Tanner Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 HiI've been reading a lot on this site. It is very informative. I am hoping someone can help with my situation. My husband had a collection agency send a bill for an Att phone. We couldn't pay the bill at the time and ignored the first few. We got back on our feet and started catching up all of our bills with hopes to buy a house soon. When we called IC systems to make a payment and they said the account had been returned to Att. My husband called Att and paid the bill. I signed up for credit karma to see what our score is because we would like to buy a house soon. And on there was a collection from enhanced recovery services for $0 from Att! I called Att to figure out why there was a collection for $0 and found out that the bill we paid was to enhanced collection agency!I've since talked to so many people at Att and the collection agency and no one will do anything to remove this. And from what I've read, $0 collection is just as bad as a collection with a balance?Is there anything we can do? This is the only collection on our account and its $0. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Invalid123 Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 Due to the account showing a $0 balance, you could send in an dispute against the collection. Noting that the collection is not owed, the funisher may not complete the investigation and it will just get deleted, thats your best shot. If that fails, you can always send them a certified letter for an investigation stating that the account was never owned by them and you have documentation that proves you paid off the OC, if they cant validate the account because of missing information they have to update the CRA with a deletion. Its a fight but a fight you can win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clydesmom Posted June 12, 2015 Report Share Posted June 12, 2015 If that fails, you can always send them a certified letter for an investigation stating that the account was never owned by them and you have documentation that proves you paid off the OC, if they cant validate the account because of missing information they have to update the CRA with a deletion. Its a fight but a fight you can win. This might work but your theory is wrong. Many collection agencies now work on a contingency contract that states if the creditor who hired them gets a payment directly to them it must be turned over to the collection agency. This clause makes it legal for the creditor to do so and for it to report as a zero balance collection account. I can tell you that ERC WILL validate and update that trade line. They are a credit report poisoner and a bottom feeder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanner Posted June 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2015 Thank you for the replies!We are wanting to apply for a conventional loan 97%From my research, I believe we would need a 680 to qualify. Our scores are no where close... Low 600/high 500 (I got a report from fico website and saw mortgage fico was wayyyy lower than credit karma!)This is not our only negative, just the only collection. We also have late payments on a credit card, 2 30-day late payments that just happened due to auto payments not processing. (Was 60 days late but they have it as 2 30)My thoughts were getting this removed would help to raise our score enough to qualify? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanner Posted June 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 Thanks for the ideas! seeing this collection was just so discouraging. Our credit cards are all at a $0 balance except one that has about $200 on it. We have no plans to close any accounts. I've read that it's not good to close, correct?The late payments were 2 months ago. It was a mix up with our automatic payments and switching our banks after a move. It's the only late payments. So the only 2 things that I can see on the report is the collection and the late payments. I haven't found much about late payments--- I mean, we were late... Don't think there is anything we can do about it. So this left the collection. I don't feel it should be on there, I was pissed and so I guess I was putting more stock in it than I should. We are focusing on making all payments on time... We don't really have any so that shouldn't be too hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Invalid123 Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 IF the late payments is what got you on the hook with low credit scores. I would go ahead and send off Goodwill Letters, most likely they will fix them with "Paid or No Data." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomnTex Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 Closing account will hurt you more than having them paid off and just sitting there or carrying a balance. Also, don't apply for anymore credit until, during or after you buy the house unless you have closed on it. Then wait a few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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