I have been reading this board for a few weeks now and I think you guys are great! So now, I'm ready (getting ready at least) for a fight!! It all started on Friday... I'm in the process of moving so of course the movers show up late. Then they complain because half the stuff I have isn't on their manifest--but it is on *my* copy so I yell at the owner of the moving company and they do their thing--but not happy about it. At least they wrapped the sofas etc so nothing was broken or scratched. When I get to the new place, it's just in time for the mail carrier to walk up and give me the statement for my oldest retail account (since 1985, no age comments please ;-)and I noticed there was a $5 late fee (they started that when the store chain sold their credit card portfolio to a banking company). Now back in Nov 2000 I lost the original card so they cancelled it and sent me a new one. In January, I saw some charges that I didn't recognize and disputed them. The rep explained that I would be getting copies of the charge slip for review and I thought everything would be on hold until then. I was wrong. Several weeks later I get the copies and they were indeed my charges--I forgot about going to their clearance store while on vacation (the first rep didn't tell me which store). So I called and told them all was well and did a check over the phone. So when I call about that late fee, the rep reversed it and told me my account was now zero. I asked about my limit (they don't print it on the statement) and she said "nothing"--my account was closed when it went 30 days past due! I asked about the whole dispute thing--she saw *no record* of any dispute! grrrrrrrr I'm going to start up with junum and got my Equifax and sure enough, there's a closed by merchant for that store account. There is another letter that was forwarded and it's from someplace called the LA AND ORANGE COUNTY ADUSTMENT BUREAU. They are demanding payment for some hospital that I visited one time over 2 years ago. The thing is, I paid the hospital when they sent the bill! I think I may need to employ one of lizardking's famous letters! The final straw that killed my weekend was when I checked my car loan and I saw that they finally posted my payment on March 27. Problem is the check cleared my account on March 15!! And they even charged me a late fee! So now that my weekend was shot AND I lost an hour of sleep, I'm ready for a fight!! I say to them, bring it on! Thanks to this board, I'm in a better position to fight with them to protect my rights!
Austin, ABout the hospital bill. I hope you keep your records for several years. Go back and find the stub where you paid the hospital bill. Make a copy and send it in with the new bill stating that it is PAID. It's a pain to have to search old records but it works for the best. judy
Your weekend reminds me of something my grandfather used to say. "If it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all"!
Thanks everyone. Judy, I am indeed going to have to hunt for that payment information but the problem is most of my papers are packed away in a box. Not to mention that I may not even have the cancelled checks since only one of my banks sends me the checks with my statement. The credit unions do not.
Bummer. I don't keep cancelled checks either. I have gotten used to dealing with a PPO for health insurance over the last 2 years and they always try to get over on you. In the PPO we get a reduction if we use someone in the PPO. A write-off on the charge. These medical doctors and hospitals always seem to forget or either think I am stupid and will just pay whatever they send me. I got a bill on saturday asking for final payment. They showed our 10% payment at the time of service and wanted the rest. I had to dig for a hour to find the EOB (explantion of benefits) from the insurance company....BUT I DID. Come to find out the neglected to take out the write-off they agreed to. Almost half the bill! SO I sent a copy of that statement with my check for the NEW amount due and showed where I deducted the write-off amount. These places just figure that people won't or don't keep their statements. Hopefully everyone here who has had to deal with credit repair know how important it is to ALWAYS keep all your statements and receipts. At least for 5 years. I have a box in the attic with each year listed in different envelops. Just took all of 200 out of the file cabinet and added it to the pile. Anyway.... sorry for the slant off on my rant over keeping records. Good luck finding the hospital record. If possible, could you order a copy from your bank. Mine will pull a detailed statement for any period of time for $1. I can ask for two months or more. If you know the approx time table you could pull you statement and maybe have some lick. judy
I'm sure I could get the needed info if only I could get into those boxes. You are so correct about keeping records though...I'm going to have to be more disciplined in doing that for my personal stuff. I have the really important stuff tucked away, just need to start unpacking. A local bank started a new process of not sending your cancelled checks back but instead will image the front and back or the checks and send you the images (4 checks/sheet) with your statement. Also, you can now see those images on their web site just like SFNB has been doing for some time now.
