Hi,

I just got off the phone with a collection agency and would like some advice.

In June of 2003, as I was finishing up college, I received a bill for about $150 from my AT&T cell phone. I believed the charges to be unfair--I was billed for a few days of usage that occurred after my contract had ended because my service had not stopped. At the time this was quite a bit of money for me so I returned the bill with a letter stating what had happened and naively thought all was well...and proceeded to move abroad for two years.

Upon my return to the US, I would receive the occasional letter about the bill from various collection agencies, but was told by various people that paying it at this point would only hurt my credit rating--so I didn't.

I'm now in a stable financial position. I have no problems paying my bills on time, barely use credit cards, invest heavily in my 401k, etc. and I now know that follow-through and trusting more than hearsay are parts of financial responsibility. I did find that my credit rating drop from 750 to the 600s, however, when I checked it last year. And, while annoying, paying the $300 bill the debt has now become would not be a hardship.

Tonight I received a call from the collection agency, answered it by accident and ended up talking to a collector. I was surprised to find that various details of the debt were wrong. My one year contract, completed, had become two and the date of the debt was listed a year earlier, as 2002 rather than 2003. Unfortunately, I really don't think I have the paperwork to support this anymore. When I stated my case, they told me they would mark the debt as "refusal to pay." I told them I was disputing it and the details given, but they said it would not matter.

There is a small chance I will be interested in buying a condo in the next two to three years, but there is a greater chance I will not be stable enough location-wise to make that kind of commitment at this point.

My understanding is that this collection will cease to affect my credit rating in a few years, but will haunt me for seven starting the day I pay it off. I have also heard varying opinions as to whether it is more beneficial to pay the debt in full.

I have also yet to write to the credit bureaus and dispute the debt, although the collector assured me they would hold me to it. Does this really make a difference?

Is "refusal to pay" a tactic to get me paying or a sign they will be suing me?

Any opinions or advice? I'd like to get this off my back but I'm wondering if it's worth it at this point.

I would just pay it off and take it from there. That way you do not need to stress over it anymore.

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Small Business Cash Advance / Wall Street Journal Online

Unfortunately this has been a common issue over here as well with phone companies - I'd contact AT&T about the issue and see if there's a way to resolve the issue directly with themselves. Also a shame you don't have the paperwork to prove your position - that could make things awkward
in proving your case.

Yea having the paperwork would make your stance a little more solid.

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Small Business Cash Advance / Wall Street Journal Online

Old thread, but for people in a similar situation... In most states, most types of collections accounts that are at least 3 years old from date of last activity have had ther statute of limitations expire. This may be the case for you and also due to it's age, I would send the collection agency a letter telling them that you dispute the charge by the initial creditor and you challenege the statute of limitations. Make an offer to settle the account for $15 anyway in an effort to be fair if they accept this as payment in full without recourse and remove any entries from all credit reporting agencies.

You used the phone after your contract ended thinking that you were getting away with something.

Pay your bill.

I have a similar question.

At the end of my third year in college, my roommate and I moved out of an apartment that had one hole in the wall. We mentioned it in our departure and verbally worked out a deal with the complex manager to leave our $300 (i think) security deposit to cover that and any other incidental charges/cleaning fees.

Fast forward two years and my former roommate was again trying to get an apartment when they alerted him to the fact that our previous apt. complex had sent a bill to collections and they wouldn't be able to rent to him until it was taken care of. Furious, he paid it and spent hours on the phone getting it taken off his credit report. All of this happening without my knowledge.

Now that I've graduated and monitor my credit score, the red flag naturally drew my attention. I've called him and got his side of the story, called the apartment complex and learned that they've gone through several management changes - one actually running of with several checks (we're speculating that our security deposit was among these), and called the collections agency. What I've been told is that because the departure agreement wasn't in writing, the red flag stays. "Credit scores are a reflection of one's ability to manage credit and my red flag deserves to be there because i handled the situation incorrectly" is the gist of what I was told.

In your opinion, is this accurate? Was my former roommate confused in thinking he had it removed from his credit score? Because my wife and i plan on buying a house soon (before the seven years will expire) and it will affect the interest rate we're eligible for, I'd like to get it removed if possible... any advice?

I'm a bit fuzzy on some details that might help with an answer. Did the apartment complex have a judgment filed against you? Did they, or the collections agency, say that they tried to contact you for the extra that you owed to covered the damages, but they were unable to do so? Did they, in fact, cash the check for a security deposit that you wrote? Can you get a photocopy of the cancelled check from your bank? These answers would provide better direction for you.

At this point, I would contact all of the credit reporting agencies and request that they put a remarks section at the end of your file where you will explain the particulars of what happened with the apartment complex.

Variations of your security deposit situation are not uncommon. I had one of those myself. Fortunately, I was able to cut trouble off early by getting the state agency that oversees renter/tennant issues to get my money back. All it took was one phone call and I had my $300 the next day by FedEx.

If this is genuinely going to cause you a problem with your mortgage, find a bank whose loan officers do manual underwriting. They would be able to overlook your glitch in their scoring calculation.

Read a summary of the 2003 changes to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In it you might find something that will help you. Here is the address:
Changes to the Fair Credit Reporting Act: Important Steps Forward at a High Cost

Good luck.

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The apartment filed a judgement after the initial management left (we think this is what happened. Can't be sure as we weren't there as the events transpired and the years have made remembering even more difficult) and a second managing group ran off with checks. While the dust settled, management #3 saw that we owed money after leaving and there was no money there (on to management #4, #5, or #6 and nobody remembers any of this ) and didn't know how to get it from us so they turned it over to collections. Collections put up some red flags and the roommate was dinged when trying to rent another apartment. Since he couldn't rent, he paid, yelled, and (according to him) got it removed from his credit report. This many years later and a few banks later - no chance of getting copies of the check and i don't know who actually cashed it.


Thank you for your advice. In reading the file you had linked, the only relevant portion I could find stated that they had to attempt to contact us - which they did not do. No way to prove it though, which is what it all comes down to I guess. As for the contacting the agencies, I will most definitely do so and request an asterisk next to the red mark. Unfortunately I don't think it will help when trying to secure the lowest possible rates for a new mortgage. ...live and learn, though.

Way to catch it early in your situation, though. It's unfortunate that things such as this happen with such regularity...

Thank you again for your advice.

If i were you, i would just pay it out as soon as possible because its annoying little debt collections like those that can end up messing up your credit rating for a long time. And once you paid it out, you should contact a credit repair service and inquire about getting the whole "situation" removed from your credit report.

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