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Cable bill in collection, how to minimize the credit effects
Posted on 9/9/20 at 4:36 pm
Posted on 9/9/20 at 4:36 pm
I have pretty good credit hovers in the high 790's to low 800's. I'll look at it every now and then using the free services my credit card offers. Seems to swing slightly month to month because I don't keep a lot of open lines of credit and I can hit 30%+ used in a heavy spending month. Never late for bills, etc.
Changed cable providers and when I got the last bill for $53 I assumed it would auto pay but it didn't. Didn't realize this until I got a letter from a collection agency for $63 collecting a bill for WOW. Great timing since we might be house shopping in 6 months so I wanted to minimize the impact to my credit score as much as possible. Wondering if anyone has some advice on the best way to proceed. Just fire up their web page and pay it off? Call them and pay it off that way? Or do I need to do something different?
ETA My wife's credit score is usually in the 830-840 range if that matters. If we open a line of credit it's almost always in her name so the available credit and credit used % looks awesome in her name.
Changed cable providers and when I got the last bill for $53 I assumed it would auto pay but it didn't. Didn't realize this until I got a letter from a collection agency for $63 collecting a bill for WOW. Great timing since we might be house shopping in 6 months so I wanted to minimize the impact to my credit score as much as possible. Wondering if anyone has some advice on the best way to proceed. Just fire up their web page and pay it off? Call them and pay it off that way? Or do I need to do something different?
ETA My wife's credit score is usually in the 830-840 range if that matters. If we open a line of credit it's almost always in her name so the available credit and credit used % looks awesome in her name.
This post was edited on 9/9/20 at 4:40 pm
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Posted on 9/9/20 at 4:40 pm to DeoreDX
Maybe call the cable company and try to pay them directly so you don't have a payment to a collections agency on your record. I find it hard to believe your due date came and went and they immediately sent it to a collections agency. Surely you received multiple notices from the cable company first.
Posted on 9/9/20 at 4:46 pm to DeoreDX
I'd call the old cable company and pay them directly instead of going through the collection agency. I've had the same thing happen to me a couple times over the years. I never called the collection agency and always dealt with the company directly. Never had anything come up on my credit file.
Posted on 9/9/20 at 4:47 pm to TDsngumbo
quote:
I find it hard to believe your due date came and went and they immediately sent it to a collections agency. Surely you received multiple notices from the cable company first.
Honestly totally my fault. I'm so used to getting the WOW bill and just tossing it in the trash since it's autopay. It's been at least 3-4 months since we canceled. I opened the first one I got after canceling and it was a bill for $53. Under the amount it did have the same line as always about if you have autopay it will bill on this date so I didn't think anything of it any more.
Posted on 9/9/20 at 4:54 pm to DeoreDX
Once paid it will have minimal impact on your ability to purchase a house. You may have to write a brief note for the mortgage file.
Posted on 9/9/20 at 5:03 pm to DeoreDX
do yourself a big favor and ask this on creditboards... they will give you the best advice for something like this.
Posted on 9/9/20 at 5:11 pm to TDsngumbo
quote:I believe it.
Maybe call the cable company and try to pay them directly so you don't have a payment to a collections agency on your record. I find it hard to believe your due date came and went and they immediately sent it to a collections agency. Surely you received multiple notices from the cable company first.
When I changed ISP this year I just assumed they'd autopay the last payment. Nope.
And to avoid what happened to OP I just paid them on the phone for the full month and made them send me a check for the difference
Posted on 9/9/20 at 7:56 pm to DeoreDX
Berlin Wheeler somehow got me with Cox when I left BR for DC in 2014. I didn’t even know I owed money. They promised to remove it if I paid. Never did.
Getting that thing removed has been a pain in the butt. I think it finally drops off next year.
Cox will not hesitate to go straight to collections.
Getting that thing removed has been a pain in the butt. I think it finally drops off next year.
Cox will not hesitate to go straight to collections.
Posted on 9/10/20 at 9:26 am to DeoreDX
You could dispute it. Most of the time, they don't respond and the credit bureaus just take it off your report.
Posted on 9/10/20 at 9:57 am to DeoreDX
Also, I’m paying Lexington Law an ungodly amount of money to dispute everything. I went through a tough time 2014-2016 financially and had some late payments, etc.
My credit is okay but not great because of that. Like 750 vantage and 705 Fico. I think it’s costing me $129/mo and they’ve pretty much sent letters out against most of these companies. I tried doing the crap myself initially but it just took too much of my time.
You’ll hear mixed reviews on Lexington Law but they’ve done a pretty good job so far. It’s a slow process and it could take 6-8 months. I figure it’s going to cost me about $1,000 to fix all my crap but will pay dividends on my mortgage when we start to build in two years.
My credit is okay but not great because of that. Like 750 vantage and 705 Fico. I think it’s costing me $129/mo and they’ve pretty much sent letters out against most of these companies. I tried doing the crap myself initially but it just took too much of my time.
You’ll hear mixed reviews on Lexington Law but they’ve done a pretty good job so far. It’s a slow process and it could take 6-8 months. I figure it’s going to cost me about $1,000 to fix all my crap but will pay dividends on my mortgage when we start to build in two years.
This post was edited on 9/10/20 at 9:58 am
Posted on 9/10/20 at 10:30 am to DeoreDX
Usually, the collection agencies will wait 30 days before they submit to the credit bureaus. If it hasn't hit your credit report and you pay it, it might not hit at all.
If it does hit, you can dispute it and if it's paid off, they might not fight it.
If it does hit, you can dispute it and if it's paid off, they might not fight it.
Posted on 9/10/20 at 11:50 am to DeoreDX
If it's that recent, you can probably contact the cable company directly, pay it, and then file a dispute.
If that doesn't work, you can contact the debt collector and request pay for delete. Unfortunately, 90% of the time, they'll say they can't.
One thing that I find very interesting is the difference between FICO 8 and FICO 9. With the FICO 9 score, paid off collections accounts don't factor into your score. Unfortunately, I think most lenders are still using FICO 8.
If that doesn't work, you can contact the debt collector and request pay for delete. Unfortunately, 90% of the time, they'll say they can't.
One thing that I find very interesting is the difference between FICO 8 and FICO 9. With the FICO 9 score, paid off collections accounts don't factor into your score. Unfortunately, I think most lenders are still using FICO 8.
Posted on 9/10/20 at 5:53 pm to DeoreDX
Call the cable company. Speak to a supervisor. Explain the situation and ask that they remove it upon you paying it off, in full, today. Usually they agree.
Posted on 9/11/20 at 7:12 am to DeoreDX
quote:
Cable bill in collection, how to minimize the credit effects
Go pay the bill.
Posted on 9/11/20 at 8:01 am to castorinho
I just switched from Cox to AT&T and checked bc I saw this thread, Cox did the exact same thing to me. Turned my autopay off with a balance of $27. Wasn’t due for another week or so, but if I didn’t see this thread I would have completely missed that. Seems like a nice “frick you” for leaving them
I had a $40 medical bill go to collections about a year ago bc they had the wrong address and didn’t try email or calling me. They just kept mailing notices to the wrong house. I only found out about it bc it showed up on my credit report. I called the collections agency on the report and explained the situation and paid it off immediately and they agreed to have it wiped from my credit report, they had my contact info wrong on their own information
I had a $40 medical bill go to collections about a year ago bc they had the wrong address and didn’t try email or calling me. They just kept mailing notices to the wrong house. I only found out about it bc it showed up on my credit report. I called the collections agency on the report and explained the situation and paid it off immediately and they agreed to have it wiped from my credit report, they had my contact info wrong on their own information
This post was edited on 9/11/20 at 8:05 am
Posted on 9/11/20 at 1:10 pm to DeoreDX
I would be in full panic mode. You should consider paying off the debt in installments.
Posted on 9/12/20 at 11:36 pm to DeoreDX
Had literally the exact same thing happen to me in the past. I had a dispute with DirectTV over $300 when they kept charging me for cable services after I cancelled and then returned all equipment. I was out of my contract and therefore didn’t have any late fees. They just for some reason never turned the billing off on my account.
I refused to pay and they continued to demand payment. Eventually same deal where I got a collections notice from a 3rd party (owned by AT&T of course). I decided $300 wasn’t worth wrecking my credit. I caved in and just paid to make it go away. Never had it appear on my credit score or show as a delinquent payment. My advice is to pay it and I think you will find a similar situation where it goes away without issue.
I refused to pay and they continued to demand payment. Eventually same deal where I got a collections notice from a 3rd party (owned by AT&T of course). I decided $300 wasn’t worth wrecking my credit. I caved in and just paid to make it go away. Never had it appear on my credit score or show as a delinquent payment. My advice is to pay it and I think you will find a similar situation where it goes away without issue.
Posted on 9/13/20 at 6:01 pm to DeoreDX
I just had this happen as well. Got a letter from a collection agency about unreturned equipment. This has been over a year without any correspondence from the cable company.
I did a little research, and some people said not to reach out to the cable company because they might not clear it with the collection agency.
I did a little research, and some people said not to reach out to the cable company because they might not clear it with the collection agency.
Posted on 9/13/20 at 9:17 pm to nobigdeal69
3 year battle with Comcast with several letters from collection agencies. I’m not paying it and haven’t seen anything on my credit.
Posted on 9/14/20 at 11:30 am to DeoreDX
How late 30-60-90 days pay wow direct pull you credit score in nov if any thing is there dispute it week of thanksgiving.
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