Desperately Need some legal advice re: My Credit Report/Score

Guys,


Hopefully someone can steer me int he right direction. I don't know what to do at this point.

So here's the Timeline


2006:
I had a T-Mobile phone. 2 year contract, almost 1 year into it. I had a base-minute plan at the time which was something like $49.99 + Tax.


Aug. 2006:
I moved back to San Francisco from college thus separating (geographically) from my GF. She had T-Mobile at the time as well and the only smart thing to do at the time was to purchase a "mobile to mobile" plan at a cost of apprx ~$8/month. (AT&T includes this, T-m does not)

I called and made the switch. The CS rep on the other end of the line was very helpful and got it swapped for me.



Sept 2006:
I get my ******* bill and its $450. They never made the ******* change. I was livid and no one was willing to budge on the T-M side. Over the course of the next several months I spent so much time and ******* energy only to be directed to nearly every single manager in every single dept....tried seeking legal action (which was short-lived due to the many reasons) only to find myself battling a futile war.

I wasn't going to pay this $. Not because I couldn't afford it, but because it was morally and ethically wrong.

Life was busy at the time and long story short, I kept telling myself I'd take legal action or some sort of action and pathetically never did.


Feb 2007:
I never paid the bill and the canceled my line, adding yet another $175 plus 4+ months of service to the bill so now I'm at $800 or so with late fees and whatnot.



Mid 2007: I told myself I'd get it resolved before anything else drastic happens but failed to do so. Ends up on my credit report and my score goes to ****.



TODAY
Fast forward 2.5 years and its STILL THERE

Its now in the hands of T-Mobile's attorney and all over my ******* report. My credit is otherwise spotless and this has dropped my score about 100 goddamn POINTS!

I'm a complete loser for letting this drag on liek this...I really don't know how to justify it or have anything else to say.

At this point, I feel like I need to get something out of them to actually get me to pay this ******* money that I didn't incur.

Any advice on what I can do guys? I feel that if I just happily paid them now, it wouldn't do me any good as its going to stay on my CR regardless.

Can I use payment as leverage for them to take action to rid me of this blemish? (or major breakout, rather)

Every time they call, I tell the lady on the line ":if you can provide me in writing that you'll notify the credit reporting agencies that there was a mistake on my CR, I'll pay the ******* bullshit bill. Otherwise you can come arrest me":


My ultimate goal: to make it go away on my credit report/score. I don't even care about the $ anymore. (even less than I did back them)

I just want to get on with my life! Please help out guys!

...

Originally Posted by azlawstudent

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popcorn worthy?

Originally Posted by FStyles

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popcorn worthy?

Hey, I was wondering if there are any engineers out there who could give me some advice? I own a large, historical building in Italy. When I purchased it, I didn't notice any problems and I didn't get it fully inspected like I should have (considering its historical value). Anyway, it turns out that the whole damn building is leaning due to a faulty foundation.

Could any engineers come take a look and tell me what I need to do to fix it?



P.S. If there are any doctors out there, I keep coughing up blood and was wondering whether any of you could give me a quick checkup?

You f'ed up. Just man up and minimize the damages you've already done to your credit history. It's not that bad in the grand scheme of things and will go away soon enough. The longer you drag it out, the longer you'll suffer -- not T-Mobile. Disclaimer: the above is not to be construed as legal advice, but 2 cents' worth of common sense.

Originally Posted by DNW

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You f'ed up. Just man up and minimize the damages you've already done to your credit history. It's not that bad in the grand scheme of things and will go away soon enough. The longer you drag it out, the longer you'll suffer -- not T-Mobile.

Disclaimer: the above is not to be construed as legal advice, but 2 cents' worth of common sense.

That^^^! Could not have said it better myself!

Originally Posted by DNW

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You f'ed up. Just man up and minimize the damages you've already done to your credit history. It's not that bad in the grand scheme of things and will go away soon enough. The longer you drag it out, the longer you'll suffer -- not T-Mobile.

Disclaimer: the above is not to be construed as legal advice, but 2 cents' worth of common sense.

This is what I was thinking as I read the OP.

Pay them ASAP. It's going to sit on your credit for a while anyway, but the longer you wait the longer it will sit there. Assuming your credit is otherwise good, as the bad debt gets older it should have less of a negative impact.

Also, a couple/few years after you pay up you can pull your credit report, challenge it, and hope they don't respond. If it's been a while there's a fair chance they won't respond to the challenge, and it will come of the report sooner than if you'd left it alone. This isn't foolproof, but I've seen it work.

As with DNW, this isn't legal advice, just my opinion.

Originally Posted by DNW

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You f'ed up. Just man up and minimize the damages you've already done to your credit history. It's not that bad in the grand scheme of things and will go away soon enough. The longer you drag it out, the longer you'll suffer -- not T-Mobile.

Disclaimer: the above is not to be construed as legal advice, but 2 cents' worth of common sense.
QFT. IMO, I don't see any other way around this.

Don't pay the bastards ever.

I've no idea what credit report even means since I live elsewhere, but I've paid in similar situations and need to know someone is fighting the good fight, somewhere.

Hang in there, you.

I am not an expert on this, and you need to do some research to find out for certain whether this is correct:

Contact them and negotiate a payment in full with the agreement that they will delete ALL reporting of this account to the three credit bureaus. I think the term you are looking for is "pay for delete". Get it in writing before you do it. If they won't do that, then you are better off paying it anyway because as the bad history ages your score will improve.

Actually, I wouldn't pay. I had a similar situation, for considerably more dollars. I was absolutely justified in not paying the bill. I never did. It sat on my credit report a while. I bought a house last year with no problem.

But, you've said you don't care anymore about the money or the principle. Obviously, the only answer is to pay the damn bill. Your credit will heal faster than you think. And even if it doesn't, what do you really need perfect credit for anyway?

You may be able to get some advice on http://www.creditboards.com/mambo/

Originally Posted by Steve Smith

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I am not an expert on this, and you need to do some research to find out for certain whether this is correct:

Contact them and negotiate a payment in full with the agreement that they will delete ALL reporting of this account to the three credit bureaus. I think the term you are looking for is "pay for delete". Get it in writing before you do it. If they won't do that, then you are better off paying it anyway because as the bad history ages your score will improve.

^^^^

That is exactly what I've been trying to do. I've tried telling this to numerous people there and keep getting the run-around. Guess I'll have to look into this further.


To the legion of dudes towards the top:

yeah, I know ******** up...but FWIW it was more civil disobedience turned awry than dumb kid not paying his bills.

I'm surprised that the theme of the responses is just to turn over and cough up the extortion money.

Did you get something in writing or on your email to say that they had cancelled in the first place? If you didn't then you don't really have any ground to stand on and should just pay the bill. But you should do what the guy above said, pay to delete.

Moral, always ask for a receipt or proof you cancelled anything or it will bite you later on.

sorry double post, delte as appropriate.