Help with collection accounts- national grid, nstar and ACS

[Anonymous]

I moved 3 times last year during a very short period of time, approximately 10 months.   I lived in an apartment for approximately 7 months, moved in with my fiancé then moved again 3 months later when I got married. I had thought that I had paid all final bills from the apartment I was in for 7 months, but apparently I did not pay my gas (national grid) or electric (nstar) bills fully. I moved out of that first apartment at the end of August 2011.  During December, I received a call from a collection agency (acs) about the nstar bill. But I had thought I had paid everything in full so I told them I would have to look into it. Upon researching nstar, I saw that I had an outstanding final bill amount of $269. I paid nstar directly online in early January. Then in April, I applied to refinance my mortgage and found that not only was nstar being reported as a collection account (reported with a date opened of 1/2012), but I also had a collections account from national grid for around $54 (reported with a date opened of 2/2011 - which is accurate).  Upon realizing this, I paid that debt directly to national grid. I offered a PFD but they refused and said they wouldn't work with me until I paid the account. 

So now I am trying to get a mortgage, I have 2 PIF collection accounts and my score has dropped 100 points. My questions are:

1.  Did the OC do anything wrong given that I never received a single phone call except after it had gone to collections from the CA?  I can understand that they lost track of me with mailing notices since I moved so many times. 

2.  The CA is reporting under the name of the OC on my CB report i.e. says national grid but the phone number and address belong to ACS. Can they do this?

3.  I have contacted national grid and nstar and ACS directly repeatedly. I spoke to an individual at national grid that was sympathetic and said $54 should not prevent me from getting a mortgage and agreed to delete, but nothing has happened and he now doesn't answer or return my calls. Everyone else I speak to at national grid says this one guy that I spoke to is the only one that can help me. What more can I do?

4.  Can I get the nstar CA reporting deleted based on the fact they are reporting the account open date inaccurately and are using the date I actually settled the account instead?

Is there anything else I can do or will this just haunt me for the next 7 years?  I had no blemishes before this mess. 

[Anonymous]

Anyone have any experience with these utilities or ACS? Do I just GW them and hope someone bites?

[llecs]

1) An OC doesn't have to call, assuming they had your number. They have to provide a final bill, but there's no rules to the extent of collection activity. If ever faced with closing an account, get it in writing from them that the final balance is $0.

2) The OC could be directing all calls to the CA (maybe they don't have an in-house collections) and posted the CA's number within their contact info. 

3) How long ago did they agree to delete? If over a month ago, mail a GW with a kind reminder that they agreed to delete. A CA reporting can and does hurt your FICO. Their CSR is off-base.

4) For nstar, maybe if they are the OC and you didn't open in 2012. If nstar is the CA, then they are reporting correctly. For CAs, open date is the date they took over the account. If the OC is reporting that, it might be worth keeping in mind. If nstar is the OC and is unpaid, send a PFD. Otherwise if paid, send a GW.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your help and clarifications on the OC and CA's processes, responsibilities and requirements. Coincidentally, I just received an email from my contact at National Grid today along with a subsequent communication from ACS confirming that will delete. Success!!!!!!  Now I just need to GW the heck out of NSTAR? Would I get anywhere going through BBB?  From what I can determine, they only  started reporting the collection after I PIF. Could I complain to BBB about this?

From national grid contact:

"First I want to convey to you my sincere apologies for any inconvenience you and your family may be experiencing.

I reached out to our agent on May 27 and again today in an attempt to have the item removed, and your score adjusted, I will forward their response when I receive it.

Please note that Nationalgrid does not report to the three major Credit Bureaus, all reporting is done by our outside collection agencies. Once the account has been satisfied with Nationalgrid or our collection agent, the collection agent will notify the three major Credit Bureaus of any adjustments, it can take 60 to 90 days to have the credit scores adjusted and the entry removed from the report.

If for some reason the entry on the credit report was an error caused by the Nationalgrid, we will make direct contact with our collection agent and request that the entry be removed; this process should be completed within 30 days of Nationalgrid contacting the collection agent. In May 2012, we informed our agents that this was a company error, and we were told that our customer would be notified by mail when the Credit Bureaus made their adjustments.

Since this is on going, as previously stated I reached out to our agent."

From the CA:

"We will put in request to have account removed from cbr's"