Hi guys, I have been workign to fix our credit for a while now. THere are two accounts listed on our credit that need explanation letters for the LO. I really need some input from you experts, since I have no experience and don't know if I'm giving too much info or not enough. If you guys would so kindly read and give me some feedback and pointers, I would really appreciate it!
#1
To Whom it May Concern:
We are writing today to explain a collection account, Fidelity, that is on our credit. This was for a previous lease that we had rented in November of 2009. We had just had our 2nd child in September, and xxx had also just started nursing school. We had been in search of a long term rental because we needed stability, knowing that she would be in school for another 2 years. We found a company who promised us a long term rental. We requested copies of the landlord’s previous 3 monthly mortgage statements as well as tax records showing she was current on everything, prior to signing the lease. The lease was executed 11/6/2009, in which we gave first, last and security deposit totaling $3975. On February 26th, 2010 we came home to find a man there who claimed he was from Above All Inspections and that he was there on behalf of Wells Fargo, the lien holder for the property owner. He stated she was in pre-foreclosure since she missed 3 monthly payments. At this time, we contacted the management company and were told that we were being lied to and it was some sort of scam, that the owner had several properties and that she was current on payments. We took their word for it, until a few days later when we started receiving several people daily ringing our doorbell and walking around the outside of the property, requesting to look inside. We again called the management company and were told nothing was going on, and that they all must have the wrong address.
At this time, we contacted Wells Fargo. They could not verify much information, however they did verify that this property was in default and in pre-foreclosure status. We continued to receive multiple visitors daily, and found out the owner had listed the home as a short sale. After about another 2 weeks of this, we again contacted the management company and requested to either be let out of our lease or lower the monthly payment due to this huge inconvenience, especially with a newborn and someone in school. They finally admitted to the situation, but refused to lower rent or break the lease without penalty. We dealt with the situation for another week or so before we finally could not take it anymore. As a firefighter working 24 hour shifts, I felt that my family wasn’t safe with all of the random people coming to our home, and at this time also found out that there were 3 sexual offenders living on the same street. With my wife and 2 young children, this was very disturbing since we constantly had people ringing the door bell and walking around the property. At this time, we gave a 2 week notice, but paid the two month’s termination fee, totaling $2650. In addition, they kept our last month’s rent and security deposit, which also totaled $2650 and were paid at lease signing. We turned in the keys and were told we were “all set”. At this point, we had paid this company $3975 at move-in, our monthly rent payments for December, January and February of $1325 each, and then another $2650 to break the lease; a total of $10,600 for just under 4 months of living there, just coming off of maternity leave and having school expenses. We had to borrow funds from family members in order to find a new rental, and had to pay the fees to all of our home services to have them moved again. In addition to having to pack and move all over again 4 months into the lease.
A few months later, we pulled our credit and found that the management company had sent an amount of $7868 to a collections company. We attempted to reach the management company who refused to speak to us. We then attempted to reach the collection agency and discuss the situation. They were rude and unhelpful, stating just that we owe it and need to pay the amount. Fast forward months later, we again tried to reach out to the collections company, since we were attempting to fix our credit and take accountability for our previous issues, mostly due to the fact that xxx had been self-employed and the business went under. Their response this time was atrocious, harassing us and threatening to pull our credit if we did not tell them “why” we wanted to clean our credit up. They did, in fact, pull our credit that day since we told them we did not agree with this collection and could not pay the full amount immediately or in payments. We have since filed complaints on this company with the Better Business Bureau and the Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. The collections agency did not respond to the BBB, and as such they closed the dispute without resolve.
It has taken us a lot of hard work and dedication to fix our credit as much as possible since losing xxx’s company. After going back to school, and finally becoming a nurse, it has still taken years to pay off all of our debts, credit cards and attempt to make it right. This property management company, in addition to the collections agency, are unscrupulous. As much as we would like this account off of our credit, we do not agree with this amount being due as we already payed $5300 to break the lease due to the deceitfulness of all of the parties involved. We have made attempts to try and get this straightened out, with no success. This has taught us to carefully read and document any agreements, and get everything in writing so that this does not occur again. Unfortunately, some lessons are learned the hard way.
Sincerely yours,
xxx
#2
To Whom it May Concern:
We are writing to explain a collection account that is on our credit, TD Auto/Chrysler Financial. We had leased a Jeep and were a few months away from the end of our lease. We began to have financial trouble since xxx was self-employed and business had started to really slow down with the economy down turn. At this point, we were struggling to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table for our child and ourselves. Because we knew we could no longer maintain the payments, and not wanting to prolong the inevitable, we contacted the company and told them our situation. We were told that they were sorry, but to just drop the truck off at the dealer, with a letter stating we were returning it to them. We were young and naive at this point, and thought that was it. Since it was a lease and it would be up shortly, we figured it would just go back to the dealer. Months later, we receive a letter stating that we owed over $14,000 for the Jeep, and that it had been sold at auction. We tried to contact the finance company about what we had been told and basically got no where, they stated that they “inform everyone of the consequences, whether it is a voluntary repossession or not”. We have tried to negotiate with them, which has always been unsuccessful, since we do not feel that we should have to pay a $14,000 balance when there was less than a few months left on the lease. Our outstanding payments would have totaled around $1200, and we were being charged an additional $12,800 when we no longer had possession of this car.
This was a lesson learned the hard way. In our time of desperation when everything was falling apart, in addition to being young and naive, we did not know any better of what we should have had, in writing, prior to returning the vehicle.
Sincerely yours,
xxx
Please please please... any input would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!
-E
