Hello all,
I just received a credit alert saying that my credit score has dropped by 76 points. Of course, this caught me by surprise as I have made a habit of paying all my bills on time, and I pay my credit card bill in full each month. And the timing could not have been worse - I have worked my credit score up to a very good rating and will be applying for a mortgage very soon. Now, my credit score has dropped a LOT, which will surely hurt me when I go to apply for a mortgage.
I checked my credit report, and it shows a new account on there under the name of "Midland Credit Management". The item on my credit report shows a balance of nearly $200, and a past due amount in the same amount. The status says "At least 120 days or more than four payments past due."
After thinking about it, I may have an idea of what this could be, although I am not completely sure. 6 years ago, I had an apartment that I was planning on living in for less than 12 months while attending school. I signed up for Ameritech (SBC/AT&T) DSL Internet service, which had a one year contract with an early termination fee. I specifically asked the rep when I signed about what happens if I move out before my contract was up. She informed me that I could definitely get out of the contract in that scenario. So, I did end up moving back home with my parents for a period of time, and they do not subscribe to their DSL service.
Ameritech then started sending me bills with the early termination fee added, however when I tried explaining my issue over the phone, they informed me that their computers were down and they could not bring my account up. I tried calling back again, and was put on hold for a very long time. I did not hear from anyone for years after that, until sometime last year I received a letter from some collection agency trying to collect this fee. I wrote them a letter explaining the situation, and telling them that I would like to dispute the charges as I do not feel that I am obligated to pay them.
After I sent them the letter disputing the charges, I never heard anything from them again. Now, all of a sudden I am seeing this 120 days past due item on my credit report.
Again, I am not completely sure that this item on my credit report is from the early termination fee, but it is a possibility. Other than that, I cannot think of any bills that I have not paid in full over recent years.
Does anyone have any advice on how I should approach this? I need to have this item removed from my credit report. I do not believe I should be obligated to pay it. Although to save myself the enormous hassle of disputing this with multiple companies that I'm sure do not communicate with each other, I would be willing to pay the account off if I can have it removed from my credit report completely (assuming that is the easiest way to approach this). I am pretty upset about this situation, first because of how Ameritech is going against what they told me when I signed up for the DSL service, and second because this showed up on my credit report without any attempt whatsoever from Midland Credit Management to have them contact me about the situation before reporting me to the credit agencies. This sounds unethical to me, although I am not familiar enough with laws in this field to know for sure if they are breaking any laws by reporting me without making an attempt to contact me about the debt first. I also am unsure if there is any statute of limitations involved with reporting items to the credit agencies. I am located in the state of Ohio.
Thanks in advance!
Message Edited by vortix on 05-13-2007 12:37 PM
