Question:
I had some $2K balance with American Express. I have been paying them
3 years without late and for some reason, they did not receive a
payment in July 04 and the late fee and interest charges jumped from
prime to 27% and my account was assigned to a collection agency. I did
not notice until recently.
I contacted the collection agency and they
would like to make a settlement with me (something like 60% with one
payment since 40% is late fees or interest charges), and they told me
this will not affect my credit rating. At the beginning of the talk,
they told me nobody except the credit company would know the
settlement. But when I ask more details, they said it will show as a
settlement on my acount.
Before I ask them to send me the settlement offer, how I can
make sure this will not affect my credit report and not come back on
me later or what clauses I shall ask them to put in to protect me? I
prefer it just shows nothing in my credit report.
Answer:
Q: I had some $2K balance with American Express. I have been paying them
3 years without late and for some reason, they did not receive a
payment in July 04 and the late fee and interest charges jumped from
prime to 27% and my account was assigned to a collection agency. I did
not notice until recently.
A: Whoa! You didn't notice for FIVE MONTHS that your balance was too
high, that your payment had not been credited, that your interest
rate had jumped and your account was in collection?
Okay, we'll go with that -- but you have to realize that this
automatically loses you sympathy in any legal forum. "Got laid off
and can't pay my bills" is one thing; "couldn't be bothered to look
at five statements in a row" is pretty irresponsible.
Q: I contacted the collection agency and they
would like to make a settlement with me (something like 60% with one
payment since 40% is late fees or interest charges), and they told me
this will not affect my credit rating. At the beginning of the talk,
they told me nobody except the credit company would know the
settlement. But when I ask more details, they said it will show as a
settlement on my acount.
A: Of course it will; that's what it is.
Q: Before I ask them to send me the settlement offer, how I can
make sure this will not affect my credit report and not come back on
me later or what clauses I shall ask them to put in to protect me? I
prefer it just shows nothing in my credit report.
A: I'm sure you do.
You can ask them to include in the settlement offer that the status
be marked "paid on time" or that the collection and settlement not be
reported to any credit bureau. They'll probably laugh at you. Then
you can offer them a larger percentage in settlement in exchange for
written assurance, and they might or might not buy it.
The basic problem here is that you don't like an _accurate_ statement
on your credit report. Sorry, but you don't have a lot of negotiating
room here.
Take this as a lesson: from now on examine your bills promptly and
deal with any problems right away. The longer you wait, the worse
anything gets. If you had dealt with it up front, and your payment
record was otherwise clean, Amex might even have waived the late
charges or kept the old interest rate if you asked them nicely,
particularly if you were able to give them the check number and the
date you mailed it.
