blahblah company account number blah blah, look below for changes to the account status" .. i looked below (there was a list of all my accounts with everybody), and that account was showing up EXACTLY the same, so not sure what the changes were at all :/ Haven't heard from Experian yet, so will wait for that to send a letter I suppose. Thanks again.
At this point TU is gonna keep it there unless the DF asks it be deleted. (you may get lucky w/ further disputes to TU however) Yes, find someone at ATT who has the power to have these collections removed from the collection agencies and have them delete their tradelines. You should send a letter completely explaining the situation. include copies of receipts, dates you went to the storefront, any conversations you had on the phone and so on. Be professional and strong, your reports are being screwed of no fault of your own. from what i read this should have never even went to collections because you had paid it prior to collections. maybe others can chime in with violations that may have been committed here. i think that just because ATT is incompetent doesnt not provide them a defense to violations.
The one major problem is, it is very doubtful I still have these receipts. This was about 2 years ago, I have moved twice in that time, and really don't think I have them anywhere at this point. But, it should be on my records with ATT(I would assume), that proof was shown and the amount is no longer due (considering the collections stopped and show up as paid), but not sure that's enough. I really wish I had the receipts but don't think that's going to happen. Thanks.
Another problem I've been running into today is finding contact information for ATT broadband since it no longer exists (is now comcast, but not sure they'd have the same records)..anybody know if i should try contacting comcast instead? Thanks
Ok, I faxed a version of that letter to them this morning, and already received a call (didn't answer) from them saying they received the fax and wanted to "confirm some information". Should I give this lady a call back? Or what should I do? Thanks.
Also got a fax from the same lady asking me to call because "there is some information that I need to validate".. Help!
what information would they need to validate? account#? at this point i would not call them, you have their fax # and contact 'lady'. this way you can keep it in writing. maybe if you posted your letter id better be able to understand how your using this letter. im not sure the angle you used. just hold tight, at least you got their attention. this thing is paid and they've acknowledged that. one other thing - did this collection ever show a balance on the CA's tradeline? you said this was paid B4 it even was sent to collections, right? bugman
Only # besides $0 I see anywhere is on the response to my dispute i got from transunion where it says Most Owed: $1405 on my other reports every single number is $0 As far as the letter, it was very similar to yours with basically my numbers, dates, and thesaurus looked up words being the only major differences..i wasn't sure what exactly to write, so didn't want too change too much of the jist of the message. I also called comcast yesterday and they don't even have record of my account. the lady there said if i hadn't returned boxes, or had an outstanding balance, they wouldn't have let me open up the account i opened after the move, so tehre's no way i owed money. she said to fax any information i had to their client services department and they would most likely tell the CA too take it off...we'll see though.
