Long story short .... I had a totally bogus that even the OC (a cell phone company) eventually admitted in writing was wrong (my bill should have been $350 vs $660)
A CA reported it to all 3 CRAs and verified it twice (Equifax deleted first time I applealed)
The clerk at the CA refused to accept full payment of the NOW agreed upon amount for deleletion.
This was tubing my score from 800+ to 686 and was going to cost me an additional $5000+ to refinance my house
They were taking me to court for the $350, which I was volunteering to pay IF they would delete
About 2 weeks ago I was relating this tale to my neighbor and it turned out he knew the owner of the CA, I emailed him the facts, he sent them on to the owner, and the owner accepted the $350 plus their court filing costs ($85) and they deleted immediately
Paying the $85 was BS in my opinion but I wanted to save the $5500 and $400 a month on my refi so I just paid
My scores jumped back up over 800 and I'm now locked in at 4.5%
I guess the lesson here is keep fighting and try every avenue....... I probably should have asked to talk to the clerks supervisor once the OC admitted their billing had been way way off from the beginning..... and the amount they now said I owed is what I had said all along!
But this ordeal had been dragging on for 4+ months and talking to so many people and telling the same story over and over and over again really can wear on you
I can't believe how much a person can be penalized for a bogusly reported debt
My attorney says I should have reported this to the FTC from the beginning, and the BBB
I plan on doing that. I also plan on contacting my state and federal representatives because I think consumers need to be protected from this kind of irresponsible and predatory collection practices
Basically a vendor can report a bogus debt through a CA and by god you better pay or they'll destroy 30+ years of spotless credit........ even for a tiny amount of money
Regardless I learned a ton here and some of the things I read here kept me going and I guess through "luck" I finally prevailed
I can't believe this can be done without a court judgement
