hello, this is my first post but to be honest i have been lurking for some time. i have research many topics on this board and find it quite helpful. my goal is to obtain a morgage within 6 months. after doing credit repair on my own (and seeing one too many gray hairs from the continuous stress), i have signed up with lexington late last year. so far they have done a nice job with the email notifications, etc. in my stable of the credit barn i own a credit union visa card, a cap1 card, and macys (obtained last month). Currently, my credit report contains a chargeoff from AT&T wireless and a collection agency item for a supermarket. I have tried and tried to negotiate with the collection agency (payment for deletion) and they would not budge. Come to think of it, he was down right rude. The orignial creditor said they had sold the account to the agency and I can only deal with them. I sent the payment, in full, to the original creditor and today they cashed the check. AT&T wireless pretty much told me the same thing. The only difference is that AT&T reported is as a charge off on my report. I spoke to AT&T customer service rep. and they said I can only deal with the collection agency. I called the collection agency and they said they would happily take the payment but can't remove the chargeoff from my report because it was not their doing. I have the funds to pay them, but with time of the essence I don't want to overplay my hand. I have spoken to the debt negotiation person at Lexington and they said they can't do anything b/c it is under $500. Any advice would really be appreciated. Thanks for you time. ledo
Ledo, Out of curiousity how old are these two chargeoffs? I know to be accepted for a mortgage that all unpaid chargeoffs must be paid. I don't why Lexington won't dispute the chargeoffs even if one is under $500. Is there a balance requirement of a certain amount that I don't know about? My experience with chargeoffs is almost nil so I don't want to offer you advice on what to do. Maybe someone on the board can help. I know there are a couple of members who have experienced this. Any suggestions, anyone? Dani
Hi Dani, Thanks for the reply. The chargeoff happened December 2000. Lexington has disputed the chargeoff and the collection agency item and both have been verified. I am sorry if I didn't clarify myself in the previous message. What I meant about Lexington is that they have a debt negotiation team in addition to the teams that help clean up the reports. It is the debt negotiation team that won't negotiate items under $500. Any advice would be great. Thanks. ledo
Who is the Collection agency you are dealing with? If you paid the original creditor, then the collection agency has no claim against you because you paid the original creditor and they cannot claim that you owe them anymore and thereby they should cease all collection activities. And they lose out on their commission ,, he he he ! The best, the collection agency can do is go after the original creditor and claim that they were not entitled to accept that payment since it was sold to the CA and they have no claim to that money any more. Even if they try to still report it as a paid collection. Then at a later date dispute the matter with CRA and say that the collection account is not yours and you did not owe this agency, which is in fact the truth. DO NOT PAY THE CA! Pay the original creditor if you can. Give it a try! Cyprigirl
Hi Cyprigirl, the collection agency for AT&T is Sunrise Credit. On the other account, I intentionally paid the creditor (supermarket) because that collection agency customer service rep. was obnoxious and rude so that was my way of sticking it to him : ) ha ha ha (still brings a smile on my face). I just wanted some advice on how to deal with AT&T so I can tell Lexington to "release the hounds". : ) Thanks again for responding. ledo
Re: question for cyprigirl Cyprigirl: I posted a similar problem. Since you seem to know something about this subject, could you look at my post and give me some advice? Any help would be appreciated. Its posted under my name, about 15 posts down. Thanks
Write to At&t through Planetfeedback. I had a similar situation and wrote to Planetfeedback and dealt with the original creditor and paid them. The collection agency later tried to call me to collect but I told them they were too late and I have already handled the matter with the creditor. Then follow up with a cease and desist letter. They have no other recourse except to handle it with the original creditor and then just dispute it if they try to report to the CRA. They failed to do their job of collecting a debt, and that is not your problem. Cyprigirl
thanks for the advice. i just sent AT&T a letter via planetfeedback and hopefully will get a positive response. does anyone out there have any experience with AT&T (with or with planetfeedback)? please let me know. thanks.
Update -- I paid the supermarket (leaving out the collection agency) and they cashed the check. Today, I spoke to the accounting person in charge of delinquent files. She told me the the CA has been notified that the account is paid and they would not delete the information from my credit report. As a matter of fact, the CA will note that the account is marked paid (already not turning out to be a good Monday). I sent a letter to AT&T via planetfeedback and received and email with a number to call. I called and was referred to credit investigation which one accepts communication by letter and/or fax. Received my TU report over the weekend and the chargeoff and collection agency info is gone (however still on experian and equifax). Now I am really worried - did my paying off the supermarket increase the probability of the CA reinserting the new info to TU? Does anybody know. Please help?
Ledo: I would wait a few months and then dispute the item with the CRA. How old is this item? Cyprigirl
Hi Cyprigirl, Thanks so much for the advice. It has helped with the frustrations of going through this. The collection agency/supermarket item happened in 10/99, AT&T was late last year.
