newbie here requesting help with an old utility bill in collections

[mike00]

hello, im new here, trying to clean up my credit because i want to buy a house soon.

the only really bad mark i have on my reports is an unpaid utility bill that i stopped paying on in 2009.

this was with an electric company serving in the chicagoland area known as ComEd, short for Commonwealth Edison.

 

this showed up years ago on my reports as owned by a different collection agency (i cant remember their name now) and is now (or at least as of April of this year when i last got my reports) is showing up as being held by "Contract Callers Inc."

 

it is not scheduled to drop off the reports until 2016, and i really don't want to keep renting until then.

 

I have heard that people can have some luck doing the pfd thing with collections that are due to utility bills, and other things that dont normally get reported (monthly reported for acounts in good standing)

 

mainly my question is what should i do here?

here the three main suggestions i have gotten from people:

 

1) request validation from collection agency

2) try to pay the original creditor - then request they have the record pulled

if they dont pull the record then after paying oc, tell the ca to validate and they probably drop it

3) pfd the collection agency

 

this "debt" is only $249 so i really dont mind spending the money to get it DELETED from my reports.

but it seems, as far as i can tell, worthless, if not damaging to pay just to get it updated to "paid" or "settled" as it's my understanding that if i did that, it would remain on my reports for up to 7 years from the date of payment.

 

i look forward to working with you all, whoever has the time and experience to help me out on this and a few other issues i have. this is probally the most damaging mark i have on my reports at the time, and i really want to get it gone.

[mike00]

any help?

[cv91915]

Definitely try for PFD. Contact ComEd directly. Don't talk to the CA under any circumstances until you've done that and exhausted all of your options with talking to the OC.

 

What are your FICOs? You said that this was your only "really bad mark". That would imply to me that there are other bad, but less serious blemishes. What else is out there? The mortgage underwriting process is pretty rigorous, so it's better to deal with everything upfront.

[mike00]

i have four credit cards near max, but ill have those paid down in the next month or so

one of my credit cards has a late payment which was about a year ago

i have student loans i will have to start paying on in november

and i have a small personal loan i took out in july.

 

my only delinqucies (still on the report) are:

1) that utility bill

2) the late credit card payment (shows 30 days on report) which was about a year ago

 

also i do have a restitution judgement against me but it is not on my credit reports anymore.

should i disclose this to potential lenders?

 

fico for the last 3 months was 635, 641, 613

this was going from about 50% to over 90% usage ratio on my cards ovewr the past 3 months (was unemployed), i plan to pay these down before talking to a lender (its only about $1600)

 

so about that utility bill, should i send a pfd letter to comed? call them and request them to send me such an agreement?

what would be the best (safest) way to go about this? again, i have no problem paying the full amount for "deletion".

Edited September 3, 2013 by mike00

[cv91915]

i have four credit cards near max, but ill have those paid down in the next month or so

one of my credit cards has a late payment which was about a year ago

i have student loans i will have to start paying on in november

and i have a small personal loan i took out in july.

 

my only delinqucies (still on the report) are:

1) that utility bill

2) the late credit card payment (shows 30 days on report) which was about a year ago

 

also i do have a restitution judgement against me but it is not on my credit reports anymore.

should i disclose this to potential lenders?

 

fico for the last 3 months was 635, 641, 613

this was going from about 50% to over 90% usage ratio on my cards ovewr the past 3 months (was unemployed), i plan to pay these down before talking to a lender (its only about $1600)

 

so about that utility bill, should i send a pfd letter to comed? call them and request them to send me such an agreement?

what would be the best (safest) way to go about this? again, i have no problem paying the full amount for "deletion".

 

You are definitely on the right track.

 

Yes, mail a letter to ComEd for a PFD. It's best to have everything in writing. Always. Use CMRRR; it's worth the extra expense.

 

Good job on attacking your utilization. That will help your scores tremendously.

 

I wouldn't disclose anything on your mortgage app that isn't on your credit report, but others may disagree with that. I WOULD, WOULD, WOULD, however, put in a mortgage application before you really need a mortgage. It will likely draw out any remaining skeletons in your closet. The last thing that you want is for those to pop up when you actually want/need a mortgage. That gets very ugly at the end, when you have money on the table and need your deal to close.

Edited September 3, 2013 by cv91915

[mike00]

ok, thank you Cv, I was under the impression that you could only pfd the collection agency, here is the pfd i put together (but did not send) for them:

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Me

my address

my town

 

Contract Callers Inc.

1058 Claussen Road suite 110

Augusta, GA 30917-0301

August 5th, 2013 (dang its been almost a month since i wrote this)

 

Re: account
#CCIxxxxxxx

Dear Collection Management:

This letter is in response to your credit report entries, apparently beginning around July 2011,

and all subsequent (or any previous) entries related to the debt listed above. I wish to save us both

some time and effort by settling this debt.

Please be aware that this is not an acknowledgment or acceptance of the

debt, as I have not received any verification of the debt. Nor is this a
promise to pay and is not a payment agreement unless you provide a response as
detailed below.

 

I am aware that your company has the ability to report this debt to the
credit bureaus as you deem necessary. Furthermore, you have the ability to
change the listing since you are the information furnisher.

 

I am willing to pay this alleged debt
in full in return for your agreement to remove all information
regarding this debt from any credit reporting agencies, including but not
limited to: Transunion, Equifax, and Experian, within 30 calendar days of
payment.

If you agree to the above terms, I will send certified payment in the amount

of $249 payable to "Contract Callers Inc." in exchange to have all information

related to this debt removed (not updated or marked as paid) from all of my credit files.

If you accept this offer, you also agree not to discuss the offer with any

third-party, excluding the original creditor. If you accept the offer, please
prepare a letter on your company letterhead clearly agreeing to these terms.

This letter should be signed by an authorized agent of Contract
Callers Inc. The letter will be treated as a contract and subject to the
laws of my home state of Illinois.

As granted by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, I have the right to

dispute this alleged debt. If I do not receive your postmarked response within
15 days, I will withdraw the above offer and request full verification of this
debt.

Please forward your agreement to the address listed above.

Sincerely,

My Name

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

In order to convert this as a letter to comed (original creditor) how should I reference the account? I don't still have the bills, and even if i did i dont know if i would want to include their original account number because im afraid (tell me if im just being paranoid) that they could use that to say that if i knew the account number that it must have been my debt, then not want to work with me, making it stick for another 7 years.......

 

im not sure if that could happen or not, i want to deal with this, i just dont want to make any bad moves.

 

i guess i could write to them just referencing it as what was listed under contract callers account number xxxx with them as the original creditor

 

obviously i would change contract callers to comed and change the part about not discuss with a 3rd party excluding the "original creditor" to "collection agencies". Any other changes recommended?

Edited September 3, 2013 by mike00

[mike00]

thoughts?

 

(bump)

[indignant.kitten]

bumping this. Great question Mike, would like to see if you've sent this out yet or if you are still waiting on advice.

[LearningToFly]

I had success with writing to the president of a utility and just explained what happened; he responded with a very professional letter apologizing for the confusion and advising he would have the collection agency remove the account from CRAs immediately. Your situation is different, but in case it helps, here is the letter:

 

Dear Mr. Presidentman:

I apologize for bringing this matter to you directly, however I have been unsuccessful through conventional customer service channels, and I

am hopeful you’ll be able to assist me.

I had an account with XXXXX Service at my home, 123 Mystreet, for approximately eight years. During that time I made my monthly payments and enjoyed excellent, consistent service.

 

In November of last year, I moved to a new residence in the Suburb area of Bigcity. I had a small outstanding balance with XXXXXXX (as my deposit had been previously refunded). To be completely honest, with the move and some other issues going on in my life at the time, I overlooked the balance until February, at which time I logged in and made a payment. Unfortunately when I made that payment I incorrectly keyed my bank’s routing number, and unbeknownst to me the payment was unsuccessful. When I realized that the payment had not been made after receiving a statement from XXXXXXX in May, I logged in and made payment of the full balance ($159.80) reflected on my account on May 28th.

 

To this point I had received reminder notices from XXXXXXX only, and not from any collection agency. A few weeks after making my payment, I received an alert that a collection account had appeared on my credit reports. After logging in and checking the information, I found a collection item from Dirtyscum Collections on behalf of XXXXXXX for the full amount of the payment I had made ($159.80). In contacting customer service about this issue, they stated I had an outstanding $15 balance (which did not show in my online account – as I previously stated I paid the full amount showing on May 28^th).

 

I immediately logged in and paid this amount as well. In a subsequent call to ensure my payments had been appropriately credited, your customer service department representative informed me that the collection would stand but show paid in full and report for seven years.

 

Mr. Presidentman, this outcome is not acceptable to me. I made a payment to you, in full as indicated by your online payment system, prior to my account being turned over to a collection agency. In reading over consumer credit protection statutes, it is my understanding that Dirtyscum Collections has no cause to report to the credit reporting agencies on my account because I had no business relationship with them, and had in fact paid your company prior to the collection item appearing.

 

Will you please assist me in correcting this matter? I am asking only that you contact Dirtyscum Collections and direct them to revoke reporting to Equifax, Experian and Transunion regarding any account I have had with XXXXXXXXXXX. I certainly was in error letting my outstanding bill go unpaid, but did make the payment once I realized it was still due. If you look at the history of my account, you will not find a pattern of non-payment. The collection item reported on behalf of your company by Dirtyscum is damaging, and certainly this can be easily corrected by your office.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this letter. I hope you will be able to fulfill my request to resolve this matter. I look forward to your response.

[mike00]

this bad mark with Comed (electric company) still stands.

i sent a PFD with no response.

when i called them they would take a payment. should i have paid them then and there on the phone?

i didnt pay because i dont want to be left without a leg to stand on, if they wont recall the collection.

when i asked the lady if my account had been sold, or reassigned to the CA, she said she didnt know.

 

suggested courses of action?

i dont mind paying this, but i dont believe a "paid" on my reports will do me much good. i want it gone.

help please