FCO (Fair collections and Outsourcing) GW

[dayl0ve26]

This place SUCKS! I was sent there due to breaking my lease for an apartment I rented a couple years ago. It was a beautiful community and I was paying nearly $1300/month. I was ok with it because I had a newborn baby and felt i was getting what I paid for... SAFETY!  Well, I got new neighbors above me who were constantly fighting. It would last ALL night. I called the police several times and even requested that management either relocate me or relocate them. I finally had no choice to move when one night they were talking about shooting each other! I should have contacted corporate instead of moving b/c they were in violation of the terms of my lease

FCO initially stated the amount I owed was nearly $7000 on my credit report (I never received a phone call, letter, NOTHING) When I disputed it with the credit bureaus they dropped it down to $3000. I have no idea how they came up with such erroneous charges! 

I sent FCO a letter myself by email for debt validation. They responded back the next day with a copy of my lease and their own statement which only showed the amount on their letterhead... no breakdown or explanation of charges. So I responded back that their response was not valid proof of any charges and that the original creditor was unable to provide me with information either. I also requested proof of licensing in my state and quoted the fair debt act 15, requesting validation and verification. I stated that this is not attempt to not pay but to validate the debt.... I have yet to receive a response from them...

They have about 2 more weeks to respond to me. If not then I will be forwarding my documentation to the credit bureaus for removal! I will update you guys with my results.... I'm TU and EQ will remove it. Experian is the one that concerns me.

[imovinup]

Any update with this company. If  they validated or removed it

[Melissareljac]

Ok, Im new here.  What is BUMP?

Thanks

[Melissareljac]

Ok, Im new here.  What is BUMP?

Thanks

[velocity5]

BUMP is used when someone doesn't have a specific answer to a question in a thread, but wants to help get an answer for the original poster. Replying to a message will refresh the thread and return it to the first page of the board -- in this case, the "Rebuilding Your Credit" forum. Then more people will see it and hopefully* answer 

[gurusexy]

These guys r dbags to the max... They wont do PFD, say they will delete and never do and then keep the collection account as an 'open' account even though the balance is 0. How is the account open when the collection has been paid and shows a 0 balance? I have disputed the open account notice a bunch of times to no avail. When I call them, they ask me to take off the dispute. I ask, what happens next, they have no answer and put me through to a manager who is never there. After two years of fighting, i just got tired and submitted a complaint to the CFPB. 

Dont understand why my credit reports keep telling me I have an open collection, when the collection has been paid off. I have been denied credit a number of times and was told it was because I have an open account in collection. The collection should show closed and not open!!!. Its been dinging my account for a while now. Hopefully, I can get the collection completely wiped off my reports. Its been two years ...I have suffered enough. Its the least they can do. waiting for the CFPB to get back to me after investigating the issue. Fingers crossed...

[2NE1]

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@gurusexy

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Good luck getting your FCO collection removed... I suffered their neg. mark all 7.5 years on my CR till it finally fell off early 2013, the debt wasn't even mine but since my name was on the lease and I was over 18 years old at the time, they refused to remove it.

[gurusexy]

Same here. My name was just on the lease. Ended up having to pay 7k out of pocket as I was about to buy a house when the debt went into collections. the mortgage guys said I had to pay off the collections before my they sign off my house purchase. 

Im already pissed at having to pay that.. and then they have the nerve to still keep it as an 'open account' instead of a close one. Did your report as a closed collection?

[Anonymous]

Just had a really pleasant (not) conversation with FCO over the phone. I had extended my stay at an apartment by a couple of days due to a problem with availability of the apartment I was moving into, and with the blessing of the landlord. I was charged a $140 stayover fee (not unreasonable) and paid it by check as soon as I received the notice. I was busy with moving and never noticed the check wasn't cashed. I never received another notice but am preparing to make a large purchase and was checking my score. I noted this collection on my credit report, and after some research determined the check had never been cleared. I immediately sent a check to FCO with a letter explaining what had happened and requesting that they update my credit report to reflect the payment. I received the check back with a curt note indicating that they could not accept an "unauthorized" payment. When I called, they claimed I had written that I wanted the debt removed from my credit report on the check and therefore they couldn't accept it because they "weren't in business to remove bad debts." I explained that I HADN'T written anything on the check except "debt paid in full" which was for my own protection and I had asked them to be nice in my letter since the payment was small and had been missed. I was told that there must have been a misunderstanding (misunderstanding my Aunt Fanny!) and they could accept a credit card. I paid the debt but now I have no hope of it being cleared from my report. No wonder people who fall on hard times or who make mistakes prefer to leave them to fester rather than taking care of them. Who wants to be treated this way? We need debt reform in the worst possible way, and it has to allow for people to make up for mistakes in less time than 7+ years!

[SanK]

Hey Candicerj,

Can you send me the letters you used and process you followed to have your collections acount removed.

My case is : I rented an apartment with 2 other people . we didn't even have social at that time. we gave one full month rent as deposit at the time of the lease and moved in.  The lease only  had our signatures and not the social security numbers. I was not present for the last two months and the apartment charged us huge fines. I didn't know all of these until fair collections called and asked for money. I asked them for settlement and paid around 1800 from my pocket. I didn't know how they got our socials or that they would report them to credit agencies. Now in transunion and experian i see it as closed and balance as '0' but in equifax it shows as closed and balance as 1300.

I am trying to have these removed if there is a way. kindly forward me the letters and process you did to have these removed.

Thanks for your time and help.

Regards,

Sandeep.