I have an issue regarding a delinquent account which I initially thought was ID theft. In 2001 I was in Utah and had an apartment, and all of my utilities in my name, but the bills were being paid directly from my company in Florida. I then returned to Florida (long before the date of the delinquency) and another company employee went to take over in Utah, living in the apartment I had set up, using all the utilities. I now have a delinquency for $99 from Comcast Cable. I suspect when the other employee left Utah, and we discontinued renting the apartment and closed all of the utilities accounts, one bill may have been overlooked, most likely delivered after the company employee left Utah. How do I settle this issue, and have the delinquency removed from my credit report? It is only for $99 but the information is quite damaging to my credit score. Can anyone offer any suggestions?
Just a note: This is why you should keep buisness and personal finances separated. Utilities could have been set up under company name and tax ID # rather then your own name and social. Having done so would have also made these costs a buisness expense. At this point I would say the only solution would be to negotiate with the creditor and hope they agree to remove it from your credit report. Other than that it would remain on report but be marked as settled and $0 balance. Just beware if account is in collections of charge-off mark-ups. I had a utility company charge off an account for a paltry sum that I previously contested; I then received a letter from a CA 2 mos. prior to this debt being eliminated from my report showing an amount due of over $100 more than the original debt. Because I had copy of previous credit report and letter from CA I was able to intercept this before CA tried to report to CRA, without having to pay one red cent. Score 1 for the little guy!!!!!
Ok...that was odd I went from clicking on reply to an automatic posting of your quote....first the site was too slow, now we are too fast it would seem!!! lol
Re: This sh*t must be SO common! He Yes, maybe six or more payments were made after I left. When I came back to Florida I was able to make sure the checks were sent from my company for all bills that were received, so I suspect this bill came after we gave up the apartment, and the apartment complex didn't forward the mail. I have never received any notifications from the collections company either, so when I found out I had a delinquency I was totally caught by surprise, I actually found out when I tried to get a credit line increase from Chase, then I contacted Experian to find out what was going on. I originally thought it was ID theft, but this situation seems a whole lot more likely. I should negotiate with the collections company I guess, but I have no idea how to go about doing this?
Re: Re: This sh*t must be SO common! He Hmmmm, well I think the payments afterwards may be the obstacle. I guess you can decide which angle you want to take. You can send out a validation letter and dispute it with the CRAs and get lucky and it will just fall off. You can probably prove that you had already moved so you *might* be able to take it up with the OC and put it on them as to why they did not change to bill over and now your credit is marred and so on. The other is to take it up with the CA and go for a pay for deletion. It is not fair that you end up paying for a bill that is not yours, but to pay in full to get your credit back is worth it. Just make sure you get it in writing before any payment is made and be persistent. I have gotten a pay for deletion before and I had to go above the person I was talking with to get it.
Re: Re: This sh*t must be SO common Thank you so much for the advice. I think the pay for deletion is my best option. It is $99 charge, and luckily I am in a fairly fortunate financial position....which is why this was such a big frustration for me. I will contact the CA and ask for an agreement in writing before I make the payment. Thanks again, you have been a great help! All the best......KD
