I am perplexed.... I had a lease with Volvo Finance that terminated in May of 2006 with no issues except the overage in miles! Since we owed a sizable amount of money for these miles we agreed to a monthly payment schedule until the "debt" was paid off. No biggie right? Well, in Dec. 2006 there was a snag in communications with my account rep and no payment was made... I tried calling several times and had no response until I heard from a collection agency in January! Clearly, I thought this was an issue and asked what this meant.. I was informed that they were simply collecting the remainder of the money due and that nothing would happen to my credit! How wrong was that!! I paid off the amount in March of 2007 and see that Volvo Charged Off the account in May of 2007!!! What is that about??? No more money due and yet a charge off... The question.. How do I handle this? Do I write to Volvo and try to appeal to their better senses (I am still a customer by the way) or does this hurt my chances if I need to go further??? What do I send them? A Validation letter? A simple WTF letter?? or what... Thanks in advance for any help on this...
You would send Volvo a "verification" communication wherein you request that what they are reporting is accurate and complete. Since the account is paid, you have no need to contact the collection agency unless they are also reporting on your credit reports. You would request re-investigation of the account tradeline through all three credit reporting agencies and dispute specifically, the account status/pay status. You may wish to also target the date of status (Experian) and date of major first delinquency.
Thanks so much for offering advice and direction... is there a sample "verification" letter somewhere in this forum??? In your opinion and experience, does this seem like a fixable situation?
Hard to say. We've never dealt with Volvo directly but, I've never heard any horror stories about them. As for any "sample" letters, stay away from those. Instead just convey your version of the matter and ask them for verification of what they're now reporting. You don't have to cite to specific statutes or provisions within any. It is there job to conduct an investigation pursuant to such a request by you. With that said, you do need to request a re-investigation per the credit reporting agencies in addition. This will provide the hook under 1681s-2b should it come to that.
