Collection account

[Shajen]

Yeah, it's killing your credit score.

548 is pretty bad. If I were you, I'd start up the process of fighting this. Or, I'd find a buddy with an extra cable box and ship that to them.

[TheIrishThug]

i would go with yes. a balance of 400 that hasn't been paid for over 2 yrs is def gonna suck for ur credit score. yes u can not pay it and just get other ppl to set up ur cable, but ur score is only gonna get worse if it stays unpaid.

the late payment shouldn't be that bad cause it was slightly late and then paid off. but i'd put money on this balance being the major reason for ur bad rating.

Keep calling and fighting the cable company. Same thing happened to me 2 years ago after I returned the equipment and they (Charter Cable) said I didn't. Obviously I know I did, but I had no way of proving it. They said I owed like $250 or something but after probably 3 months of calling them, I finally got everything cleared to my name.

Basically this is how it happened...

I would call and say I returned the equipment, the person I was talking to eventually would believe me and would say that they fixed it on their computer and tell me everything was cleared up.

Some time would pass and I would get mail from Charter saying I owe money for equipment that I didn't return.

I call Charter and argue again, and once again, they tell me they fixed it and everything is cleared up.

A little time passes and I get mail saying that Charter is going to use a collection service to get the money I owe.

I call Charter again, furious, and they clear it up once again. I get the ID of the person I talk to and record the conversation. I call again after a few days to check the status of my old account. Verified. Called again. Verified. Eventually get a $17 refund from Charter for a partial month of service I did not use. Case finally closed.

Long story short, fight them, and then fight some more. Eventually, with persistence and record keeping, it will get fixed.

On a side note, never use them for services again.

MisterW

[ QUOTE ]
It means you're screwed for 7 years.

Yes it's hurting your score and will continue to hurt it for 7 years from the date of last activity (date you last paid them).

Right now the worst thing you could do is pay them as that will actually re-trigger the date of last activity and it will still show on your report for 7 years from todays date. The only way you'll ever get it taken off is if you get in writing that they will delete the tradeline as consideration for you paying off the balance. Or you could request validation and dispute et al. but I never really had much luck with that except for getting collectors to STFU and not contact me any more.

Check out the forums at http://www.artofcredit.com for some decent info.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for your help Al. Here's the thing. They said that they have been trying to contact me at my old college address for two years, with no success, obviously. I think that they have given up on the account seeing that is now listed as closed on Experian.

What can I do legally to fight this and get it removed? A friend suggested to me that I contact the collections agency and ask them to produce a copy of my contract, the friend thinking that the collections agency will not have a copy of my contract because they are not Time Warner, and if they cannot produce the contract then they must remove it from my credit report supposedly. What do you think?

I have no proof that I returned the cable box to them even though I know that I did. I might have been given a receipt after returning it but I just found out about this morning and the account is almost 2.5 years old, so I don't have the receipt anymore.

I'm a little bit lost.

[ QUOTE ]
Keep calling and fighting the cable company. Same thing happened to me 2 years ago after I returned the equipment and they (Charter Cable) said I didn't. Obviously I know I did, but I had no way of proving it. They said I owed like $250 or something but after probably 3 months of calling them, I finally got everything cleared to my name.

Basically this is how it happened...

I would call and say I returned the equipment, the person I was talking to eventually would believe me and would say that they fixed it on their computer and tell me everything was cleared up.

Some time would pass and I would get mail from Charter saying I owe money for equipment that I didn't return.

I call Charter and argue again, and once again, they tell me they fixed it and everything is cleared up.

A little time passes and I get mail saying that Charter is going to use a collection service to get the money I owe.

I call Charter again, furious, and they clear it up once again. I get the ID of the person I talk to and record the conversation. I call again after a few days to check the status of my old account. Verified. Called again. Verified. Eventually get a $17 refund from Charter for a partial month of service I did not use. Case finally closed.

Long story short, fight them, and then fight some more. Eventually, with persistence and record keeping, it will get fixed.

On a side note, never use them for services again.

MisterW

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks Mister for your very interesting and similar post. The key difference between your situation and mine though is that I have not been receiving the letters since they were sent to my old address, and Time Warner and the collection agency did not have my new one. I just found out about it this morning and the reason that I want to get it removed is that it is obviously killing my credit score.

Should I call Time Warner of Rochester right now? What should I tell them? Or should I ask for the number of the collections agency instead and then call them?

[Al P]

Yes you can improve it by doing those things.

I have 3 collections from 1998-1999 still on my reports but my score is 709. Good enough to get me a 15K car loan at the second best rate offered.


Also it would be very rare for them to try and sue for $400. I had some $3000, $2000, $1700, etc. bills and all I ever got was nasty phone calls and nasty collection letters.

Also there's a thing called Statute of Limitations for collecting debts. http://www.cardreport.com/laws/statu...mitations.html

Basically after X years a debt isn't even collectable anymore however they can still try all they want. And if they mention court all you have to do is mention the SOL as your defense.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Keep calling and fighting the cable company. Same thing happened to me 2 years ago after I returned the equipment and they (Charter Cable) said I didn't. Obviously I know I did, but I had no way of proving it. They said I owed like $250 or something but after probably 3 months of calling them, I finally got everything cleared to my name.

Basically this is how it happened...

I would call and say I returned the equipment, the person I was talking to eventually would believe me and would say that they fixed it on their computer and tell me everything was cleared up.

Some time would pass and I would get mail from Charter saying I owe money for equipment that I didn't return.

I call Charter and argue again, and once again, they tell me they fixed it and everything is cleared up.

A little time passes and I get mail saying that Charter is going to use a collection service to get the money I owe.

I call Charter again, furious, and they clear it up once again. I get the ID of the person I talk to and record the conversation. I call again after a few days to check the status of my old account. Verified. Called again. Verified. Eventually get a $17 refund from Charter for a partial month of service I did not use. Case finally closed.

Long story short, fight them, and then fight some more. Eventually, with persistence and record keeping, it will get fixed.

On a side note, never use them for services again.

MisterW

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks Mister for your very interesting and similar post. The key difference between your situation and mine though is that I have not been receiving the letters since they were sent to my old address, and Time Warner and the collection agency did not have my new one. I just found out about it this morning and the reason that I want to get it removed is that it is obviously killing my credit score.

Should I call Time Warner of Rochester right now? What should I tell them? Or should I ask for the number of the collections agency instead and then call them?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I think calling them (the cable company) is the best idea. A collection service is bad news and they are used to force you to pay your debts by essentially taking your money. They are terrible for your credit, which is the reason I was furious to receive that notice.

The best advice I can give is to call them and be honest and friendly, but persistent. Explain the situation to them, tell them how you found out about it, and be nice about it. You will be talking to a customer support person who probably deals with angry people all day, and he/she just has to click a button and contact a few people to erase your debt.

Usually places have some sort of protocol where they will reduce the fine by increments until you are content to pay... just keep trying and they should erase it eventually.

MisterW

Edit: Edited to clarify calling the cable company rather than collections

[HopeydaFish]

The Credit Agency just reports what it's been sent by reputable lenders, in this case Time Warner. The Collections Agency won't remove the black mark on your credit report based solely on your say so that you didn't know about the $400 bill. This isn't the Credit Agency's problem. Until Time Warner tells them to remove this information from your file, it'll remain there for the next 7 years. Even then, you'll have to convince Time Warner that you would have paid the $400 had you known that this amount was owing, otherwise they'll just report to the Credit Agency that you have paid your bill, but the fact that you were very late in doing so will still appear on your credit report, as will the fact that it went to a Collections Agency.

Actually, Time Warner might not do anything at all to remove this from your credit report. They sold your outstanding balance to a Collections Agency (at a loss), so Time Warner is no longer owed the money. You owe the Collections Agency the money, and they won't have the power to remove the black mark that relates to Time Warner from your credit report.

I think you're screwed, quite frankly. The best you can do is talk to the Collections agency, Time Warner, and the Credit bureau to see what you can do to slightly mitigate the damage.

[Al P]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...idation+letter

You could try validation.

Edit - I wouldn't call anyone. Do everything in writing.

[HopeydaFish]

When I was in University, I had some outstanding fines for overdue library books at the public library. I think they totalled about $80. I'd returned the books at the overnight drop box because I didn't have the $80 to pay the fine (being a starving student and all). About 6 months later I received a notice from a collections agency looking to collect the money. I'm sure this didn't help my credit score one bit. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]