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credit type question
when we moved into this house and switched from Cox to AT&T for cable/internet/phone. I called AT&T to set up service in april 2006 and they gave me a price for 10 months and said it would go up for 2 months and I would have to call and re-negotitate after a year. I agreed and they came out a few weeks later to hook us up. Well, the first bill came and it was fine, but the second bill came and it was for way over what it was supposed to be. I called and they said they made a mistake, but I should just pay the bill so it wouldn't pick up late fees or whatever. I never should have done that, but I did. The same thing happend for the next 2 months and then when the next bill came they said the same thing but I said I wasn't paying. We kept the service for a total of 6 months before I finally switched back to Cox (in that time they gave some credits, but the bill was always still wrong).
So, for the past 4 years H has had this bill on his credit report. I still don't think we owe it becuase we agreed to pay a certain amount each month and they charged more, but I am tired of dealing with it. I have sent letters and called and tried to get it taken care of since Nov 2006, but nothing has come of it. AT&T sold it to a collection agency so AT&T won't talk to me, but the collection agency doesn't have any info. It is so frustrating.
Any idea what I can do? The only reason we really care now is that we are going to be selling our house in the next few months (or trying to anyway) and we will be getting a mortgage on the new place so we need good credit. That is the only bad thing on either of our credit reports and I don't know if it is worth just paying the $300 to get it off or what.
Re: credit type question
Truthfully, I would hire an attorney so the incident is cleared up and it is marked in your credit report who is at fault (craptastic AT&T). If you pay it, you are accepting responsibility for the amount that has gone unpaid and your credit will still be blemished. Getting it taken care of AFTER you have paid it will be impossible.
that is what H wants to do, but I just feel like we are going to spend a ton of money on a lawyer over $300 which seems silly. But I also don't want to pay them just on the principle of it. H did some research and said that phone and cable compaines have the most wrong reports on credit reports because it is just our word against theirs (and isn't it convienient that AT&T has all of the records of my phone converstions EXCEPT the one from April 2006 where we actually agreed to the price?)
Hiring an attorney will definitely cost more in the short run, but in the long run, your credit will not be blemished which will result in a lower interest rate when you apply for your mortgage. Having something like this on your credit report is kind of bad (sorry!!) so I would do everything possible to fight it.
As far as fighting it, I am sure you can find some sort of data about the specials they were running at that time that will provide evidence as to why you chose cable service with them. The fact that they provided you credits as well as the first bill being correct is pretty strong evidence against them. Bastards. I freaking hate cable and phone service companies. Such a racket.
Have you tried to get it off the report on your own, without using an attorney? I had some fraudulent and also some just incorrect stuff on my credit report years (holy crap, 10 years, I'm old) ago, and I was able to get it cleared up myself by filing disputes with the credit agencies. It was a pretty simple process of writing a letter, providing some documentation, etc. Everything was removed. May be good to try before you shell out for an attorney.
I did the thing online and they never asked me for anything and just sent a letter to us saying that it was a valid charge. Maybe I will try that again.