Hello all,
Need some help with a GW letter about an installment loan for a vehicle (lease). Here is the story (will try to be concise):
My husband had a leased vehicle, which unfortunately was hit and ended up being a total loss. The most frustrating part was that he wasn’t actually in an accident. It was parked on the street, and there was an accident in the intersection. One car hit another with such force, that it caused it to fly into my husband's parked car and smashed it so bad, the insurance company deemed it a total loss. Not a fun thing to walk back to your car after work and find it totally smashed up; was NOT a good day for hubby. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.
Anyway, the lease was with Ford, and had been paid monthly with no lates ever. He was about halfway into the 3 year lease at the time of the accident. To make a very long story short, the insurance company covered everything, and sent a settlement to Ford, which they accepted. My husband actually turned around and got a new lease for another Ford vehicle. We thought all was well.
Almost 2 months later, we get a letter from Ford out of the blue, saying we had 10 days to respond to them and pay them what we owe. We were confused, as the account had been paid in full up to the time of the accident, and then they accepted the insurance company’s settlement. Turns out, they claimed that there was a $1000 difference between the settlement amount, and the value of the car at the time of loss, and that we were responsible for it! So all of a sudden, we owed them $1000! I thought this had to be a mistake and there was no way this was valid. The insurance company never mentioned something like this might happen; we thought we were not liable for anthing. After a lot of research and making lots and lots of phone calls, turns out that, unfortunately, this was legit and there was nothing we could do about it. To top it off, it had to be paid by check or a bank draft, no credit cards.
Well, unfortunately we did not have a spare $1000 sitting in the bank at that time. They ended up closing that account (we thought it had already been closed) and put derogatory remarks on it. We ended up paying the full amount about 2 months later, when we had the money. It was a very frustrating ordeal!!
My husband had great credit, and those late indicators really made his score take a big hit. Currently, TU and EQ show that the balance is now 0 and not 1000, but they show that it has been late. Only EX shows that account as being closed but without derogatory indicators. I believe TU shows it had been 60 days late and EQ says charge off.
I want to help my husband do a GW letter. I would think that due to the circumstances he would have a good chance. The positives being that a) this came about due to an accident which he wasn’t even involved in b) the fact that the account had been satisfactorily paid up until the loss, c) the fact that the entire balance was ultimately paid in full not settled, and d) the fact he turned around and leased another Ford vehicle, making him a loyal repeat customer.
My question is, what exactly am I asking for? Am I asking for the entire account to be removed from the 2 credit bureaus? Or am I asking them to update the account and remove the late indicators from it, changing it to paid in full and never late?
Also, who am I addressing this letter to? I’ve never done any GW letters, so any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance!!
