I was renting an aprtment in 2005 -2006. My lease expired in Feb. of 2006 and I moved out. Since the apartment complex held my security deposit of $400, I made my last rent payment less than usual by the amount of deposit. I also anticipated I would get some additional repair/cleaning charges added on, as the apartment was left not in perfect condition. I didn't get any letters for about a month and went on an overseas trip. When I returned I had 2 letters waiting for me. First was from the apartment complex, stating that I owe them $1022. The amount was itemized and consited of missed $400 rent plus repair/cleaning fees. The security deposit and interest due on it was not deducted. The letter said I had 10 days to pay or it will be forwarded to their CA. Since I was gone for a month and didn't pay or respond sure enough it was forwarded to CA as promised. The second letter was from CA stating I owe the apartment complex $1022. Upon my return I went to the rental office and informed them that they made a mistake because my deposit was never credited back. The lady said my account is no longer here, and I have to contact corporate office to fix that. Upon calling the corporate office they said that unfortunately they can't do anything since my file was forwarded to CA and I should contact them to get it fixed. By that time the CA was already actively calling me. I was ignoring them at first but then I picked up and explained the situation, told them I will pay as soon as they fix the amount by applying deposit plus interest. The letters from CA continued with no changes in the amount due. One of the letters stated that my security deposit was applied and I still owe $1022. Then in May I received another letter saying it is my last chance to make payment arrangements as it is scheduled to be reported to CRA if I don't act within a week. Sure enough I didn't want it to go to my credit report so the next time they called I picked up. I explained the problem again and the guy said that he can fix that right away but I need to make payment arrangements now. We agreed that I will pay it in 4 monthly installments which will be automatically deducted from my bank account. Of course, I got his assurance that it will not go my credit report. The CA person never told me the total amount I would need to pay, only the amount of monthly installments. When I added them up in my head it seemed about right, as I din't have the letter with exact amount ($1022 -$400) in front of me nor I remembered it. I was happy at the moment because for some reason when I added up the installments I got the number that seemed to be less than what I actually owed (probably just multiplied by 3 instead of 4) so I didn't bother to verify the amounts as I didn't want him to catch the "mistake". My payments were completed as scheduled and I thought I was done with that. Boy, I was wrong! In November of 2006 I applied for CC, which was denied to my surprise. Top reason came as recent collection activity. Sure enough after checking my CR I found out that the apartment related CA was reporting me starting way back in May of 2006. Now it was listed as "Paid. Settled for less than full amount." The original amount was still $1022. Turned out the CA person just tricked me into thinking that he is actually applying my deposit as I insited. At that time he was probably authorized to settle for less, so that's exactly what he did. Turned out I paid $766 through the monthly installments, when I really owed $622 ($1022 - $400), not even counting the interest that was due on the deposit. Turns out I actually paid $144 more than I rightfully owed and it got to my CR. I disputed it with CRAs back then, but it came back as verified with added notation "customer disputes". I figured I will take care of that later and was putting it off until now. It is still hurting my score, and I need to apply for mortgage in the few months. I need advice on how to approach this for CA to remove that completely. Since they technically owe me money, can I somehow use that to my advantage? I don't care about the money, all I want is complete removal of that entry. I'm not interested in them reporting it correctly. Do I contact apartment company first? Do I contact CA? I don't mind suing if needed. Do I threten to sue? I have proof of my payments to the CA as well as all the letters sent to me by them. I have proof of deposit paid. I have final acount statement from apartment company where it is evident that my deposit was not credited back. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
