Hi experts, First of all thank you for all the dedicated folks here who help everybody to better understand the process of credit/credit repair. I have spent sometime on this site and I would appreciated your input for my specific problem. I wish I had spent more time here before I got wind of latest problem I am in. I was with ATT for a long time(several years) and there are few changes in services I requested last June and did not pay my May bill thinking that I will pay once all the adjustments are done. I did not pay the May bill and by June I switched my phone/internet to another provider with couple of months of bill due to ATT but waited too long I guess before I thought I will pay the final bill with all the adjustments done correctly. Then I got a call from a collection agency asking for money and they said it is phone bill(around $120). I said I did not pay because I was waiting for a final bill with all corrections completely done but cust. rep told me that I could settle with paying 50% of the bill and I said I need to talk to ATT on why they sent my bill to collection agency(futile attempt as I guess automated business processes to collection agency kicked in and a waste of my time). Anyway I called ATT and they said they can't do anything now and said I need to deal with the collection agency. I called back the collection agency(I know it is a mistake now..) and settled the bill for 50% of the bill(gave them Virtual Credit card number as I do not want them to know about my real credit card..). They called back after a month or so saying it did not go through and gave them another card(a different Virtual cc number this time). Then I thought I am done dealing with them(another mistake...should have checked credit card website quickly to confirm - this was close to Nov, 08) Then I started getting calls from them again saying payment is still needed(this was in Dec 08). I ignored the calls for sometime as I wanted to check my credit card statements to see if they were telling the truth or not.... Then, it looks like within the collection agency it moved to another location(I guess this is the next dept once the first dept fails to get a quick resolution). They sent a letter stating that I need to pay now the full amount or dispute in writing in 30 days. I called them(another one of my mistakes) and said that this debt was settled for 50% and talked to supervisor and he said I need to pay in full. So I wrote a letter immediately stating that I settled the charge and had paid 50% and requested more information on why it was not closed out(letter was not the professional type I have seen on this website - another mistake). All this time I did not pay attention to the credit report and then I ordered all 3 scores and reports and found to my dismay that the item got reported and my 2 scores have dropped more than 120 points(Ex - 810, TU - 691 and EQ - 678) just for this reason. I never had a credit problem before(this is the first time an item was reported from collection agency). I guess Ex would drop once this item shows up and it is not yet shown up there and thus I would like to do expeditious damage control. Currently I am waiting for the collection agency to respond to my 30 day letter. Meanwhile I noticed in my credit report that another new account was opened in another dept of the collection agency(this is the second account number opened with their 3 depts). I need your help in drafting the next steps. Correct me if I am wrong and direct me to additional resources on this website: 1. Agree to pay in full and request collection agency to delete the record completely. The collection items in the credit report are 2 items(reported 12/08) - one from the original creditor(ATT) and the other one is from collection agency(they both refer to the same account number though). Questions here: a. Should I wait till I receive a response from the collection agency? b. How do get ATT to remove the tradeline once the collection agency agrees. 2. Should I initiate the validate/verify request with CRAs now or wait till item 1 is resolved. 3. Is there a data sharing between 3 credit bureaus and how can I stop it from ruining my current 800+ score with experian. Any other help is immensely appreciated and this is a lesson learnt for not paying attention to credit reports and understanding how to deal with collection agencies properly. Apologize if this seems too long but wanted to provide complete details. Thank you for your time and attention in reading/responding. -Ptry
Sorry if I missed something, but your post was a little cluttered. Did you say you did finally pay them 50%? If they agreed to that, and you have it in writing somewhere, then tell them to go to hell. If they sue you, claim "satisfaction & accord" as a defense -- they already agreed to a settlement, and they can't reneg that after you paid. Also, dispute the entry with the CRAs and send a copy of your proof that you settled (a letter from the CA offering 50% and a copy of your card statement with irrelevant information blacked out).
More detail hi Sparq, Sorry for the clutter but I checked all credit statements, for some reason(may be collection agency has a problem with virtual CC numbers), there is no record of payment and thus I am willing to settle for the entire amount and I do not want this little one collection to ruin my credit which has always been excellent until this time. Also, it has been a while I had checked my credit scores but I am persplexed by the size of the drop in credit scores(for 2 bureas) though I did not find any other significant negatives on the credit report apart from this one collection item on the report. -
