Hey everyone, I had to break a lease about 4 years ago. They, sure enough, put a collection on my credit report. They have not ONCE tried collecting from me, so I somewhat thought that they might have lost my information or something. SO, the other day I sent in a dispute via Experian and today I got a letter from the company that states: _____________ I am writing to you in regard to your account with us. The purpose of this letter is to advise you of the current status of your account. Our records show that the current balance on your account is $2,166.74. This amount includes: Reported Amount: $1,444.49; Interest: $0.00; Collection Fees: $722.25. These amounts represent the total amount claimed against you. They have been reported and updated to the three major credit bureaus. If you have any questions regarding your account, please feel free to call us at *** ***-****. ______________ Now I'm looking for advice on what my next step should be. I'm very tempted to call up and ask them to settle, but I know that's not a good idea. BUT, I'm to a point now where I can afford to, plus I need that thing off my credit report soon. But it also sounds like I can send another request and the ball will be in their court once again. So, what would one of the knowledgeable people here suggest? If it's a settlement, what might be a good figure to start out suggesting? $500?
You need to find out what the statute of limitations is on debt in your state. If the debt is past the statute date, you won't have to pay them anything. In Michigan, the statute of limitations is six years. Michigan is also a state of repose which means that debt more than six years old can't be collected.
I don't think they're allowed to impose collection fees. Is this a collection agency, or just a collection department of the OC? Also with a broken lease, they can't make you pay more than what their loss is. If rent was $500 a month, you had five months left on your lease, but they were able to re-rent the place after just a month, then the $500 is all you owe (plus any repairs they may have had to make, assuming they were above and beyond normal wear and tear.)
Thanks for the responses! I had heard those two nuggets before, but I've never been able to find the answers. In particular, how do I find out if the apartment was rented after I left? And what's the best step, not only to get out of paying money, but getting this removed from my credit report? Thanks for the help!
You need to check the law in your state. Some states place a cap on damages for breaking a lease. Also, the damages from a broken lease may be limited to the lost profit, not the lost lease payments. If, say, the landlord was responsible for paying certain utilities, and those expenses went down when the property was unoccupied, his damages would have gone down with them. In addition, he may have been responsible for first attempting to mitigate his damages by trying to rent out the property quickly. If he didn't properly advertise it, resulting in delay in finding a new tenant, the old tenant might not be responsible for payments for the whole period it took to find the new tenant. I am not an attorney. The above is just a summary of several discussions I have read on the issue.
Okay, I'm in TX, so I know there is a dury to mitigate, just from hearing others discuss it. BUT - where can I find the law? How can I find out if he fulfilled that duty?
