Can this be fixed?

[Anonymous]

My husband and I were preapproved three weeks ago and found a home we love over the weekend. last week, I received a letter from a CA about a very old Att acct that I closed in 2008.  Apparently there was a balance of $750 which I have no problem paying.  However, the CA sent me the letter on 10/5 and then reported to my credit report on 10/14 1 day after I even received the letter giving me no time to even investigate and rectify the situation.  So now this collections acct has affected my score and I am trying to figure out the best way to deal with it.  I called ATT and they verified that there is indeed a balance but the acct is so old that the actual bill has been archived.  They said I could pay them directly (which saves me CA fees).  The CA refuses to do a Pay for delete even when I said I would pay the balance plus the fees.  I don't want to dispute the acct because I know disputes will be an issue in udnerwriting.  My husband suggests paying ATT and then sending proof that the acct has been satisfied directly to the credit bureaus that are currently reporting the debt and have them force the CA to verify.  Just wondering if anybody else has dealt with this situation successfully.  I have worked so hard to repair my credit that I would be devastated if this prevented us from buying this house.

[sccredit]

IMO your husband is right.  If ATT will take the payment pay them directly and then show the proof directly to the CRA, as well as your lender.

[webhopper]

---

@sccredit wrote:

IMO your husband is right.  If ATT will take the payment pay them directly and then show the proof directly to the CRA, as well as your lender.

---

Agree with this!  The mortgage company should be able to use that proof of payment to ATT in order to correct the CR reporting.

[Elcid89]

---

@sccredit wrote:

IMO your husband is right.  If ATT will take the payment pay them directly and then show the proof directly to the CRA, as well as your lender.

---

+1 The CA will have no choice. If AT&T is willing to accept a payment, then they still own the account and the CA is acting only as an agent.

Pay AT&T off, get them to issue a letter to that effect and give that to your LO.

[SanFranMatt]

Same thing happened to my wife.  She had an old ATT bill, and there was a CA that was reporting it on her credit report.  We paid ATT directly, and had a receipt indicating that it was paid in full.  Then we disputed with the CRA, saying this account was paid in full and we do not owe anything to the CA.  The CA dropped off.

[Anonymous]

thank you so much everybody!!! I have paid ATT and I will send proof of payment to the 2 bureaus that are currently reporting asap.

[nc]

Good luck..

[Anonymous]

We put in our offer today and it looks like it will be accepted. Our LO pulled our credit oct. 1 for our pre-approval does he need to pull it again as soon as we are under contract? I am sure that my score has dropped due to this collection madness and I was wondering if I have some time to get it straightened out before the next credit pull.

[webhopper]

Let your lender know about the ATT bill right away and send him a copy of the paid receipt.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I actually called him immediately so he is aware. His advice was to deal directly with the cra and do it NOW! I will make sure he has proof that the debt has been satisfied.