Hey guys, I've done a pretty good job of cleaning up my credit report and I've seen my score rise about 80 points or so. HOWEVER, the only thing on my report that's still KILLING me is from a broken lease. I won't go into the details behind having to break the lease. I really just need to know what I can do to get this off my CR. I'm planning on buying a house within 2 years. I don't want this charge to keep me from doing that. The charge originated around March of 2001. I've already received validation from the CA. They are showing a $2000 or so charge. The debt is actually $1100, but they've added a bunch of fees. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get this removed from my CR. SO...what should I do? I'm in Texas, by the way.
Is the amount they are trying to collect in compliance with state law? Many states require that even on a consumer breaking a lease, the landlord must have attempted to mitigate his damages by attempting to rent out the property quickly. There may also be limits on how many months can be charged, depending on state law or even city ordinances, and perhaps notification requirements that he would have to have met for the debt to be legal. Some lease agreements may have a termination clause, specifying what payment satisfies the agreement if it is terminated early. In 2 years you will be in 2008, and if it hasn't fallen off by then, it will be about to.
Texas does have the law about duties to mitigate. How would I go about getting proof that they did fulfill this duty? Okay, so in 2 years...whether I pay this or not, the charge will totally be gone from my credit report?
Reporting period is 7 years from the chargeoff date, which can be at most 180 days from the original date of delinquency, as per FCRA. So that is at most 7.5 years from, say, 1 month after they determined an amount was due, and possibly less if it was charged off in less than 180 days. That assumes they have not sued, won, and reduced the debt to a judgement, in which case the reporting period for the judgement would apply. See FCRA. What validation did they send you? Did the validation itemize the fees, and were those fees in compliance with the lease agreement? Are they attempting to collect on advertising for rent, and can they provide documentation on those expenses? How many months of rent are they attempting to collect? Did the validation indicate the period for which they were requesting payment for the unoccupied dwelling? Did the validation include proof that the dwelling was being actively advertised for rent during that period, such as a copy of a newspaper ad? In other words, did the validation show that they complied with the duty under TX law to mitigate, in order to support their claim that the alleged debt was valid? Those are the issues you might have addressed in court, if either of you had chosen to take the case to court. Perhaps you could send them notice that under TX law they have not sent adequate validation of the debt showing they met their legal obligation to mitigate, and requesting the above. Since under TX law, they have 30 days to validate debts, it might be awkward, if they can even get records to support mitigation. You would also want to look at TX SOL for the lease, which is presumably a written contract, to see if they can still sue.
