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HELP!

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cracksmeup
Regular Contributor

HELP!

My SO and I recently applied for a mortgage on 4/16.  We were pre-approved and have been looking at houses.  Yesterday, she received a letter in the mail from a collection agency about an old Verizon bill from about 6 years ago.  The letter says we have 30 days to respond.  I know that having a recent collection on her report will completely kill our chances at a mortgage. Is there anything we can do? It is not currently showing on her credit report.  If we call and pay now can we save the mortgage and not have the account report? Or can they still add it on?  I knew something like this was going to happen, I've read the horror stories on these boards before! We haven't contacted the company yet becuase if we call them and validate the debt, I'm not sure that would be favorable for us.  What is the best course to take? Thanks in advance, meanwhile I will just obsess over this whole thing.

Message 1 of 5
4 REPLIES 4
CreditHealthy
Established Contributor

Re: HELP!

Good morning, I've received those letters in the past, contacted the creditor, and paid the debt before they placed it on my credit report. This letter is their way of telling you if you don't respond in 30 days, we will assume this debt belongs to you and they will then place it on your credit report. You are one of the lucky ones because some creditors don't even send out a letter, it's happened to me, and i'm sure others as well, all of a sudden you see it on your reports with no warning. This is why i'm glad I have score watch to alert me. Good luck with the collection.

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EQUIFAX 727 EXPERIAN 732 TRANSUNION 743 FICO} STARTING SCORE....554 July 2013
Message 2 of 5
DallasLoanGuy
Super Contributor

Re: HELP!

1. pay now

2. hire attorney to respond if it is outside of statues of limitations for collecting a debt

 

Retired Lender
Message 3 of 5
TurboFX
New Contributor

Re: HELP!

Pay now and make sure to get something in writing showing that you no longer owe that debt and that they will not report it to the credit bureaus. 

Message 4 of 5
cracksmeup
Regular Contributor

Re: HELP!

To update what has happened with this whole issue, I did a little research and found a number of comments from people saying that this company (Palisades Collections/Convergent) is trying to scam people. There are about hundreds of reports with the Better Business Bureau. People claim that they send them erroneous bills for accounts that never existed. The account they were trying to collect on from my SO was from Verizon. While I don't specifically remembering us ever having Verizon service, we had a pretty bad credit past, so anytime I see an old collection I assume it could possibly be ours. Now my dilemma, do I pay the account and hope they don't report to the credit agencies. Or do I do nothing, under the assumption that this is just another scam on their part? Has anybody else received a letter from this collection agency?

Message 5 of 5
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