I have an account that was being paid weekly (at least $50-100) as I used the card on and off. My husband switched jobs, we switched banks, and we were moving to another state, so the automatic payments had stopped; I was unaware they were discontinued.

I got a call in March saying that my Amex bill was due and had not been paid. I explained to the rep the above and that I had it on auto payments and I had always paid weekly before and never been late, which she agreed. I told her I would log in and send a payment ASAP and she offered to waive the late and over the limit fees (late fees put us over the limit).

I logged in and paid the bill. We moved and in April, I logged in to pay the bill, and was met by a message that the account was closed by Amex and due in full. It gave the option to make a payment, which I did. I called them and they said that due to their auto system detecting a payment behavior change, they had elected to close the account and it was forwarded to a collector.

The collector has said that if I let them auto debit a pre-determined date and amount by Amex that it will stay off my credit report, which I declined, but offered to pay a specific amount and date, just not auto-debited. He stated that it would then go on my credit, and I replied then there was no reason to pay the full amount, so he of course became rude.

I would like to purchase another home in the next year, once our current home sells. Other than that, our plan is to be on a cash-only basis from now on, so the only thing that worries me is getting a loan for a home. Other than this, I have one MasterCard, one vehicle loan and one home loan, all always paid on time.

What can I do at this point?

Thanks in advance!