Hi, I am attempting to improve my credit report and one item is killing me, I really need advise. I was in a major car accident in 98. The car was totalled. My insurance paid the blue book value. I owed less than 1,000. I made payments and paid it off when i got my income tax return(2/99). My credit report reads: GMAC-settled for less than full amount balance 0 status as of 2/99 payment after charge off/ collection I called GMAC. they said since I didn't pay off the balance in the allowable time(which i didnt' know existed at the time) they sent the account to their collection center, hence the charge off /collection notation. This pisses me off. Up till then I had never had a late payment. Oh they also said i paid 780 and the balance was 860, so I settled for less than full amount. What can i do? I diputed and it came back frivilous. It appears as if I just let me car payment go until it went into collections. please help. this is ruining my credit. thank you for any and all input. JODY
this is an excellent case of a "goodwill adjustment" letter. you can find a link to it in the unofficial FAQs thread at the top of all the threads. The top three threads are also required reading! ;-) I would address the letter to an executive (you'll have to do a little research to find the appropriate contact. Also, send your letter through www.planetfeedback.com In your letter, you want to tell the same story, you have told us. Sappy-ness usually helps, if it gets into the right hands. If those avenues don't work, you may need to use one of the "nutcase" letters, but that's further down the line. (links to that are also in the aforementioned thread) Good luck! humblemarc
